Heroin epidemic?

[Anonymous]

https://youtu.be/RkHtrNxkXPE


This is a great documentary. Heroin is epidemic and it affects everyone from young teens to older adults, of every race and economic background. I think Oxycontin needs to be banned. My own 5th grader was prescribed it after a serious injury and kept begging me for more pills when I knew he was not in severe pain. This terrified me and I tossed those pills and got some extra strength Motrin. Oxycontin is highly addictive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read this this entire story that a PP posted:

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/November-December-2015/A-Mothers-Heartbreak-Heroins-Toll-in-Montgomery-County/index.php?cparticle=5&siarticle=4#artanc

As the mother of a former heroin addict I found the story incredibly frustrating. I did not see evidence in the story that any of them practiced hyper warrior momism with their kids. To save your child you need to pursue this as zealously as Demeter pursued Persephone to pull her out of Hades.

My child freely acknowledges that it was I through my unrelenting efforts who pulled her out of her addiction. Of course DC had to do the hard work of at home detox, going to countless NA meetings, etc. but none of this would have happened had I not been doing huge amounts of research and putting effective steps in place, as well as having enough flexibility to deal with new circumstances.

An addict does not have to hit rock bottom to be helped. In fact the farther from rock bottom the greater the chances for success. He does not have to want treatment for treatment to be effective (court ordered rehab is as effective as voluntary rehab). Tough love often is not effective and many times results in the kids being on the street where their chances for recovery are very low. Thinking that parking them in rehab will take care of problem is wistful thinking. The about dealing with the problem many parents believe really get in the way of their saving their children from this scourge.

I shudder when I think of the approaches I was using until my child OD'ed (saved by Narcan). Had I kept it up I am not sure my child would be alive today.

Thank you for sharing this and best wishes to you and dd - may she stay in good health. What advice would you give to parents raising teens? I've found that really getting to know their friends and their friends parents is important. Anything else? After reading that Bethesda Magazine story -- which I believe left out some details about one of the sons -- one of the moms herself was recovering from the death of a spouse and probably wasn't in a place to be as vigilant as we would all like to be.

[Anonymous]

Mother of former heroin user here.

I'll probably catch flack for this, but if there is one thing I would have done differently it would have been to re-arrange my work to be home after school every day when my child hit high school.

Another thing I would have done differently would have been to be much more aggressive when my child complained of pain constantly. After the pediatrician formed the opinion it was probably psychological I went after it half-heartedly. It turned out to be a real illness for which pain is a symptom. Untreated pain that doctors didn't believe was a major, although not the only, reason for my child turning to heroin. Getting a diagnosis was an important factor in diagnosis, which of course was all the harder to get because of the heroin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Wow, that's all happening in Trump Country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mother of former heroin user here.

I'll probably catch flack for this, but if there is one thing I would have done differently it would have been to re-arrange my work to be home after school every day when my child hit high school.

Another thing I would have done differently would have been to be much more aggressive when my child complained of pain constantly. After the pediatrician formed the opinion it was probably psychological I went after it half-heartedly. It turned out to be a real illness for which pain is a symptom. Untreated pain that doctors didn't believe was a major, although not the only, reason for my child turning to heroin. Getting a diagnosis was an important factor in diagnosis, which of course was all the harder to get because of the heroin.

Truly sorry for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why and what is this heroin epidemic? Is it only getting so much attention because it's afflicting middle class white people? How do so many people just start using heroin? Growing up in the 80's/90's, heroin was considered to be like crack and really hard core. I couldn't imagine middle class kids (of any race) doing it.

Middle class whites are lazy, entitled, and poorly raised. The self indulgence revealed by the heroin epidemic is just a symptom of the general lack of values that exists among whites who think the world should be theirs because they are white. To hear some of these losers crying that they should be able to afford a house, car, two kids, and stay at home wife on a plumber's job without bothering to work for a degree makes me want to barf. Their parents coasted on white privilege and now that the kids have to put in a little work, they turn to drugs because work ethic was never part of the culture.

I am white and you are describing my town. Kids skipped school, partied, and then began working factory/construction jobs and are now pissed off that they cannot keep up in the new world.

Now they blame ethnic minorities for their life situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:#thanksObama

Boy are you stupid. How do you get through the day? Obama has NOTHING to do with doctors overprescribing opioid painkillers. This has been going on for the better part of two decades, and President Obama has taken recent steps to try to address it. Try educating yourself before you spout ignorant bullshit.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/29/fact-sheet-obama-administration-announces-additional-actions-address
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/02/president-obama-proposes-11-billion-new-funding-address-prescription
http://www.forbes.com/sites/cjarlotta/2016/07/23/obama-signs-opioid-legislation-despite-funding-concerns/#58d1c5eb34e6
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/21/health/opioid-prescriptions-drop-for-first-time-in-two-decades.html?_r=0

[Anonymous]

How long until our robot worker replacements are also taking drugs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:been happening for along time, things most parents don't think about when they turn a blind eye to casual drinking a pot smoking and then kids try to reach that original high and can never reach it so they turn to other things.

sure, argue alcohol and pot are harmless or your kid can handle it as long as they get good grades etc. Many other parents thought the same, fortunately I got help and i was just like your kids from the W schools and private schools.

