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Why are people using Fentanyl? Maybe tackle that instead of further marginalizing people who use it? Are they using it to escape the grinding anxiety and despe

Why are people using Fentanyl? Maybe tackle that instead of further marginalizing people who use it? Are they using it to escape the grinding anxiety and desperation of their shitty lives? Are they using it instead of alcohol, again as escapism from reality? Is this use any different from how people used alcohol in past decades? I guess the point I'm poorly trying to make is that people aren't suddenly different to those in the 1970s, 1920s, or the 1800s. They have a similar environment with similar anxieties, pains, responsibilities, etc etc. I'm very, very biased on this subject. I suffer from constant pain, this comment being written while I sit down to recover from walking my dog. I've been given Morphine and Vicodin, Suboxone and Lyrica. Currently I'm lucky enough to be on Zubsolv, which is a better formulation of Suboxone that doesn't disrupt my sleep as much nor give me horrible muscle spasms. I've tried edibles, as I live in Michigan which has legalized Marijuana. Unfortunately I tolerate them way too fast and they just send me to sleep. People I know across the USA have wildly different results to seeing a doctor for pain relief. Some can't even see a doctor who will even discuss pain with them. Others, like me, have been accused of drug seeking. Or ripped off by hospitals promising to help with nerve abrading, injections, implants, etc. Those hospitals eager to help are also very proficient at billing to extract the most money from insurance and patient. If I were 16 again, armed with what I know now, I'd go into medical research. Specifically tolerance, because in my opinion that's the keystone of the building that is drug dependence. People get tolerant of their drug of choice, take more to get the same effect, chasing that dragon around and around not noticing that the circle has become a downward spiral. Plus so many overdoses are from people taking an old high dose that used to work, when they've been off the drug for a while and are no longer as tolerant. There has to be a way of factory resetting people's tolerance for drugs without harming the person. I wish that could be found and added to opiates especially. My apologies for the rambling rant. Just realize that these statistics you read about are all people. All lives that may have tried to feel better about themselves and ended up drowning in their dependence. Please don't write us all off as junkies who deserve punishment for stumbling in life.

HideousKojima 4y ago
>Why are people using Fentanyl? Maybe tackle that instead of further marginalizing people who use it? As far as the common narrative I've seen in the media goes, it's not that they are actively seeking out fentanyl to use (generally). It's that they are seeking out opioids in general, and a lot of unscrupulous distributors and dealers are cutting their product with fentanyl to make it more potent, or something to that effect. Whether or not this is actually the case, I'm not sure.
- banannaise 4y ago
  It has become such a problem that many fentanyl sources now dye it bright colors, so it can't be covertly cut into an otherwise white drug. Of course, American authorities immediately turned that into a "Fentanyl candy!" panic.
alldayeveryday 4y ago
> I guess the point I'm poorly trying to make is that people aren't suddenly different to those in the 1970s, 1920s, or the 1800s. They have a similar environment with similar anxieties, pains, responsibilities, etc etc. Not in agreement on this. 2020 looks profoundly different than 1920, for example from the lens of western societies. People are more atomized, have less friends, are having less kids, are getting married less often, divorced more often, job prospects for blue collars workers have diminished, etc etc. Not to mention the simple fact that Fentanyl did not exist in 1920. While man might not have changed much inherently, their environment has changed profoundly and seemingly not for the better.
- bloopernova 4y ago
  Conceding that point, you're right. People still look to escape the drudgery of their world, that doesn't change. You're right that we have far fewer social supports. Although I do wonder if a study would confirm that people with smaller in person social networks use or overuse drugs less than more isolated people.
  - quantified 4y ago
    Seems a lot like crack in the 80's but with a different mix of stigmas, and a lot more adulteration.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  > While man might not have changed much inherently, their environment has changed profoundly and seemingly not for the better. Depends on which man, or woman. I would say the environment has changed for the better for quite a few.
- badpun 4y ago
  You can't be serious. In 1920, still a significant part of the population lived in absolutely abhorrent slums. People on average worked 60 hours weeks, and often in extremely unhealthy and dangerous conditions (for example, molten iron being accidentally spilled on some poor soul in Carnegie's steel mill wasn't an uncommon occurence). There were no antibiotics, so family deaths were much more common (leading to grief and depression). Overall, the conditions of living were so harsh that people were numbing themselves with alcohol on a massive scale, ultimately leading to Prohibition Act.
thehappypm 4y ago
This has the same energy as “we don’t have a gun control problem. We have a mental health problem” which every Republican says after every mass shooting
- ladeagaytf 4y ago
  Well, it’s true… It’s an empty statement, neither side agrees on the fix for poor mental health and so the ball keeps on spinning.
  - tstrimple 4y ago
    It's worse than neither side agreeing on a fix. One side claims it's a mental health issue and then cuts funding for mental health. https://www.businessinsider.com/abbott-cut-mental-health-services-funding-in-texas-2022-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/abbott-cut-mental-health-ser...
    - ladeagaytf 4y ago
      Their view is mental health breakdown is a part of a larger social-structure breakdown and no amount of spending will fix that problem. Not all solutions can be fixed with infinite dollars. So no, it isn’t “worse than that.” Meanwhile we have folks creating problems then taxing the populace then shifting tax dollars to unaccountable private sector friends and donors. True problems.
      - rhaway84773 4y ago
        They also prevent social measures to help reduce mental health issues.
sonjat 4y ago
Although I think it is hard to get firm numbers on this, a lot of other drugs are being cut with Fentanyl or outright substituted, including comparatively benign drugs like Xanax. There is a growing movement to classify a lot of fentanyl drug deaths as poisoning since it wasn't that the person took too much, it was that they were unaware that they were taking it at all. (Source: lost a daughter to what she thought was Xanax that was pure Fentanyl)

