4 ms·

What the heck makes you think that heroin and AD use is related? You could make the argument for it, but this seems completely out of left field.

vasco 3y ago
The connection between depression, trauma, etc and substance abuse is widely documented. In tough times people drink more alcohol and do more drugs. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/treating-depression-substance-abuse https://americanaddictioncenters.org/treating-depression-sub... https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/depression-and-addiction/ https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/depression-and-add... > Depression can increase the risk of chronic illness, including the disease of substance abuse. Up to a third of clinically depressed people engage in drug or alcohol abuse. These chemical intoxicants can become a form of self-medication for soothing the feelings of low self-worth, hopelessness, and despair that characterize this mental health disorder. Perhaps I miss some nuance of what you're questioning because I find it surprising that my point was strange to you and now I'm confused.
- kranke155 3y ago
  Sure, but the OP is about heavy drugs. Antidepressant use is not illegal.
  - vasco 3y ago
    Your question was "What the heck makes you think that heroin and AD use is related?", and I answered. I didn't say they were illegal, I just showed that while some type of substance abuse went down, another type went up. Both related to mental health issues. I don't think this is some wild take.
    - sgift 3y ago
      > I just showed that while some type of substance abuse went down, another type went up. Abuse vs use, unless you can show people didn't get their antidepressants from a psychiatrist or other mental health professional (don't know who is allowed to prescribe them in Portugal).
      - vasco 3y ago
        Of course drugs given by a doctor are better and safer than drugs given by a street dealer, but the main point, which this series of replies seemed to ignore was this: > In my opinion people are just medicating in other ways, but life still sucks. Whatever the source of the issue was, we haven't fixed it. We just got better at dealing with the accute issues created by the hard street drugs, minimizing drug related crime and so on. But the answer shouldn't be to just pump all the would-be drug abusers full of ADs. Or maybe it is, what do I know.
        kranke155 3y ago
        >acute issues created by the hard street drugs, minimizing drug related crime and so on. You talk about this as if its small potatoes! These are major major issues that poison society even in richer countries like the UK. Having lived in London for half a decade and seen what a regime of prohibition has led to there - I would take the "flawed" Portuguese program.
        vasco 3y ago
        My hat is off to Golão and I wish he could get direct funding from EU without local politics intervention. I think the impact at the time was amazing and the results are not debatable. So let me get that out of the way and agree with you in lots of things you've shared in this comment section. My main point is I think we still have loads of mental health issues in Portugal, possibly masked by the super high rate of AD use in our population, which keeps growing. Daily dosages have more than doubled since 2009 (75 DD per 1000 people to 150 DD per 1000 people) and it's accelerating.

vasco 3y ago

The connection between depression, trauma, etc and substance abuse is widely documented. In tough times people drink more alcohol and do more drugs. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/treating-depression-substance-abuse https://americanaddictioncenters.org/treating-depression-sub... https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/depression-and-addiction/ https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/depression-and-add... > Depression can increase the risk of chronic illness, including the disease of substance abuse. Up to a third of clinically depressed people engage in drug or alcohol abuse. These chemical intoxicants can become a form of self-medication for soothing the feelings of low self-worth, hopelessness, and despair that characterize this mental health disorder. Perhaps I miss some nuance of what you're questioning because I find it surprising that my point was strange to you and now I'm confused.

kranke155 3y ago
Sure, but the OP is about heavy drugs. Antidepressant use is not illegal.
- vasco 3y ago
  Your question was "What the heck makes you think that heroin and AD use is related?", and I answered. I didn't say they were illegal, I just showed that while some type of substance abuse went down, another type went up. Both related to mental health issues. I don't think this is some wild take.
  - sgift 3y ago
    > I just showed that while some type of substance abuse went down, another type went up. Abuse vs use, unless you can show people didn't get their antidepressants from a psychiatrist or other mental health professional (don't know who is allowed to prescribe them in Portugal).
    - vasco 3y ago
      Of course drugs given by a doctor are better and safer than drugs given by a street dealer, but the main point, which this series of replies seemed to ignore was this: > In my opinion people are just medicating in other ways, but life still sucks. Whatever the source of the issue was, we haven't fixed it. We just got better at dealing with the accute issues created by the hard street drugs, minimizing drug related crime and so on. But the answer shouldn't be to just pump all the would-be drug abusers full of ADs. Or maybe it is, what do I know.
      - kranke155 3y ago
        >acute issues created by the hard street drugs, minimizing drug related crime and so on. You talk about this as if its small potatoes! These are major major issues that poison society even in richer countries like the UK. Having lived in London for half a decade and seen what a regime of prohibition has led to there - I would take the "flawed" Portuguese program.
        vasco 3y ago
        My hat is off to Golão and I wish he could get direct funding from EU without local politics intervention. I think the impact at the time was amazing and the results are not debatable. So let me get that out of the way and agree with you in lots of things you've shared in this comment section. My main point is I think we still have loads of mental health issues in Portugal, possibly masked by the super high rate of AD use in our population, which keeps growing. Daily dosages have more than doubled since 2009 (75 DD per 1000 people to 150 DD per 1000 people) and it's accelerating.