3 ms·

We did legalise opium by way of oxycontin and I'm not sure that helped reduce the scope of the problem. Arguably a lot more people got hooked on opium than ever

We did legalise opium by way of oxycontin and I'm not sure that helped reduce the scope of the problem. Arguably a lot more people got hooked on opium than ever before because something legalized has less stigma attached and is more easily accessible. Society has waffled repeatedly on the legality of opium and the effects of opium are a bit different than less destructive narcotics where legalization makes more sense.

slothtrop 2y ago
Oxycontin was overprescribed for pain, it's not available for recreational use. Possibly it's just too potent for legalization to be viable.
- jdietrich 2y ago
  Oxycodone (Oxycontin) has similar potency to diamorphine (heroin) and is ~2 orders of magnitude less potent than fentanyl. https://www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/treatment-guidelines/opioid-equivalence-chart/ https://www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/tr...
  - slothtrop 2y ago
    I wasn't referring to potency strictly in the capacity of risk of overdose, but strongly addictive potential.
- salve-for-tears 2y ago
  OxyContin was de-facto legalized. You could go to certain doctors, complain of pain, and walk out with a prescription. Just like you could do with medical marijuana in California. Legalization made the problem much worse because it increased demand markedly.
gedy 2y ago
> Arguably a lot more people got hooked on opium than ever before because something legalized has less stigma attached Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I know that by the 80s heroin had a bad stigma attached to it even by other drug users, and it was rarely seen in the circles I knew. Coke, pot and meth did not have that at the time.