Heroin epidemic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This doesn't concern me at all. Let the junkies off themselves

It will concern you when they knock you or your loved ones in the head to get money for drugs. When they rob your home to get money for drugs. Wake up fool. This is a societal problem not a "their" problem. WE are "they."

My hometown has an epidemic heroin problem. Most of the junkies are not the violent " I'll rob you for a fix type". These are timid suburban white kids and soccer moms. Most of them are found passed out at a red light or dead in their homes with hungry infants to feed.

My best friend is an RN there and the treatment for these junkies equals new treatment centers and programs paid for with tax dollars. I have no concern for a junkie.

Score

[Anonymous]

There is also a war on terror OP. In case you were not aware of that either. Also, the sky is blue and grass is green! That is all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This doesn't concern me at all. Let the junkies off themselves

It will concern you when they knock you or your loved ones in the head to get money for drugs. When they rob your home to get money for drugs. Wake up fool. This is a societal problem not a "their" problem. WE are "they."

My hometown has an epidemic heroin problem. Most of the junkies are not the violent " I'll rob you for a fix type". These are timid suburban white kids and soccer moms. Most of them are found passed out at a red light or dead in their homes with hungry infants to feed.

My best friend is an RN there and the treatment for these junkies equals new treatment centers and programs paid for with tax dollars. I have no concern for a junkie.

Score

Mother of heroin addict here. In a way I don't disagree with these sentiments. In the end we went the very cheapest way, although money was not the reason why. We did at home detox--completely miserable but safe and a really good reason not to get hooked again. Medical detox is pretty easy. Then a lot of NA, which is free except for all the cookies and cupcakes I funded for meetings.

I did a huge amount of research into rehabs, visited two, and came away very dissatisfied. The vast, vast majority do little besides warehouse people, even those that cost a large amount and have lovely grounds. Personnel are barely trained and treatment consists of some group therapy with loads of down time. Very low success rates and it's always the addicts fault, never their program's fault. If they slip up, keep sending them back to the same failed rehab or another failed rehab. They use the phrase "relapse is part of recovery" to justify their failures and take in even more dollars from addicts coming back the third, the fourth, the nth time. I can't imagine how much more scammy they'd get with federal dollars pouring in.

The family really is the one that has step up here. I am for funding Narcan for police and EMTs because it is life saving and also for funding research into effective, nonaddictive drugs that work against addiction, as well as into non-narcotic painkillers. And some general public and medical personnel education efforts so that they can advise their patients on detox and effective anti-addiction drugs that are not themselves addictive like naltrexone. I'd be wary of putting Federal money into a lot of new treatment centers and programs.

One can just look at the privately-contracted methadone clinics. They have no interest whatsoever to get their charges off methadone (itself very addictive and even harder to get off than heroin because the half life is so long) because if they did, they'd go out of business. And many of their patients look to the clinic as a steady supply source so they can always score even when they can't find their heroin fix for the day. But the clinics have become entrenched to the point where many naive doctors refer their patients with a mild and relatively recent opioid addiction to them, which is actually a sentence to years-long addiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks people of color aren't disproportionately impacted by the damaging effects of heroin is smoking something real special themselves. Watch Lisa Ling on CNN addressing this issue on CNN right now -- #ThisIsLife show

I prefer to learn statistics from the CDC rather than CNN.

[Anonymous]

What is the point PP is trying to make?

That the majority of heroin users are non-Hispanic white but that the percentage of white users is a smaller proportion of the white population than the percentage of other than non-Hispanic white users is to that population?

From the CDC statistics a PP posted, this appears to have been true for the period 2002 to 2004, but not for 2011-2013.

[Anonymous]

The idea that prescription opiates cause most heroin addiction is a huge myth. The age-group 18-29 of the bulk of heroin users only received <10% of narcotic prescription.

In terms of the gateway drug to heroin, for 59% of teens it was Cannabis vs 17% Opiates (usually not via prescription).

