3 ms·

It’s incredible how every time there is a discussion over opioid mortality there are people saying that it is the same as alcohol or tobacco and eulogise the fu

• armitron 8y ago
  Read what I wrote again, carefully this time before you jump to conclusions. Consuming Opium is arguably a lot less harmful in terms of OD deaths/cancer/accidents than black market "opioids"/alcohol/tobacco. This is historic fact, as we have hundreds of years of extensive Opium use to inform us. People didn't suddenly drop dead when they smoked refined Chinese/Indian Opium. They kept their habits for decades. Addiction was also mostly limited to the lower-classes that did not have the means to smoke high-quality Opium ("chandu") and smoked the "dross" or lower quality Opium that was heavily morphine-ladden. Opium is not heroin but nevertheless, I'd go as far as claim that consuming pharmaceutical-grade heroin, as has been done legally for decades in the US in the past [1], does not lead to a massive increase in OD deaths. Addiction, sure, but again people don't drop like flies. Historic fact. "Opioid" mortality has nothing to do with consuming Opium or pharma-grade legalized heroin, and everything to do with synthetic chemicals controlled by drug cartels, black markets and varying, unpredictable street substance purity. [1] http://old.puaro.lv/media/images/Dzeltena_zemudene/nar3.gif http://old.puaro.lv/media/images/Dzeltena_zemudene/nar3.gif