How Prescription Drug Abuse Unleashed a Heroin Epidemic

[AuH20]

Finally, something informative from NRO.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431486/heroin-prescription-painkillers-new-drug-epidemic



For working-class white guys who haven’t found their way into those good jobs in the energy economy or the related manufacturing and construction booms that have reverberated throughout the oil patch, who aren’t college-bound or in possession of the skills to pay the bills, things aren’t looking so great: While much of the rest of the world gets healthier and longer-lived, the average life expectancy for white American men without college educations is declining. Angus Deaton, the Princeton economist who recently won the Nobel prize, ran the numbers and found (in a study coauthored by his Princeton colleague Anne Case) that what’s killing what used to be the white working class isn’t diabetes or heart disease or the consumption of fatty foods and Big Gulps that so terrifies Michael Bloomberg, but alcohol-induced liver failure, along with overdoses of opioid prescription painkillers and heroin: Wild Turkey and hillbilly heroin and regular-old heroin, too, the use of which has increased dramatically in recent years as medical and law-enforcement authorities crack down on the wanton overprescription of oxy and related painkillers.

Which is to say: While we were ignoring criminally negligent painkiller prescriptions, we helped create a gigantic population of opioid addicts, and then, when we started paying attention, first thing we did was take away the legal (and quasi-legal) stuff produced to exacting clinical standards by Purdue Pharma (maker of OxyContin) et al. So: lots of opiate addicts, fewer prescription opiates.


It won’t make the terrified clerks feel any better, but there’s a little bit of poetic justice in that: In 2013, Walgreens paid the second-largest fine ever imposed under the Controlled Substances Act for being so loosey-goosey in handling oxy at its distribution center in Jupiter, Fla., that it enabled untold quantities of the stuff to reach the black market. The typical pharmacy sells 73,000 oxycodone pills a year; six Walgreens in Florida were going through more than 1 million pills a year — each. A few years before that, Purdue was fined $634.5 million for misleading the public about the addictiveness of oxycodone. Kentucky, which has been absolutely ravaged by opiate addiction, is still pursuing litigation against Purdue, and it has threatened to take its case all the way to the Supreme Court, if it comes to that.

Ground Zero in the opiate epidemic isn’t in some exotic Taliban-managed poppy field or some cartel boss’s fortified compound: It’s right there at Walgreens, in the middle of every city and town in the country.

[ShaneEnochs]

We're seeing the effects hard here in West Virginia. Doctors here used to hand out opioids like candy. Now a huge number of people are hooked on heroin since they started cracking down.

[donnay]

Hospitals love giving morphine to people. Use to be morphine was the last resort for pain.

[Valli6]

I'm an aging, arthritis-all-over sufferer. I've had surgery because of this more than once. My condition will never get better. It will become progressively worse.

It is NOT easy to get a prescription for opiate painkillers!

Doctors seem to feel obligated to argue with you if you bring it up and apparently they are threatened with having their medical licenses revoked if some bureaucrat sees a problem with the way they prescribe pain killers. I once had a very young doctor tell me she would never prescribe vicodin because she could possibly lose her license for it.

I have known a number of heroin addicts and none of them ever became addicted from using prescribed painkillers!

I do, however, know a young guy who started using codeine pills because they became easily available at his high school through black-market dealers.

Incidently, like most high schools, his school was allowed to perform random drug tests for marijuana, but they don't bother testing for heroin because it leaves the system too quickly to show up - another reason for young people to choose heroin over non-lethal pot and beer, as kids have done in the past. :mad:

In time, this kid started using heroin because it too, was fairly easy to obtain.

At one point, he almost died, not from a heroin overdose, but from the fentanyl the current crop of dealers always add to heroin. Had he not been immediately discovered and had CPR administered, he'd be dead.

Around that same time, several others in his town died this way, as did others throughout the state, nearby states, and other places around the country. Each area had a small local story about a sudden increase in "heroin" overdoses, but the mainstream media never covered it as a whole, never tied together all these deaths from fentanyl. Most people probably don't realize, the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was killed by fentanyl two years ago, not a heroin overdose.

