Medication, US opiate OD problem general

So I read a comment in the general election thread about internet censorship/net neutrality. That got me thinking, that this could actually be a very bad decision for porky & the government. Not being able to freely use the internet, speak our minds & connect with others, would be the biggest in-your face clamp down on freedoms most enjoy, so many would protest or riot. Especially since Americans are so big on free speech.

That made me then think of how it's a form of opiate for the masses. Posting cat videos & stupid memes, is what a lot of people enjoy - and they wouldn't take kindly to having that taken from them. That got me to thinking about the literal opiate of the masses - alcohol, prescription & recreational drugs.

We can talk about any of these issues. But RX use in America is staggering. We now are dealing with an epidemic(hear me out).

How many people do you know that are addicted or alcoholics? How many people have you known to recently die from OD'ing?

I've known six people, personally, in the past 2 years who have overdosed from opiates(both RX & heroin). The most recent friend dying 2 months ago. Another who died 6 months ago was a good childhood friend, whom I often imagined I might marry when i got older. It's an understatement to say he was a great guy. I had no clue he was even using. We'd lost touch, ironically, because I became addicted years back. I know it's just a matter of time before I get the news about another friend or family member; it's horrible.

So.. Do you struggle with addiction? How many people do you know who are medicated, just with "general" psych drugs? Have any of your friends died because of the heroin epidemic? Do you need advice on talking to a loved one who's dealing with addiction? What state are you in & how bad is the heroin problem there?

Trump appointed two anti-net neutrality dudes to handle the dismantling of the FCC.

We're going to have full on tiered internet use packages and blocking of all non-corporate-approved sites in a matter of months.

Can you share some reading/links about his picks, etc?

Really, this seems like the worst possible time to do this. So many people are already pissed off after this abortion of an election. Not to say they won't.. I put nothing past this government.

who /unaddictable/ here?

I was too young & dumb, I had no idea what opiate addiction was, so once I was addicted I had no clue what to do. The only person I had for support was an addict(they did know about it) who didn't give a shit about themselves or me, so it ended badly. I used to think I was unaddictable, because I just dabbled in everything, until that happened.

Lmao, I use to trip off of coriciden c & c when I was 14-15. Good times.. Some good artwork came of it. You're doing the pure or ghetto way? If with cough syrup, be careful, you'll fuck your liver quickly.

A friend of mine is heavily addicted to cigarettes and soda

It's awfully troubling

Drug use has been surging for decades thanks to sheer pigheadedness on the part the Feds coupled with the depression and social anxieties of a late stage capitalist society coalescing (this ties in with pharmaceutical drug ads in the United States).

The crony capitalists were so successful shutting down the hippie movement's historical association with drugs, pharmaceuticals became by far and away the mainstream. This leads to profits for Porky but the suffering of the general populace as friends/family members are lost to OD or machinery accidents associated with pharma drugs.

The feds don't care about protesters. Protesters are easy to control, they always have been. Real revolution is unthinkable to the men in power, so they are willing to be brazen.

I use drugs, my friends use drugs, I go to parties where everyone uses drugs, yet I don't know anyone who died of an overdose. Not just weed, but ketamine, MDMA, speed, benzos, cocaine..

Why can't americans handle drugs? Is it the quality, or do they just take way too much?

Big, yes. But not on freeze peach.

At the moment, it's dirty drugs. Heroin laced with Fentanyl for some reason. Fentanyl is over 100X stronger than heroin. I seems to me that this would just be a waste of money.. Why they're cutting it with this, I have no idea. but it's way too potent.

Also, mixing heroin with other drugs. Or mixing opiates with benzos(two of the people I knew died this way). They were older, so they were prescribed both.

They mix heroin with shit (and have been doing so for many decades) because it's cheaper to bulk smuggle [novel fentanyl analogue from china] then it is to make heroin.

Dealers don't give a shit about the health of their clients so long as they get paid.

Is there little availability of other drugs in the U.S?

I just don't get it why someone would take heroin, knowing the risks, when there is an entire range of euphoric awesomeness that is far safer and cheaper.

Ah, yeah, I know they cut it for extra profit(the time it gets to the US, heroin & cocaine is pretty low quality). I didn't realize it was a cheap analogue, that makes much more sense.

Just like the JWH-018(or whatever composition they have now)/"spice" bullshit that's also still rampant.

Pain pill have gone down, they're incredibly expensive on the street, now, which is why heroin make a huge comeback. Unless you go to a methadone clinic, then it's cheap.

