Opioid/heroin crisis?

[Idaho45guy]

There was a recent article on Fox News about the still-growing epidemic of heroin and opioid abuse and it was linked to another forum I visit.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/06/17...hampshire.html

So members started commenting on how many of their friends and family have been affected. One guy said he had 18 friends die from overdose over the past year (I don't think I even have 18 friends...). Others mentioned how people are walking around like zombies and families are just being devastated by drugs.

It seemed quite a few people using and dying were in their 30's and 40's, which is odd since you'd think one would learn their lesson by that age and wise up to stupid behavior and it's consequences.

But it seems like it's mostly a serious problem in the Midwestern and Eastern states as most people talking about it were from those areas.

My former partner at work is from Ohio, in his late 20's, and said he's lost 50 high school classmates in the past two years to heroin/fentanyl.

I guess I just can't comprehend the kind of environment that people were describing in their communities. I'm out in town nearly every day going to the grocery store or gas station in a town with 15k college kids. I rarely see someone that is obviously on meth or heroin. Lots of dope smokers, however.

My brother is a Detective and member of the local inter-agency drug task force and a couple of years ago mentioned how deaths from meth were down due to the Mexican cartels controlling the supply and flooding the market with "safer" meth with less unknowns in it.

He also said that heroin use was increasing in our area but not nearly as bad as it was in other places.

I don't know; I don't know anyone addicted to heroin or that has died from OD. I know a couple of potheads and a bunch of alcoholics but no hardcore drug users.

What about your area? Do you actually see bunches of people walking around like zombies? Do you have family or friends on heroin/opioids?

[JSnover]

I don't actually see it but I do hear more of it on the local news, just like a few years ago when the 'bath salts' epidemic peaked.

[MrWolf]

Wonder if a few of those stories weren't planted as part of the agenda. There is an issue with over prescribing but I don't think it is as bad as they say as they have cracked down on the prescription process.

[lightman]

I'm not seeing it either. Those death numbers seem kind of excessive to me. The meth and crack heads are pretty easy to spot and we do have a few of those. We probably more dope smokers than I realize but they seem to be more like the social drinkers and are not a problem. I do have a couple of friends/acquaintances that are hooked on legal pain killers due to chronic pain from past injures or ailements . They are concerned about the pending legislation to crack down on the number of prescriptions that a DR can write.

[tommag]

I'm not sure heroin addicts are that easy to spot for the casual observer. I knew a guy that was a junkie and functioned just fine. For a couple years I had no clue. Eventually, he developed a condition where his immune system attacked his muscles. Reading about it, I learned that this condition is mostly found in heroin addicts. That's when I asked him and he confirmed it.

[JSnover]

Does anyone remember some years ago (80s?) patients were pushing doctors to prescribe more painkillers? Until then they were only prescribing minimal amounts because of their addictive potential.
Does anyone else remember this or am I all wrong?

[osteodoc08]

See it every day. Have folk OD and get the reversal agent (narcan) get to the ER, are jonesing for another fix, get up and walk out and right back in an hour or two. The narcan knocks the meds off he opioid receptors and they end up needing more than usual than before the narcan and then end up intubated or DOA.

[snowwolfe]

People spend years learning to hide their evil habits. No difference than booze or spousal and chip abuse. But sooner or later the ugly truth starts to reveal its self.

[Nobade]

It's all over here in Albuquerque. In fact it's hard to encounter a person who is not high when walking in many parts of the city. I have known quite a few junkies and other users. Some have managed to control it and do ok, some have completely thrown away their lives. It makes for a very vulnerable society to have so many people living in a place, all on the edge of destruction.

[DocSavage]

I tend to be a bit of a skeptic,during the past administration everything was a crisis and thus a ploy to extort more money from us the taxpayers.

[Johnch]

Just a few months ago I lost a younger hunting partner to Heroin
He had been on it BIG TIME a few years back
He was a worker at one of the Toledo Ohio schools and bought from several of the students
Got caught in a Piss test and lost his job

Spent 4 years in and out of rehab , at that time all his straight friends and family told him .... talk to us again when you are clean

He moved out of town after his last rehab and was clean for over a year

This last winter he moved back to this area for his job
2 weeks later he got heroin with a "Friend" in Port Clinton Ohio and both died
People were ending up dead a LOT from the bad batches of heroin coming out of the Port Clinton area for months

Hard on his Dad , as I know he was in Pain over it ..... I sort of helped him through the tough times
As I took him hunting a lot of days , just to get his mind off of it for a few hours
He wanted so bad , to "HELP" the police ..... his Duck Gun and OO Buckshot

John

[dragon813gt]

I can assure you it’s not fake. It’s hit a couple people in my family. These are people that you would never expect. They all have families and jobs. And some of them are very well off. It shows that opioids don’t care if you’re poor or rich. Everyone is vulnerable.

I place some of the blame on the drug companies and doctors. The drug companies, who are the biggest drug dealers in the world BTW, were having their salesman push drugs to doctors knowing full well how bad they are. They were outright lying to the doctors. And then you have doctors who simply write a prescription for opioids because you stubbed your toe. Just search “The Sackler Family” if you want to read about putting profits above all else. Here’s a good article but there are plenty more: https://www.esquire.com/news-politic...ily-oxycontin/

Talk to first responders in your area. I’m betting they all carry Narcan. And I’d bet they’re had to use it quite often. Unfortunately people didn’t learn from the heroin epidemic after Vietnam. Opioids were barely mentioned when we had drug prevention assemblies in school. It was all about staying off marijuana and cocaine. I’m sure they know discuss prescription pills, heroin and meth more than anything else. Unfortunately this seems to be cyclical.

