Chicago Again

[xs11jack]

Be sure you read the last sentence. OJ

Newser) – Chicago authorities are scrambling after 74 heroin overdoses were reported in the 72 hours between Tuesday and Friday afternoon, more than double the overdose rate during the same time last year, NBC Chicago reports. Police suspect an "extremely strong batch of heroin" that's been laced the powerful painkiller fentanyl. They are currently hunting for the source of the drug, which appears to have been sold at two locations on the city's West Side. "We suspect what is happening is the same thing that happened in 2006," Mount Sinai emergency room director Diane Hincks tells the Chicago Tribune. Between 2005 and 2007, more than 1,000 people around the country died from fentanyl-laced heroin. The Tribune reports there have been no deaths during the rash of overdoses this week that can be definitively traced to heroin laced with fentanyl, though authorities are waiting on toxicology reports from a 49-year-old man who died of an apparent overdose Thursday. Hospitals are supplying paramedics with extra doses of Narcan, a heroin antidote, due to the strength of the current batch. "They're taking double and triple the doses of Narcan in order to bring them out of their stupor," Hincks tells the Tribune. The DEA issued a nationwide warning about fentanyl-laced heroin in March. A recent study show Chicago has more heroin-related ER visits than any other US city.

[oldred]

How come it is that I just can't muster any sympathy for these people? I suppose it's wrong and not the way I should feel but my honest reaction when I read about a rash of ODs is that "well, good enough for them", they won't be a problem or a burden on society anymore.

[dtknowles]

How come it is that I just can't muster any sympathy for these people? I suppose it's wrong and not the way I should feel but my honest reaction when I read about a rash of ODs is that "well, good enough for them", they won't be a problem or a burden on society anymore.

Did you read the story, only one died. Seventy something more lived after treatment in ER. They are a burden and a problem and will probably repeat.

Tim

[fryboy]

it is sadly an epidemic ( btw ? did you know that since we've been in afganistan they are reporting bumper crops of the opium poppy ?? hmmm.... you tie the two together ..) yup an addict stands a better chance of repeating than a non-addict ( no brainer ) the drug trade also helps fuel the violence in chiraq ( the left just doesnt use these examples as it doesnt fit into their agenda is all ) violence that barely gets lip service in the lamestream media ( if at that ) let alone the cause of and root of such , it is hard to feel bad when a addict o.d.'s and dies , again it's tragic but ... in the underground and black market of so called "refined drugs" you pays your money and you takes your chances
what's even harder is a drug called "croc" or crocodile ( used by many junkies who can not get junk from the reports i read ) , it eats you up from the inside out and those who use it know that once started life expectancy is terribly short yet they use it anyways ....

[walltube]

Thousands of US veterans being turned away for medical treatment and there is an uproar over Chicago morons injecting a lethal, self inflicted dose of heroin. Imagine that....

Wt.

[MtGun44]

So what is the downside here? Junkies removing themselves from
society seems like a benefit to us. Sympathies for junkies is an
overdrawn account.

[Plate plinker]

Thousands of US veterans being turned away for medical treatment and there is an uproar over Chicago morons injecting a lethal, self inflicted dose of heroin. Imagine that....

Wt.

[edctexas]

Well its Chicago! They have shootings and never do anything but whine that there aren't enough gun laws. I don't understand why they always try to bring those junkies back from and OD.

Ed C

[Thumbcocker]

It is not just Chicago. I have prosecuted 2 drug induced homicide cases in the past couple of years in a small county. We see regular ER admissions due to overdoses. in preparing for one trial I got to hear a Grandmother talk about watching tears roll down her granddaughters cheeks after the priest administered the last rights and told her granddaughter she was in Gods hands a few hours before she died because sections of her brain had been without oxygen for too long after her heart stopped.. The Hollywood version of a junkie is no longer valid. The woman who died was from a good family and had held a regular job. It is not uncommon for addicts to work and appear normal until the end.

Some addicts started with prescription opioid pain killers after accidents or injuries. There are actually video presentations where big pharmaceutical companies were telling doctors how to get around patients reluctance to use heavy duty pain killers. Two physicians in my area were investigated for running pill mills where opioid pain pills were handed out with no exam for cash payments. I helped the investigating agents get the court orders for the eavesdrops. After DEA and other agencies started going after pill mills at a national level thousands of addicted people turned to heroin as an alternative.


