6 ms·

That's a weak way to address it. You don't start using opioids right after losing your job. There's a period when you're trying to find another job and keep you

That's a weak way to address it. You don't start using opioids right after losing your job. There's a period when you're trying to find another job and keep yourself productive. Looking at short-term shocks is obviously flawed.

ngngngng 8y ago
I was under the impression that MOST opioid addictions are caused by an opioid prescription. This would have nothing to do with your current job status.
- sandworm101 8y ago
  >> caused by an opioid prescription. This would have nothing to do with your current job status. This is still the USA. Healthcare is attached to employment. I think it safe to say that those without jobs aren't visiting the doctor, getting prescriptions, at the same rate as those with employer-provided care.
- mruts 8y ago
  I think people over estimate that possibility. I (and many people I know) got addicted because the same guy who deals one drug, deals other drugs. In my case I was buying cocaine to party and have sex and it turned out my drug dealer had heroin and offered me some one time for free. Because drugs are illegal, they are lumped to together, one guy who sells one might/probably sell the other. This is also why people call weed a "gateway" drug, because the dealer might have some MDMA or coke on them as well. If we just made all drugs illegal, I think we would eliminate this "gateway" effect. The can see evidence of this grouping effect in the mafia. They sell untaxed cigarettes, stolen goods, drugs, etc. What is the commonality between all of these things? The fact they are illegal of course!
  - reidjs 8y ago
    > If we just made all drugs illegal, I think we would eliminate this "gateway" effect. Did you mean to write the opposite of this?
    - mruts 8y ago
      Yes sorry: legal
- bobcostas55 8y ago
  ~75% of addictions start with people using them _without_ a prescription. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-DetTabs2014/NSDUH-DetTabs2014.htm#tab6-47b https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-DetTab...
  - peu4000 8y ago
    But almost all of that %75 comes from hand outs from someone the user knows and 6.48B indicates that person has a prescription for said pills.
  - ngngngng 8y ago
    I appreciate the data. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I could see the US government having an extremely strong motive to fudge this data.
mruts 8y ago
In my personal case, using opiates, specifically, heroin, was the only thing that let me keep my job (well, until I quit my job to get off of that shit). Working 12 hour day, 6-7 days a week in a brutal and miserable work environment (finance), the only thing I could do to survive was heroin. I would get like 4-5 hours a night and just felt like shit and really depressed everyday. Consequently, I started doing heroin for that extra "pep" (it's a common misnomer that heroin makes you fall asleep, it actually wakes you up). With heroin, I could work non-stop, sometimes for even 24 hours at a time while feeling sort of okay, provided I had a steady supply of heroin. I do however think that heroin/opiates use decreases the ability to rejoin the workforce. I fortunately was making a great salary so I could afford an expensive heroin habit ($200-$300 a day). But your average blue-collar worker probably isn't making as much money, and therefore, there state is much more unstable. Oscillating between getting high, going into withdrawals, running out of money, etc etc. When you are in this state, it is very hard to plan for the future (the only thing you are thinking about is how to not go into horrible pain in 3-4 hours) and, therefore, get a job.
- zanmat0 8y ago
  Thanks for sharing, I didn't know it was used in those circles/circumstances.
  - exolymph 8y ago
    Eye-opening threads on the same topic, from a while back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16465762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16465762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14776864 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14776864
- bsder 8y ago
  I always presumed that cocaine was the "drug" (edit: originally used "opioid") of choice for finance. Heroin always seemed as for the "hardcore" or "musician" crowd.
  - opportune 8y ago

ngngngng 8y ago

I was under the impression that MOST opioid addictions are caused by an opioid prescription. This would have nothing to do with your current job status.

sandworm101 8y ago
>> caused by an opioid prescription. This would have nothing to do with your current job status. This is still the USA. Healthcare is attached to employment. I think it safe to say that those without jobs aren't visiting the doctor, getting prescriptions, at the same rate as those with employer-provided care.
mruts 8y ago
I think people over estimate that possibility. I (and many people I know) got addicted because the same guy who deals one drug, deals other drugs. In my case I was buying cocaine to party and have sex and it turned out my drug dealer had heroin and offered me some one time for free. Because drugs are illegal, they are lumped to together, one guy who sells one might/probably sell the other. This is also why people call weed a "gateway" drug, because the dealer might have some MDMA or coke on them as well. If we just made all drugs illegal, I think we would eliminate this "gateway" effect. The can see evidence of this grouping effect in the mafia. They sell untaxed cigarettes, stolen goods, drugs, etc. What is the commonality between all of these things? The fact they are illegal of course!
- reidjs 8y ago
  > If we just made all drugs illegal, I think we would eliminate this "gateway" effect. Did you mean to write the opposite of this?
  - mruts 8y ago
    Yes sorry: legal
bobcostas55 8y ago
~75% of addictions start with people using them _without_ a prescription. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-DetTabs2014/NSDUH-DetTabs2014.htm#tab6-47b https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-DetTab...
- peu4000 8y ago
  But almost all of that %75 comes from hand outs from someone the user knows and 6.48B indicates that person has a prescription for said pills.
- ngngngng 8y ago
  I appreciate the data. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I could see the US government having an extremely strong motive to fudge this data.

mruts 8y ago

In my personal case, using opiates, specifically, heroin, was the only thing that let me keep my job (well, until I quit my job to get off of that shit). Working 12 hour day, 6-7 days a week in a brutal and miserable work environment (finance), the only thing I could do to survive was heroin. I would get like 4-5 hours a night and just felt like shit and really depressed everyday. Consequently, I started doing heroin for that extra "pep" (it's a common misnomer that heroin makes you fall asleep, it actually wakes you up). With heroin, I could work non-stop, sometimes for even 24 hours at a time while feeling sort of okay, provided I had a steady supply of heroin. I do however think that heroin/opiates use decreases the ability to rejoin the workforce. I fortunately was making a great salary so I could afford an expensive heroin habit ($200-$300 a day). But your average blue-collar worker probably isn't making as much money, and therefore, there state is much more unstable. Oscillating between getting high, going into withdrawals, running out of money, etc etc. When you are in this state, it is very hard to plan for the future (the only thing you are thinking about is how to not go into horrible pain in 3-4 hours) and, therefore, get a job.

zanmat0 8y ago
Thanks for sharing, I didn't know it was used in those circles/circumstances.
- exolymph 8y ago
  Eye-opening threads on the same topic, from a while back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16465762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16465762 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14776864 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14776864
bsder 8y ago
I always presumed that cocaine was the "drug" (edit: originally used "opioid") of choice for finance. Heroin always seemed as for the "hardcore" or "musician" crowd.
- opportune 8y ago