Signed a recovering addict

Thus the heroin epidemics in Colorado and Washington and Oregon, right? All that legalized pot in OH, PA and WVA and MD must be pushing users for more more more.

Yes, WA has a huge heroin epidemic. I live in the eastern suburbs of Seattle - home to Microsoft, Google, Amazon techies and high HHI families. Three students in a 1400 student high school died in 2016. Heroin and meth are also issues for the lower class rural communities.

http://www.kirklandreporter.com/news/384106411.html

But the good news is that the tax payers in Seattle will soon fund safe shoot up locations.

As they should. And I'm a conservative. Drugs are not going away. Americans are very broken and many have serious mental health problems which lead to drug use. Pot doesn't lead to addiction, personal problems and mental health problems lead to drug addiction . it costs much much more to treat the addict for hep C, aids, and blood poisioning from dirty needles. Taxpayers are ALREADY funding drug addict fall out. Plus having these addicts passed out in drug dens is no good for the surrounding communities.

There are also some police departments that are stocking up on naloxone to treat overdoes and offering amnesty to people who are addicted who come in looking for help. The goal is to stop criminalizing the behavior so people can come out of the shadows to get help.

http://www.cityrm.org/612/Second-Chance-Heroin-Amnesty-Program

[Anonymous]

I am the PP who is the recovering addict, I want to respond to the mother whose daughter OD' and the article. The parents in the article and many of our parents probably thought that being the cool fun carefree parents who allowed drinking at home, turned a blind eye to things as long as they could say their kids are going to the top schools and getting good grades.

I can't tell you enough how important it is to be on top of your kids. I had idle time, my parents worked to be able to afford private schools, fancy stuff so they can be like others-sounds a lot like many of our communities.

I can't thank you enough for being there for your kids. I always wondered what my father, a big law partner would do after the police would call him, or what my mother would say to her friends to hide the growing signs, It was always damage control instead of how do we get healthy. it wasn't until my od that they realized it was an issue.

There is no one answer but ask most parents of kids who died and they all wish they did more and not worried if their kids thought they were the cool parents.

Don't wait until they are drinking, smoking, using, to get help and educate yourself. Educate them or someone else will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I think about this. In some rural communities, it is so widespread - think of all the children of these addicts. What is their future? We desperately need to do something about this problem, but what?

It seems not to be so simple as educating doctors (so that they don't over-prescribe opioids as pain meds). So what next?

Tell your representatives in Congress. Obama requested $1B and got $181M from Congress. It's not enough. Either we can address this problem now, or we can address a bigger problem later when the children of these addicts, who are themselves born addicted, grow up and flood our foster care system, stretch Medicaid to the breaking point, etc.

Friends of ours just adopted a baby of someone who started treatment for heroin addiction after learning they were pregnant. 9 out of 12 babies born the same night as their daughter were born addicted to opioids. This is ONE hospital, in ONE suburb of a Midwestern city, on ONE night. Just imagine how many of these babies are being born every day all across the country. It's terrifying.

[Anonymous]

It's really tough and striking to see how much sympathy and understanding there is for this most recent drug crisis now that the face of addiction is white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's really tough and striking to see how much sympathy and understanding there is for this most recent drug crisis now that the face of addiction is white.

It has been white for along time, people just had the resources to hide it and pretend it isn't there. You do have a good point but also add in this, when it is black people, it isn't an addiction, it is crackheads, junkies etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's really tough and striking to see how much sympathy and understanding there is for this most recent drug crisis now that the face of addiction is white.

They call it an epidemic now. That means white folks are doing it.
Y'all remember? Y'all used to drive through our neighborhoods and shit and go, "Oh, look at that. Isn't that terrible." Then you'd get home, right, and your 14-year-old'd be f**ked up, and you'd go, "OH MY GOD! IT'S AN EPIDEMIC!"
Maybe next time you see black people in trouble, you'll help.
~ Richard Pryor

[Anonymous]

Guess what ? This middle aged white guy says ' let them die' . The white folks whose kids are dying of heroin today are the kids of the white people whose parents in the 80s and 90s couldn't be fucking bothered because their deep seated racism had them beating up on politicians and the justice system calling for tougher enforcement , harsher prison sentences , and what not . These junkies deserve the same level of compassion and empathy that was shown to 'other people'.

You wanna know why this country is seating on a ticking time bomb and why race relations are where they are? Look no further than the double standard that some of you are trying to apply here. Tell you what , these junkies ain't no victims and some of us deserve or better yet are entitled to roam the streets freely without stumbling on your kids pills and needles . The same arguments used to describe junkies of the 80s apply to junkies of these years. Failure to recognize that makes you a racist , either you view yourself as such or not is a moot point

For much of this country's history too many whites have looked at every problem under the 'us vs them' prism . This so- called heroin epidemic is the logical result of the hubris, arrogance and calculated indifference that whites have shown for 'others' combined with that superiority complex that has had even if the so-called liberals believing that they and their precious snowflakes are above the Frey . Is it any wonder why these geniuses are in denial about their snowflakes junky statuses even after they've buried them ? Talk about spiritual bankruptcy .

Let them die

Signed 59 year old white man