See this article:

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/08/i_dont_prescribe_heroin.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This doesn't concern me at all. Let the junkies off themselves

It will concern you when they knock you or your loved ones in the head to get money for drugs. When they rob your home to get money for drugs. Wake up fool. This is a societal problem not a "their" problem. WE are "they."

My hometown has an epidemic heroin problem. Most of the junkies are not the violent " I'll rob you for a fix type". These are timid suburban white kids and soccer moms. Most of them are found passed out at a red light or dead in their homes with hungry infants to feed.

My best friend is an RN there and the treatment for these junkies equals new treatment centers and programs paid for with tax dollars. I have no concern for a junkie.

Score

Mother of heroin addict here. In a way I don't disagree with these sentiments. In the end we went the very cheapest way, although money was not the reason why. We did at home detox--completely miserable but safe and a really good reason not to get hooked again. Medical detox is pretty easy. Then a lot of NA, which is free except for all the cookies and cupcakes I funded for meetings.

I did a huge amount of research into rehabs, visited two, and came away very dissatisfied. The vast, vast majority do little besides warehouse people, even those that cost a large amount and have lovely grounds. Personnel are barely trained and treatment consists of some group therapy with loads of down time. Very low success rates and it's always the addicts fault, never their program's fault. If they slip up, keep sending them back to the same failed rehab or another failed rehab. They use the phrase "relapse is part of recovery" to justify their failures and take in even more dollars from addicts coming back the third, the fourth, the nth time. I can't imagine how much more scammy they'd get with federal dollars pouring in.

The family really is the one that has step up here. I am for funding Narcan for police and EMTs because it is life saving and also for funding research into effective, nonaddictive drugs that work against addiction, as well as into non-narcotic painkillers. And some general public and medical personnel education efforts so that they can advise their patients on detox and effective anti-addiction drugs that are not themselves addictive like naltrexone. I'd be wary of putting Federal money into a lot of new treatment centers and programs.

One can just look at the privately-contracted methadone clinics. They have no interest whatsoever to get their charges off methadone (itself very addictive and even harder to get off than heroin because the half life is so long) because if they did, they'd go out of business. And many of their patients look to the clinic as a steady supply source so they can always score even when they can't find their heroin fix for the day. But the clinics have become entrenched to the point where many naive doctors refer their patients with a mild and relatively recent opioid addiction to them, which is actually a sentence to years-long addiction.

"Drug courts" have proven far more effective (and much less expensive) than publicaly funded treatment centers, which, as you point out, serve mostly to warehouse addicts at taxpayer expense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when crack was killing black America we did what? Three strikes. Scorn. Derision. Jailed a generation of black men leaving, affecting a generation of black women who either couldn't find suitable mates because they weren't there OR who had babies with men who were then thrown in to prison to rot and make money for private prisons.

Now middle class white America is impacted and suddenly we feel compassion. OK.

Hey, I'm all for mandatory minimums and three strikes. Blame the liberals who are actively working against them. If you elect Hillary, say goodbye to basically all consequences once the liberals take over the Supreme Court for the rest of our lives.

Really, because every one of those lifers cost about $60,000 a year or more in tax dollars, not to mention the aid that many families must receive when wage earners disappear into prison for life. Lots of young men who were involved in petty street crime (car theft, pot slinging, vandalism, etc.) or gas station holdups and the like turn into reasonable adults who might actually contribute to society, but they're locked up for life under three strikes. Locked up for life also means on the taxpayer dime for life.

[Anonymous]

With regard to drug courts, there is a judge in Texas who got tired of seeing the same addicts in his court month after month. He began ordering monthly naltrexone injections as an alternative and has seen far fewer relapse rates. The medication, known as Vivitrol, has no street value unlike some other addictive "harm reduction" medications like methadone and suboxone. The injections are expensive, but far less than paying for court ordered rehab.