3 ms·

How about we de-stigmatize its use so that an addict is able to tell their family members and friends rather than being silent about their addiction? My best f

by cj 3y ago

How about we de-stigmatize its use so that an addict is able to tell their family members and friends rather than being silent about their addiction? My best friend (and angel investor / VC) died of fentanyl in SF in 2018. At first I thought it was suicide because I had no idea he was on drugs. What ended up happening is he was prescribed legal opioids for legitimate reasons (he had brain cancer including surgeries), and then never got un-addicted to them when the refills ended, so he resorted to street drugs to avoid going into withdrawal. (and then "oops, fentanyl...") And he couldn't tell anyone or share that he was going through this with anyone because he was extremely high functioning VC / angel investor. At a minimum, we need to create a society where "an addict" doesn't immediately conjure an image of a homeless person with no teeth. Or come up with some new "branding" for it (for lack of better terminology). We need to normalize the concept of addiction so it can be discussed more openly and broadly.

cameldrv 3y ago
Your friend's death is a tragedy. Preventing as many deaths like this as possible is what I hope for the future. Suppose your friend were in a country like Singapore, where drug punishments are extremely harsh. When his prescription ran out, he would have been faced with the choice to either kick opioids or engage in serious criminal activity. Finding a dealer would be very hard, because dealers are executed if caught. Even if he found a dealer, he would know that, if caught, he would be facing jail time. There's a very good chance that someone in your friend's position would decide to go through the extremely difficult process of kicking. In SF, even for someone who is trying to kick, it is so easy in a moment of weakness to just to go down to the Tenderloin and buy fentanyl, like your friend did. Buying fentanyl there is pretty easy, not too expensive, everyone knows where to go, and there is zero chance of being arrested. The only problem is that you might get more than you bargained for and overdose and die. I also have a friend who got addicted to stimulants and was going insane from them. I tried hard but ultimately wasn't able to help him. I talked to a lot of people who deal with addiction professionally, and what I kept hearing was that in this situation someone has to hit rock bottom before they can start to recover. In the end, he was arrested for forging prescriptions and had to spend some time in jail, where he didn't have access to drugs. He would say that this was the first step towards his recovery and the best thing that ever happened to him. He got clean and went on to get a master's degree, get married, and now has a good job and a couple of kids. Rock bottom in San Francisco though isn't a jail cell, it's overdosing on the sidewalk and dying.
- cj 3y ago
  Wonder if anything can be learned from the gambling industry. Gambling is a vice and can be a damaging addiction. Yet it’s legal in many places and while there are stories of people gambling their life away, society doesn’t seem to see it as a major problem (and in fact is promoting its use via legalization of online gambling)
  - cameldrv 3y ago
    Personally I think that legalizing online gambling will prove to be a huge mistake. 30-40 years ago the national strategy was basically to confine it to Vegas and Atlantic City, and most people live far enough from those places that the inconvenience keeps the vulnerable from developing a full blown addiction. Putting this in every smartphone is going to lead to many destroyed lives. The one good thing that the gambling industry has is the ability to add yourself to a self exclusion list. Gambling and alcohol are different though from Fentanyl in that the large majority of people who gamble or drink alcohol don't become addicted. Fentanyl though is just such a strong stimulus that it exerts a nearly irresistible pull for too many people.

by cj 3y ago

cameldrv 3y ago

Your friend's death is a tragedy. Preventing as many deaths like this as possible is what I hope for the future. Suppose your friend were in a country like Singapore, where drug punishments are extremely harsh. When his prescription ran out, he would have been faced with the choice to either kick opioids or engage in serious criminal activity. Finding a dealer would be very hard, because dealers are executed if caught. Even if he found a dealer, he would know that, if caught, he would be facing jail time. There's a very good chance that someone in your friend's position would decide to go through the extremely difficult process of kicking. In SF, even for someone who is trying to kick, it is so easy in a moment of weakness to just to go down to the Tenderloin and buy fentanyl, like your friend did. Buying fentanyl there is pretty easy, not too expensive, everyone knows where to go, and there is zero chance of being arrested. The only problem is that you might get more than you bargained for and overdose and die. I also have a friend who got addicted to stimulants and was going insane from them. I tried hard but ultimately wasn't able to help him. I talked to a lot of people who deal with addiction professionally, and what I kept hearing was that in this situation someone has to hit rock bottom before they can start to recover. In the end, he was arrested for forging prescriptions and had to spend some time in jail, where he didn't have access to drugs. He would say that this was the first step towards his recovery and the best thing that ever happened to him. He got clean and went on to get a master's degree, get married, and now has a good job and a couple of kids. Rock bottom in San Francisco though isn't a jail cell, it's overdosing on the sidewalk and dying.

cj 3y ago
Wonder if anything can be learned from the gambling industry. Gambling is a vice and can be a damaging addiction. Yet it’s legal in many places and while there are stories of people gambling their life away, society doesn’t seem to see it as a major problem (and in fact is promoting its use via legalization of online gambling)
- cameldrv 3y ago
  Personally I think that legalizing online gambling will prove to be a huge mistake. 30-40 years ago the national strategy was basically to confine it to Vegas and Atlantic City, and most people live far enough from those places that the inconvenience keeps the vulnerable from developing a full blown addiction. Putting this in every smartphone is going to lead to many destroyed lives. The one good thing that the gambling industry has is the ability to add yourself to a self exclusion list. Gambling and alcohol are different though from Fentanyl in that the large majority of people who gamble or drink alcohol don't become addicted. Fentanyl though is just such a strong stimulus that it exerts a nearly irresistible pull for too many people.