Heroin is actually often cheaper than Rx drugs on the street. The dealers will sell as little as 1/10 gram to users. A 1/10 gram can go for as little as $10 or as much as $35 out here in the sticks. I have seen addicts pretty much every work day for 26 years and the days of the 1970's cop show junkie are long gone. In many communities even here in the mid west it is not at all difficult to find families touched by addiction and even overdose. Many criminals become drug addicts along their criminal career and many drug addicts commit crimes during the course of their addiction. Sorting out the two is challenging and has been dumped into the lap of the criminal justice system.

[Petrol & Powder]

Opiate addiction is a problem regardless of the type; heroin, methadone, fentanyl (an extremely powerful synthetic opiate) and other painkillers. I'm torn between being indifferent to the problems of the addicts and having sympathy for the addicts. Thumbcocker is absolutely correct that sorting criminals from mere users is a difficult endeavor. I've seen good people ruined by drugs and I've seen bad people become worse from drug abuse.
One thing is certain, someone is profiting from the misery of others and in the case of heroin, that ultimate supply chain usually leads to Afghanistan. Not only are the domestic drug dealers making money by selling poison in our communities but that money also helps to fund groups that hate America.
It's a complex issue with many facets; Prohibition and the associated problems, personal freedom and the consequences of those choices for the individual and society, what should be criminal and what shouldn't be.....

Like mass shootings, immigration issues, energy, war, the economy and many other large scale problems; if the solutions were easy we would have already enacted those solutions.

Meanwhile, I have sympathy for families that are destroyed by drugs, hatred for those that profit from the addiction of others and hope that our continued battle on many fronts will at least yield some positive results.
Doing nothing is unacceptable.
We have fire codes in an attempt to prevent deadly fires in cities or at least reduce the loss of life when they do occur BUT we still have fire departments to fight those fires when do inevitably occur.
In the same manner we have drug treatment and drug prohibition in an attempt to limit the destruction caused by drug abuse BUT we still arrest, prosecute and incarcerate drug dealers.
Fire Codes & fire fighters. Drug treatment and drug enforcement.
I see no other way in the foreseeable future.

[wv109323]

Think of the money that 70 heroin overdoses ER visits cost. Then our veterans can not get health care. Kinda sick.
Many, Many heroin addicts do not want help. It seems human nature is to wallow in their miseries.
In my area the parents neglect their children to support their addiction.
Locally the addicts collect their food stamps,go to the grocery store and buy the entire monthly amount in soft drinks. They take the soft drinks to local profiteers and sell them for cash. This gives them the cash to support their habit while their kids go hungry.
My daughter involved herself to supply needy kids with a bicycle for Christmas. The parents took the bicycle and sold it to support their habit.
Same daughter, raised money to buy winter coats for needy children. The coats were taken and sold. The kids continued to come to school without a coat.
How do you help?

[Rustyleee]

I've seen a mother stab her own son in the chest over the last hit of heroine in the house.

[Petrol & Powder]

As for the money to treat 70 overdose patients, it is a lot but a drop in the bucket when you look at the entire country. 70 patients at a couple of hospitals in a major city over the course of a few days is really nothing in the vast scheme. It's likely that same hospital deals with 10 gun shot wounds from gang members shooting each other, 50 homeless alcoholics seeking a warm bed for a few hours and many other drains on the public funds during the same time period and that's just one hospital in one big city.

As for veterans, I'm totally with you. I would be willing to privatize veteran's health care and I'm more than willing to pay for it. Every wounded/disabled U.S. military veteran should be able to walk into any hospital and get the care he/she needs and the public should pay for it. We owe that to them. The VA hospitals were a good idea in the 1800's but the system is broken and outdated.

As for addicts and helping to fix that problem, jail is a very effective first step. While it is true that we can't fix the drug problem with jails alone we can damn sure use drug laws and jails to start our efforts to help those in need. Lock up the adult addicts and place the children of addicts in a safe environment. We can't (and shouldn't) lock users up for long term but we can use the law to lock them up long enough to get the kids in foster care and the parents in treatment.

wv109323, your daughter sounds like a good person and she learned a valuable lesson. The best intentions don't always produce the desired outcome. You can't give addicts anything of value, they will simply convert those items to drugs.

Criminals will always figure out how to convert welfare (public or private) to their desired use. That is why you must never feed the bears.

[TXGunNut]

Heroin overdoses quite often happen when the guy doing the "cutting" makes a simple math mistake, changes suppliers or a junkie buys from a different dealer. Sounds to me like a high-level Chirac dealer either changed his supplier or eliminated a rival and put something out there that was a bit more than the addicts were used to. I have no sympathy for the addicts, I still can't believe heroin has made such a comeback over the last several years. I once thought that heroin was so nasty that it would never become mainstream again. Should have known better.