HideousKojima 4y ago

>Why are people using Fentanyl? Maybe tackle that instead of further marginalizing people who use it? As far as the common narrative I've seen in the media goes, it's not that they are actively seeking out fentanyl to use (generally). It's that they are seeking out opioids in general, and a lot of unscrupulous distributors and dealers are cutting their product with fentanyl to make it more potent, or something to that effect. Whether or not this is actually the case, I'm not sure.

banannaise 4y ago
It has become such a problem that many fentanyl sources now dye it bright colors, so it can't be covertly cut into an otherwise white drug. Of course, American authorities immediately turned that into a "Fentanyl candy!" panic.

alldayeveryday 4y ago

> I guess the point I'm poorly trying to make is that people aren't suddenly different to those in the 1970s, 1920s, or the 1800s. They have a similar environment with similar anxieties, pains, responsibilities, etc etc. Not in agreement on this. 2020 looks profoundly different than 1920, for example from the lens of western societies. People are more atomized, have less friends, are having less kids, are getting married less often, divorced more often, job prospects for blue collars workers have diminished, etc etc. Not to mention the simple fact that Fentanyl did not exist in 1920. While man might not have changed much inherently, their environment has changed profoundly and seemingly not for the better.

bloopernova 4y ago
Conceding that point, you're right. People still look to escape the drudgery of their world, that doesn't change. You're right that we have far fewer social supports. Although I do wonder if a study would confirm that people with smaller in person social networks use or overuse drugs less than more isolated people.
- quantified 4y ago
  Seems a lot like crack in the 80's but with a different mix of stigmas, and a lot more adulteration.
lotsofpulp 4y ago
> While man might not have changed much inherently, their environment has changed profoundly and seemingly not for the better. Depends on which man, or woman. I would say the environment has changed for the better for quite a few.
badpun 4y ago
You can't be serious. In 1920, still a significant part of the population lived in absolutely abhorrent slums. People on average worked 60 hours weeks, and often in extremely unhealthy and dangerous conditions (for example, molten iron being accidentally spilled on some poor soul in Carnegie's steel mill wasn't an uncommon occurence). There were no antibiotics, so family deaths were much more common (leading to grief and depression). Overall, the conditions of living were so harsh that people were numbing themselves with alcohol on a massive scale, ultimately leading to Prohibition Act.

thehappypm 4y ago

This has the same energy as “we don’t have a gun control problem. We have a mental health problem” which every Republican says after every mass shooting

ladeagaytf 4y ago
Well, it’s true… It’s an empty statement, neither side agrees on the fix for poor mental health and so the ball keeps on spinning.
- tstrimple 4y ago
  It's worse than neither side agreeing on a fix. One side claims it's a mental health issue and then cuts funding for mental health. https://www.businessinsider.com/abbott-cut-mental-health-services-funding-in-texas-2022-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/abbott-cut-mental-health-ser...
  - ladeagaytf 4y ago
    Their view is mental health breakdown is a part of a larger social-structure breakdown and no amount of spending will fix that problem. Not all solutions can be fixed with infinite dollars. So no, it isn’t “worse than that.” Meanwhile we have folks creating problems then taxing the populace then shifting tax dollars to unaccountable private sector friends and donors. True problems.
    - rhaway84773 4y ago
      They also prevent social measures to help reduce mental health issues.

sonjat 4y ago

Although I think it is hard to get firm numbers on this, a lot of other drugs are being cut with Fentanyl or outright substituted, including comparatively benign drugs like Xanax. There is a growing movement to classify a lot of fentanyl drug deaths as poisoning since it wasn't that the person took too much, it was that they were unaware that they were taking it at all. (Source: lost a daughter to what she thought was Xanax that was pure Fentanyl)