One last point. Most of the people hooked started w/ prescription pills. They didn’t see it as a drug. It’s looked at completely differently. Unfortunately the pills put their hooks in you quick. And eventually they switch to heroin for economic purposes. It’s a lot cheaper. At this point they’re not getting high. They’re trying to maintain and keep the pain at bay. Watching family members go through this is hard. The dope sickness is short lived and you’re no longer physically addicted. The mental aspects of the addiction are the hard parts. And it’s why so many struggle to kick it.

[375supermag]

Hi..
I understand it is a very serious problem in my area(southcental Pa.).
I don't understand what the attraction of drug use is...never have.
In 2012, I had some pretty serious surgery for salivary gland cancer at the base of my tongue.
After discharge while recovering at home I was prescribed liquid morphine to be administered via the feeding tube they installed.
After a week or so, I poured it down the drain.
My doctor prescribed muscle relaxants and hydrocodone for the migraines that I suffer from. Haven't taken any of them in a few years.
Advil on occasion is enough to take the edge off the pain and allow me to function. I will admit that I haven't had one of the debilitating migraine attacks since my treatments for salivary gland cancer which included surgery and radiation treatments.
Don't know if the two are related but I do suffer from radiation induced arthritis in my neck but Advil helps with that discomfort also.

[1911sw45]

Need to put the blame where it belongs. The people that are abusing the drugs! It’s not the drug company’s or drs fault, it the people that abuse their meds. Narcan should be banned. Let’s the people abuse the drugs just die. Won’t be long you will see they drug abuse slow to a crawl. There is conquinces for abusing drug and death is one of them.

[ShooterAZ]

It's not prevalent in my area, but it is here. I watched a young man's life go down the drain here at my work (not an employee). He had cut his hand with a Skilsaw and was prescribed opiate pain killers. Apparently he became addicted to them in just a very short time. He'd come in staggering and we finally had to tell him not to return to the premises unless sober. I haven't seen him since. It's sad.

[Hogtamer]

2 here in idyllic Appling Ga this weekend.

[Battis]

This is a great article by Greg Gutfeld (Fox News).
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/...fallacies.html

[Thumbcocker]

I can assure you it’s not fake. It’s hit a couple people in my family. These are people that you would never expect. They all have families and jobs. And some of them are very well off. It shows that opioids don’t care if you’re poor or rich. Everyone is vulnerable.

I place some of the blame on the drug companies and doctors. The drug companies, who are the biggest drug dealers in the world BTW, were having their salesman push drugs to doctors knowing full well how bad they are. They were outright lying to the doctors. And then you have doctors who simply write a prescription for opioids because you stubbed your toe. Just search “The Sackler Family” if you want to read about putting profits above all else. Here’s a good article but there are plenty more: https://www.esquire.com/news-politic...ily-oxycontin/

Talk to first responders in your area. I’m betting they all carry Narcan. And I’d bet they’re had to use it quite often. Unfortunately people didn’t learn from the heroin epidemic after Vietnam. Opioids were barely mentioned when we had drug prevention assemblies in school. It was all about staying off marijuana and cocaine. I’m sure they know discuss prescription pills, heroin and meth more than anything else. Unfortunately this seems to be cyclical.

One last point. Most of the people hooked started w/ prescription pills. They didn’t see it as a drug. It’s looked at completely differently. Unfortunately the pills put their hooks in you quick. And eventually they switch to heroin for economic purposes. It’s a lot cheaper. At this point they’re not getting high. They’re trying to maintain and keep the pain at bay. Watching family members go through this is hard. The dope sickness is short lived and you’re no longer physically addicted. The mental aspects of the addiction are the hard parts. And it’s why so many struggle to kick it.

This ^^^ nailed it

[Hickory]

Drug abuse is the result of a 'feel good' society. If you need to feel good about yourself and there aren't enough people to pat you on the back and make you feel better, there are always drugs easily obtained on the street.
People nowadays have never been taught or conditioned to accept failure or bad times in their lives.
Life to many is a half hour sit-com with happy results after 30 minutes, but, life is a struggle, even in the good times.

Struggle brings growth and strength, and with struggle, you build within yourself the person you will be for the rest of your life.

[popper]

Gov will spend $B of YOUR tax dollars to 'solve' the problem. Recently the CDC released a report stating >40% of the dead drivers in auto accidents had stuff in their system. That doesn't count the ones who didn't have the autopsy. Yes there have been many pill docs and they knew what they were doing, several have been caught and prosecuted. Kinda like the bathtub gin days when booze production wasn't monitored and your would get some really nasty stuff in it, mostly narcotic. Opiods were legal and used for medication for several illnesses, not just pain killer. This whole thing is like the tobacco 'settlement' years ago and the mental illness thing that Gov. is pushing. Just to control the people & waste their money. Most on drugs by their own choice and pretty much ruin lives other than their own. Do realize that in most of the world, this is just 'normal'.