Philadelphia- what the opioid epidemic looked like this summer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s an interesting angle -

How does one fully recover when their addiction /overdose is displayed in national/social media?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/us/overdoses-youtube-opioids-drugs.html?referringSource=articleShare

Great article. This is the money quote:


Addiction experts say the videos are doing little else than publicly shaming drug users, and the blunt horror of the images may actually increase the stigma against them. Users themselves disagree on whether the humiliation helped them clean up their lives.

“We’re showing you this video of them at the worst, most humiliating moment of their life,” said Daniel Raymond, deputy director of policy and planning at the Harm Reduction Coalition, an advocacy group. “The intent is not to help these people. The intent is to use them as an object lesson by scapegoating them.”


And of course the police defend themselves in that article, re: posting these humiliating videos on the Internet. So many of them have lost their humanity for those they deem as "less than."\

Honestly, I think this thread is kinda gross. The OP is not offering solutions, but instead wants us to wallow in the spectacle of addiction in America.

I firmly disagree.

Social pressure is the biggest and most useful factor in getting people to quit habits and change. It was social pressure that encouraged people to quit smoking on an enormous scale. Cigarettes became so firmly associated with negative attitudes that people were embarrassed to be smoking and that was a big motivation in quitting, as well as discouraging younger people from taking up the habit.

We may not be able to do much for the current junkies, but we can send powerful messages to the next generation and these videos go a very long way in helping send that message.

Right now I'm worried that all these "fat acceptance" in advertising and videos are going to do far more long term harm than any short term liberal good feelings by encouraging people it's ok to be fat. Because it really isn't.

Yes but normalizing fat is normalizing illness. And illness keeps the “healthcare” industry going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s an interesting angle -

How does one fully recover when their addiction /overdose is displayed in national/social media?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/us/overdoses-youtube-opioids-drugs.html?referringSource=articleShare

Great article. This is the money quote:


Addiction experts say the videos are doing little else than publicly shaming drug users, and the blunt horror of the images may actually increase the stigma against them. Users themselves disagree on whether the humiliation helped them clean up their lives.

“We’re showing you this video of them at the worst, most humiliating moment of their life,” said Daniel Raymond, deputy director of policy and planning at the Harm Reduction Coalition, an advocacy group. “The intent is not to help these people. The intent is to use them as an object lesson by scapegoating them.”


And of course the police defend themselves in that article, re: posting these humiliating videos on the Internet. So many of them have lost their humanity for those they deem as "less than."\

Honestly, I think this thread is kinda gross. The OP is not offering solutions, but instead wants us to wallow in the spectacle of addiction in America.

I firmly disagree.

Social pressure is the biggest and most useful factor in getting people to quit habits and change. It was social pressure that encouraged people to quit smoking on an enormous scale. Cigarettes became so firmly associated with negative attitudes that people were embarrassed to be smoking and that was a big motivation in quitting, as well as discouraging younger people from taking up the habit.

We may not be able to do much for the current junkies, but we can send powerful messages to the next generation and these videos go a very long way in helping send that message.

Right now I'm worried that all these "fat acceptance" in advertising and videos are going to do far more long term harm than any short term liberal good feelings by encouraging people it's ok to be fat. Because it really isn't.

You sound a bit sadistic. And that's not a compliment.

I agree that "scared straight" has a time and a place. But dozens of videos of junkies in Philadelphia is pure misery porn and voyeurism. The people who make these videos and consume them for hours on end are sick people with a fetish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s an interesting angle -

How does one fully recover when their addiction /overdose is displayed in national/social media?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/us/overdoses-youtube-opioids-drugs.html?referringSource=articleShare

Great article. This is the money quote:


Addiction experts say the videos are doing little else than publicly shaming drug users, and the blunt horror of the images may actually increase the stigma against them. Users themselves disagree on whether the humiliation helped them clean up their lives.

“We’re showing you this video of them at the worst, most humiliating moment of their life,” said Daniel Raymond, deputy director of policy and planning at the Harm Reduction Coalition, an advocacy group. “The intent is not to help these people. The intent is to use them as an object lesson by scapegoating them.”


And of course the police defend themselves in that article, re: posting these humiliating videos on the Internet. So many of them have lost their humanity for those they deem as "less than."\

Honestly, I think this thread is kinda gross. The OP is not offering solutions, but instead wants us to wallow in the spectacle of addiction in America.

I firmly disagree.

Social pressure is the biggest and most useful factor in getting people to quit habits and change. It was social pressure that encouraged people to quit smoking on an enormous scale. Cigarettes became so firmly associated with negative attitudes that people were embarrassed to be smoking and that was a big motivation in quitting, as well as discouraging younger people from taking up the habit.

We may not be able to do much for the current junkies, but we can send powerful messages to the next generation and these videos go a very long way in helping send that message.

Right now I'm worried that all these "fat acceptance" in advertising and videos are going to do far more long term harm than any short term liberal good feelings by encouraging people it's ok to be fat. Because it really isn't.

You sound a bit sadistic. And that's not a compliment.

I agree that "scared straight" has a time and a place. But dozens of videos of junkies in Philadelphia is pure misery porn and voyeurism. The people who make these videos and consume them for hours on end are sick people with a fetish.

You sound like a complete head-in-the-sand ostrich, who would rather ignore the problem from the safety of your own home.

[Anonymous]

People quit smoking not because of peer pressure but because having a job became tougher (no smoke breaks), buying insurance became more expensive (higher premiums for smokers), you couldn’t do it in restaurants any longer (so had to leave your fun group and step outside in the weather to smoke your nasty cigarette).