Where I'm from, I never got to try acid. It was around a little but I never got it. I could get exstacy, meth, weed, coke, the usal.. Quite easily.

Opiates is so big in the US because of depression & joblessness, feeling of general worthlessness. It numbs both body & mind, so it's a favorite. Maybe because it was heavily overprescribed, too.

You can obtain almost any drug stateside (cept maybe quaaludes). American meth is some of the purest in the world, and if not then our pharmaceutical amphetamines are even purer.

Over prescription of opioids has flooded the market and caused a massive spike in heroin addiction

Meth is a Hell of a drug. The first time I did it, I wanted to rip my clothes off & go dancing down the street, lmao. I actually had to hold myself back.

But it's ruining lots of people. My little sis is on & off addicted.

So it's because pharmaceutical companies get people hooked on opiods, with people moving on to heroin when the meds aren't strong enough/available anymore?

What amazes me is that doctors actually prescribe those pills, when of all people, they should know the risks. My parents work in health care, and I can't imagine them doing such a thing to their patients.

My grammar is atrocious; I should've slept a while ago..

Exactly.


My SO is foreign. When he visited the US, he was shocked that "all of your ads are either for drugs, suing the drug companies, or for cars."

I didn't realize how weird that was until it was pointed out to me.

...

I used to be on antidepressant medication but I weaned myself off of them.

There's been addiction in my family so I am very cautious with recreational drugs.

...

I got drunk with some vets out in the desert who had served in the Afghan conflict, a couple of which were AWOL, and another few were green berets or special forces, and once drunk enough, they began talking about guarding poppy fields and shipments of opium, basically acting as security forces for the USG's heroin op.. I cannot gauge the veracity of what they were saying, but it seemed pretty damning to me. With how the government defends big pharma, and how systematically people get addicted to pills, and then eventually run out of scripts/money and do heroin, one would not be surprised if it came out that this whole thing is a scam to keep the proles hooked, linked into the prison system, and "justifiably unemployable" so that revolt is made all but impossible.

Well good thing I don't have health insurance.

I saw a video posted on leddit of a homeless addict talking about how shitty it was to be on drugs, how you only care about one thing getting more drugs, and you'll do anything for it. Everybody else who was responding was utterly horrified, talking about how terrible it must be. The whole time I was watching all I could think about was how that's one more thing than I care about right now, and how nice it would be to have the drive to actually do something, even something as stupid and destructive as getting more drugs, maybe it would feel like being alive.

Damn, user. I can kind of identify. I was just thinking when i woke up a little bit ago, that I need to do something other than being online all the time. I don't have much of a drive, either..

But I've been on the other side, too, where I woke up just wanting to die every morning, because I was addicted & so tired of being sick & tired. I'd say it's better being bored, than constantly sick. But neither is optimal or a good way to live..

Heroin is big business. That's where big pharma gets its business. So, I'd believe what they said.

Very, very likely.

It's true. The US used to burn poppy fields toward the beginning of the war, but all it was doing was radicalising farmers, so instead they started buying it up, then burning it.

Although I'm sure they do other stuff with it too :^)

Doctors are subject to market forces just like everyone else. In the US not only are drug companies allowed to advertise to regular people, they also pay doctors for every time they prescribe their drugs.

That was one thing that really pissed me off. They were destroying these farmers' means of making a living. It was no surprise they'd be pissed off & more likely to radicalize. It's ok when big pharma uses these means, but not poor farmers. I just imagined it like any other crop. Burning farmers' crops is just bullshit.

I worked in a doctor's office for years. The "drug reps" always came in for lunch meetings & bought us lunch like 3x a week. I got a lot of free pens & random doohickeys. Pretty wasteful, though. Doctors got straight up paychecks, vacations, etc. for their cooperation. Drug reps are just good looking, legal drug dealers.

What's your situation? Can't afford it or not working? If you need health insurance I may be able to walk you through it, with Obamacare or whatever. I had to resign my job because of a health issue, then signed up for Obamacare since I lost my insurance.


Exact same here. I was forced to take them as a teenager, but then finally stopped myself, refusing any. I wanted to know what "normal" felt like, again. If someone needs them or wants to take them, I see no problem in that. But forcing kids to take them is something that gets me fucking angry. Most of the time it's parents who don't have the time, patience or care enough to actually parent, so they drug their child. The US is really, really bad for this.