2 ms·

There is sadness in every corner of the world, but that only overlaps with opiate availability in certain places. In America, like every nation, there is sadne

There is sadness in every corner of the world, but that only overlaps with opiate availability in certain places. In America, like every nation, there is sadness. However in America, unlike many other nations, we have widespread opiate availability. This combinations leads to opiate deaths on the scale we see. It's not complex. What is the answer? China knows the evils of opiate addiction, perhaps in the future, after enough of our own society is ravaged by it we will adopt the Chinese attitude towards opiates and look back at the naive past as our future selves tend to do.

gt_ 9y ago
I think this conclusion is premature. Obviously it’s a hard question but I will share a few reasons why I hesitate here: - The last 2 major drug-use epidemics in the US erupted in communities afflicted by major financial hardship and growing socioeconomic disparities. Both were victims of the poppy. I hesitate to discard the correlation. -I have taken hydrocodone. Personally, I hate it. I can’t think or function, but yeah other than that nothing seems like it matters. For me, it feels deadening, like suicide, the other epidemic that happens to be afflicting the same communities as the opioid epidemic. There is no recorded rise in suicide availability. I hesitate to discard the correlation. -Although much of the world has been outlawing opioid availability, opioids are available and prescribed throughout. We do not/cannot know how many people would be using opioids if they lacked availability to them but this drug has a nature worth considering, which I think the article gets at very well. -Let’s say the pharmaceutical cowboys’ are privy to ‘supply and demand’. No we aren’t talking about a fluid market but let’s also say, hypothetically, that not every society in the world is feening to collapse itself for opioid highs. And let’s assume US pharmaceutical suppliers have ways of identifying and responding to demands with supply despite being a regulated industry. I personally find none of these to be even a stretch, and to conclude, I have no problem imagining how it would play out exactly like we have observed.
vzcx 9y ago
Um... The Chinese like opiates, too. The majority of heroin produced in the golden triangle region finds its way into China. Why all of the moralizing about the "evils" of opiate addiction? Addiction is complicated, and while substance abuse can be harmful to the user, widespread social intolerance and the subsequent prohibitions on addictive substances only serve to amplify that harm. The opioid deaths we see are a direct result of the prohibition of opioids. Shipping into different jurisdictions carries the largest risk in the black economy. Thus, the transition from opium to morphine to heroin to the various fentanyls. There can be no quality control or FDA-enforced purity standards, hence the overdoses. If you want to reduce deaths, opioids need to become more available, not less. If you want to talk about morality, my question for you is: why do you want to restrict access to the chemicals that make these poor souls feel normal, pushing them into the black market?

gt_ 9y ago

I think this conclusion is premature. Obviously it’s a hard question but I will share a few reasons why I hesitate here: - The last 2 major drug-use epidemics in the US erupted in communities afflicted by major financial hardship and growing socioeconomic disparities. Both were victims of the poppy. I hesitate to discard the correlation. -I have taken hydrocodone. Personally, I hate it. I can’t think or function, but yeah other than that nothing seems like it matters. For me, it feels deadening, like suicide, the other epidemic that happens to be afflicting the same communities as the opioid epidemic. There is no recorded rise in suicide availability. I hesitate to discard the correlation. -Although much of the world has been outlawing opioid availability, opioids are available and prescribed throughout. We do not/cannot know how many people would be using opioids if they lacked availability to them but this drug has a nature worth considering, which I think the article gets at very well. -Let’s say the pharmaceutical cowboys’ are privy to ‘supply and demand’. No we aren’t talking about a fluid market but let’s also say, hypothetically, that not every society in the world is feening to collapse itself for opioid highs. And let’s assume US pharmaceutical suppliers have ways of identifying and responding to demands with supply despite being a regulated industry. I personally find none of these to be even a stretch, and to conclude, I have no problem imagining how it would play out exactly like we have observed.

vzcx 9y ago

Um... The Chinese like opiates, too. The majority of heroin produced in the golden triangle region finds its way into China. Why all of the moralizing about the "evils" of opiate addiction? Addiction is complicated, and while substance abuse can be harmful to the user, widespread social intolerance and the subsequent prohibitions on addictive substances only serve to amplify that harm. The opioid deaths we see are a direct result of the prohibition of opioids. Shipping into different jurisdictions carries the largest risk in the black economy. Thus, the transition from opium to morphine to heroin to the various fentanyls. There can be no quality control or FDA-enforced purity standards, hence the overdoses. If you want to reduce deaths, opioids need to become more available, not less. If you want to talk about morality, my question for you is: why do you want to restrict access to the chemicals that make these poor souls feel normal, pushing them into the black market?