The people in these videos pretty much only have one thing they care care to keep, and it’s escape. These videos and the public shaming just make escape way more valuable.

Absolutely everyone in their lives looks down on them, and they know it. Reaching them is possible, but not by shaming them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People quit smoking not because of peer pressure but because having a job became tougher (no smoke breaks), buying insurance became more expensive (higher premiums for smokers), you couldn’t do it in restaurants any longer (so had to leave your fun group and step outside in the weather to smoke your nasty cigarette).

The people in these videos pretty much only have one thing they care care to keep, and it’s escape. These videos and the public shaming just make escape way more valuable.

Absolutely everyone in their lives looks down on them, and they know it. Reaching them is possible, but not by shaming them.

This. Absolutely everything.

[Anonymous]

Awareness is the first step toward solving a problem.

I was not aware, until I viewed this video of this street in Philadelphia, that the opioid epidemic looked this bad in August 2021.

Did you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington Square Park in NY is like this now. Sad.

Ok - thanks for an actual contribution to this discussion; I did not know WSP was getting like this again.

I’m the OP. Re: the messenger - I didn’t know that but isn’t it really irrelevant to the REAL problem here? (not to mention: how do we solve this??).

Personally I think a “head in the sand / cancel the information” is the wrong way to go.

Yeah - it’s hard to look at. Easier to just ignore these people, right? But these are our people! Human beings with lives and families who need help. Least we can do it gain knowledge about the problem to maybe try to find a solution here.

Have some empathy here people!

Instead of reposting videos like this, you can...
- Call your elected officials and tell them to decriminalize drugs (criminalization does not work, the drug war does not work).
- Donate to efforts that support drug decriminalization, effective drug treatment, and harm reduction.
- Get training in how to administer naloxone and have some on hand in case you see someone overdosing.
- Be a support system for family/friends with substance use disorder because having support is a key component of recovery.

It would be much more efficient to stop resuscitating them. Let them OD.

As long as it’s not one of your loved ones, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Awareness is the first step toward solving a problem.

I was not aware, until I viewed this video of this street in Philadelphia, that the opioid epidemic looked this bad in August 2021.

Did you?

I did not.

I think those complaining about the video just want to pretend it doesn’t exist.

[Anonymous]

There was a really good thrift store near there in the eighties. My friends and I used to the El to Kensington and go there. It was a rough neighborhood even then... Lots of fires from the meth labs... But not like this.

Even the East Village, on Avenue C, when I lived there in 1989, wasn't like this.

Or not quite. There were abandoned buildings that were probably a lot like this.

I have a large number of college friends who got into this world and somehow stumbled out again. They all have phds and other professional degrees now. They have kids and houses and other interests. You would have no idea, looking at them or their accomplishments. Most didn't go through any actual rehab. Detox here and there. One detoxed in jail.

What made them stop? Having the ability to get away from the culture and the people seemed to have the biggest effect... That and having an UMC family to assist.

I have some friends who died, too. What separated them from the group who just stopped? Nothing. Bad luck.

[Anonymous]

I live in the Philadelphia suburbs. I've noticed people using weed in public areas, but not hardcore drugs. This isn't limited to Philly. It's all over the place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the Democrats just need more time. A Republican has not held the office of mayor for Philadelphia since 1952 --almost 70 years. Maybe 30 more years of Democrat control will make it a better place.

Philly just needs more "Hope & Change" and everything will be all right. If everyone would feel good about making Philadelphia a better place, expressing concern and compassion, maybe get some celebrities up there to broadcast how much they care, why, Philadelphia would become a better place through the combined good will sentiments of the population. And they need more "Drug Free Zone" signs to let the drug dealers know they aren't allowed to sell drugs there, and people aren't allowed to do drugs there either. The people would read the signs and obey, just as they would obey gun laws if enacted that would ban guns in Philly just like the thugs obey the gun laws in D.C.

You know that the opioid epidemic isn't limited to Philly, right? Plenty of Rust Belt and midwestern areas with the same problem. The problem is much bigger than one city.

There are towns in West Virginia that look like this. But they won't create a Youtube channel of drug addled West Virginians because they are "real Americans" who "need help."

Hard agree. When it's a city with drug addicts, "leftist politicians" are responsible. When it's a rural part of the country with drug addicts, "globalists funneling in opioids" are responsible.

[Anonymous]

Is philly the grittiest city in the country?

Like I known more and Detroit are grimey but I’ve always felt philly was even more so esp considering the wealth it hat exists in philly.

[Anonymous]

The universally young people in this video who are passed out and stumbling around are NOT in that state because they initially got addicted to legally prescribed Oxycontin. No, this crop of addicts went straight to street drugs, particularly fentanyl-laced everything from China labs, and ultra potent heroin.

I hate Purdue and the Sacklers as much as anyone. We need to retire the myth that they’re responsible for getting 22 yr olds “hooked on pills” . The current crop of addicts under 40 didn’t start out like their predecessors with a legal, refillable script for a high dose of Oxy for minor back pain. (And when that script runs out, you go pill mill -> heroin -> fentNyl -> overdose. )

Anyone who’s tried to get or fill a script for, say, just 5 total opioid pills following knee surgery in the last several years knows this is true. Prescription culture has shifted dramatically. Doctors are schooled and DEA tracking is real and consistent.

So again, the Sacklers suck, but they didn’t create the specific addicts in THIS video.

[Anonymous]

Wow, so many white people on drugs. I didn’t expect that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is philly the grittiest city in the country?

Like I known more and Detroit are grimey but I’ve always felt philly was even more so esp considering the wealth it hat exists in philly.

Really?
Yes that’s the point of this thread.