Well, I must say that those in the medical profession carry some of the blame for prescribing meds that are addictive which was especially true in the past. My cousin's daughter became addicted to a drug whose name I already forgot and prescribed by her doctor. No doubt she was able to get other drugs, and maybe more of the one that was prescribed somewhere else. Who knows why she became addicted. Two much more attractive sisters with better marriages then her own? Overweight, taunted in school, who knows. Now she's dead with decades unlived. Her mother excused her two sisters and her husband for not going to her funeral. My cousin was wheelchair bound from a guy with Alzheimer's who drove into her car repeatedly as she waited for her younger daughter to be let out of school years before. They live in Washington and I'm on the other coast, so I couldn't be much help in that regard. They didn't go because she was addict, not their sister, but an addict, not their mother's child, but an addict. I know that helps them deal with their own bad feelings, but I don't forgive them their self protection. No friends, no other family out there. Her husband dead, so she went alone to bury her daughter.
Sorry Eva, but I wasn't notified of your response and I agree they are dehumanized and seen as non-people. Her husband had himself on Facebook running around with a new found girlfriend less then 6 months after her death. Sometimes I think social media makes people less human.
Sorry Bill but I wasn't notified you responded to my post. For a number of reasons my cousin didn't put enough demands on them, and it's a generation more use to getting then giving. She's gone now, and when she died one of her daughters posted her wheel chair and her personal things on Facebook that were up for sale. One might think she wasn't a good mother from their behavior, but not true, she just made too few demands, since she felt guilty for her illnesses, but they were pretty grown when she became paralyzed. Just a different generation given far too much.
You don't mention it but much, if not all of the increase is down to fentanyl. They used to use it just to cut heroin, but now it's in everything. It's so much more powerful than even pure heroin, it is trivially easy to get a hot load, i.e. what should be a normal dose but in reality it's way more than to kill someone.
In Canada, Vancouver has now decriminalised all drugs in attempt to stop the holocaust. The law against drugs drives up prices, stigmatises and forces people to buy fentanyl laced poison. I would argue that the war on drugs has killed more Americans than any war.
Legalisation and decriminalisation save lives. That's a proven fact, it's history.
From Glenn Greenwald
Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies
. . .
The political consensus in favor of decriminalization is unsurprising in light of the relevant empirical data. Those data indicate that decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, which, in numerous categories, are now among the lowest in the EU, particularly when compared with states with stringent criminalization regimes. Although post decriminalization usage rates have remained roughly the same or even decreased slightly when compared with other EU states, drug‐related pathologies — such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage — have decreased dramatically. Drug policy experts attribute those positive trends to the enhanced ability of the Portuguese government to offer treatment programs to its citizens — enhancements made possible, for numerous reasons, by decriminalization.
That's what the drug war maniacs do, they lie. I don't need any studies to know that fewer people die. NPR (National Propaganda Radio) are talking about number of users, not the numbers of deaths. This is not a moral issue.
If they brought in severe penalties for the most dangerous drug in world, tobacco, would deaths and crime go up, or down?
Cigarette addicts decrease in numbers every year. Few people rob 711s to get tobacco money. No one is dying from fentanyl laced nicotine inhalers.
I used to be on the libertarian side of decriminalizing drugs, but that was back when I assumed that the average human animal could muster some modicum of self-control. The problem with your tobacco vs fentanyl comparison is that tobacco is mildly addictive and fentanyl is hyper-addictive. Also, tobacco has a mild mind-altering reaction while fentanyl has an extreme mind-altering reaction.
My opinion is that we should decriminalize all mildly harmful / mildly addictive drugs and/or recreational substances, and increase the laws and penalties for those that are dangerous and highly addictive. We also need to seal up the southern border. And we need a much increased infrastructure of treatment services.
I hate being one of those people that believes we need to save people from themselves. But having family members with addictive personality traits and a demonstrated inability to control their consumption... well it has opened my eyes that access to all drugs without any criminal consequence is going to lead them to an early death.
Fentanyl kills because they use it to cut other drugs. The lethal dose is very tiny.
I was addicted to tobacco for 30 years. The last ten was me trying hard, and failing, to quit. I finally did, but it was really hard. I came to hate smoking but did it anyway.
Few drugs, if any are more addictive and more harmful than tobacco, but we let people buy it and smoke it.
We could debate this forever, but I have just been told to shut up. So later. Thanks!
Thanks for humanizing people who suffer from addiction. I watched my best friend go from a smart, creative, talented young man, to an addict over the course of about 30 years, using mostly alcohol, as a means of coping with life’s ups and downs. Took some years for me to recognize his addiction because he hid it well, and rarely drank around me. After a 2-month jail term, he met some people on his bus ride back home, he ended up partying with them, and I believe the shame of having been in jail was too much for him, he didn’t want to face those who loved him...he overdosed on heroin that night. I’ve come to see homeless people and addicts with much more empathy since then.
Well, I must say that those in the medical profession carry some of the blame for prescribing meds that are addictive which was especially true in the past. My cousin's daughter became addicted to a drug whose name I already forgot and prescribed by her doctor. No doubt she was able to get other drugs, and maybe more of the one that was prescribed somewhere else. Who knows why she became addicted. Two much more attractive sisters with better marriages then her own? Overweight, taunted in school, who knows. Now she's dead with decades unlived. Her mother excused her two sisters and her husband for not going to her funeral. My cousin was wheelchair bound from a guy with Alzheimer's who drove into her car repeatedly as she waited for her younger daughter to be let out of school years before. They live in Washington and I'm on the other coast, so I couldn't be much help in that regard. They didn't go because she was addict, not their sister, but an addict, not their mother's child, but an addict. I know that helps them deal with their own bad feelings, but I don't forgive them their self protection. No friends, no other family out there. Her husband dead, so she went alone to bury her daughter.
This is one of the saddest parts of the addiction crisis - how addicts are dehumanise by others. Such a sad story.
Sorry Eva, but I wasn't notified of your response and I agree they are dehumanized and seen as non-people. Her husband had himself on Facebook running around with a new found girlfriend less then 6 months after her death. Sometimes I think social media makes people less human.
Tragedy. So sorry for her.
Drug addiction is an addiction. Anyone can be become addicted.
Sorry Bill but I wasn't notified you responded to my post. For a number of reasons my cousin didn't put enough demands on them, and it's a generation more use to getting then giving. She's gone now, and when she died one of her daughters posted her wheel chair and her personal things on Facebook that were up for sale. One might think she wasn't a good mother from their behavior, but not true, she just made too few demands, since she felt guilty for her illnesses, but they were pretty grown when she became paralyzed. Just a different generation given far too much.
You don't mention it but much, if not all of the increase is down to fentanyl. They used to use it just to cut heroin, but now it's in everything. It's so much more powerful than even pure heroin, it is trivially easy to get a hot load, i.e. what should be a normal dose but in reality it's way more than to kill someone.
In Canada, Vancouver has now decriminalised all drugs in attempt to stop the holocaust. The law against drugs drives up prices, stigmatises and forces people to buy fentanyl laced poison. I would argue that the war on drugs has killed more Americans than any war.
*except, perhaps, the Civil War
Maybe, but legalizing drugs has also killed more people except that perhaps the Civil War.
Legalisation and decriminalisation save lives. That's a proven fact, it's history.
From Glenn Greenwald
Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies
. . .
The political consensus in favor of decriminalization is unsurprising in light of the relevant empirical data. Those data indicate that decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal, which, in numerous categories, are now among the lowest in the EU, particularly when compared with states with stringent criminalization regimes. Although post decriminalization usage rates have remained roughly the same or even decreased slightly when compared with other EU states, drug‐related pathologies — such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths due to drug usage — have decreased dramatically. Drug policy experts attribute those positive trends to the enhanced ability of the Portuguese government to offer treatment programs to its citizens — enhancements made possible, for numerous reasons, by decriminalization.
https://www.cato.org/white-paper/drug-decriminalization-portugal-lessons-creating-fair-successful-drug-policies
No, it is not that cut-and-dried. Even considering the investment Portugal made in drug treatment.
https://www.npr.org/2011/01/20/133086356/Mixed-Results-For-Portugals-Great-Drug-Experiment
That's what the drug war maniacs do, they lie. I don't need any studies to know that fewer people die. NPR (National Propaganda Radio) are talking about number of users, not the numbers of deaths. This is not a moral issue.
If they brought in severe penalties for the most dangerous drug in world, tobacco, would deaths and crime go up, or down?
Cigarette addicts decrease in numbers every year. Few people rob 711s to get tobacco money. No one is dying from fentanyl laced nicotine inhalers.
I used to be on the libertarian side of decriminalizing drugs, but that was back when I assumed that the average human animal could muster some modicum of self-control. The problem with your tobacco vs fentanyl comparison is that tobacco is mildly addictive and fentanyl is hyper-addictive. Also, tobacco has a mild mind-altering reaction while fentanyl has an extreme mind-altering reaction.
My opinion is that we should decriminalize all mildly harmful / mildly addictive drugs and/or recreational substances, and increase the laws and penalties for those that are dangerous and highly addictive. We also need to seal up the southern border. And we need a much increased infrastructure of treatment services.
I hate being one of those people that believes we need to save people from themselves. But having family members with addictive personality traits and a demonstrated inability to control their consumption... well it has opened my eyes that access to all drugs without any criminal consequence is going to lead them to an early death.
Innumerable studies have shown that certainty of punishment is far more a deterrent than seveity.
Fentanyl kills because they use it to cut other drugs. The lethal dose is very tiny.
I was addicted to tobacco for 30 years. The last ten was me trying hard, and failing, to quit. I finally did, but it was really hard. I came to hate smoking but did it anyway.
Few drugs, if any are more addictive and more harmful than tobacco, but we let people buy it and smoke it.
We could debate this forever, but I have just been told to shut up. So later. Thanks!
Beautifully written, thank you. "There but for the grace of god go I".
You really make a person think, Brad.
Very moving account. I am with you totally.
Thanks!
A beautiful excerpt. A delicate and important subject so masterfully handled. Thank you for bringing light to this subject.
Thanks for humanizing people who suffer from addiction. I watched my best friend go from a smart, creative, talented young man, to an addict over the course of about 30 years, using mostly alcohol, as a means of coping with life’s ups and downs. Took some years for me to recognize his addiction because he hid it well, and rarely drank around me. After a 2-month jail term, he met some people on his bus ride back home, he ended up partying with them, and I believe the shame of having been in jail was too much for him, he didn’t want to face those who loved him...he overdosed on heroin that night. I’ve come to see homeless people and addicts with much more empathy since then.
Moving piece, thanks for writing.
https://www.youtube.com/live/2VK7rpCg4Fo?feature=share
(Another link you don’t have to sign in to watch)