The open border is the real reason for the increase in heroin use and heroin-related deaths. Drug cartels from south of our border have been permitted to send thousands of gang members/drug traffickers into the country to set up shop in neighborhoods throughout the country. They operate like a massive, well-run corporation and this nationwide network of neighborhood dealers they've established are their "chain stores". All a customer has to do to cop now, is text the right class mate and meet in a nearby parking lot. This is very different from the way heroin was purchased before the huge influx of illegal alien drug traffickers. Also these people think adding fentanyl to heroin is a great idea. Fentanyl is extremely powerful, much moreso than heroin, and it is what's caused the increase in deaths - not so much the heroin itself. (I see similarities here to all the wood-alcohol deaths during prohibition.)

The government is just trying to cover it's ass by blaming over-prescribing doctors for the increase in "prescription" painkillers, heroin use and "heroin" overdoses (actually, fentanyl poisonings). The DEA's own report essentially admits that the unhindered influx of illegal gangmembers is what's driving their "heroin epidemic", but I have never heard anyone in the mainstream media discuss this report.

DEA's 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment: http://www.dea.gov/docs/2015%20NDTA%20Report.pdf

Again, our government is using propaganda to hide a multitude of sins they've created through their own bad policies and incompetence.

[ShaneEnochs]

I'm an aging, arthritis-all-over sufferer. I've had surgery because of this more than once. My condition will never get better. It will become progressively worse.

It is NOT easy to get a prescription for opiate painkillers!

Doctors seem to feel obligated to argue with you if you bring it up and apparently they are threatened with having their medical licenses revoked if some bureaucrat sees a problem with the way they prescribe pain killers. I once had a very young doctor tell me she would never prescribe vicodin because she could possibly lose her license for it.

I have known a number of heroin addicts and none of them ever became addicted from using prescribed painkillers!

I do, however, know a young guy who started using codeine pills because they became easily available at his high school through black-market dealers.

Incidently, like most high schools, his school was allowed to perform random drug tests for marijuana, but they don't bother testing for heroin because it leaves the system too quickly to show up - another reason for young people to choose heroin over non-lethal pot and beer, as kids have done in the past. :mad:

In time, this kid started using heroin because it too, was fairly easy to obtain.

At one point, he almost died, not from a heroin overdose, but from the fentanyl the current crop of dealers always add to heroin. Had he not been immediately discovered and had CPR administered, he'd be dead.

Around that same time, several others in his town died this way, as did others throughout the state, nearby states, and other places around the country. Each area had a small local story about a sudden increase in "heroin" overdoses, but the mainstream media never covered it as a whole, never tied together all these deaths from fentanyl. Most people probably don't realize, the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was killed by fentanyl two years ago, not a heroin overdose.

The open border is the real reason for the increase in heroin use and heroin-related deaths. Drug cartels from south of our border have been permitted to send thousands of gang members/drug traffickers into the country to set up shop in neighborhoods throughout the country. They operate like a massive, well-run corporation and this nationwide network of neighborhood dealers they've established are their "chain stores". All a customer has to do to cop now, is text the right class mate and meet in a nearby parking lot. This is very different from the way heroin was purchased before the huge influx of illegal alien drug traffickers. Also these people think adding fentanyl to heroin is a great idea. Fentanyl is extremely powerful, much moreso than heroin, and it is what's caused the increase in deaths - not so much the heroin itself. (I see similarities here to all the wood-alcohol deaths during prohibition.)

The government is just trying to cover it's ass by blaming over-prescribing doctors for the increase in "prescription" painkillers, heroin use and "heroin" overdoses (actually, fentanyl poisonings). The DEA's own report essentially admits that the unhindered influx of illegal gangmembers is what's driving their "heroin epidemic", but I have never heard anyone in the mainstream media discuss this report.

DEA's 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment: http://www.dea.gov/docs/2015%20NDTA%20Report.pdf

Again, our government is using propaganda to hide a multitude of sins they've created through their own bad policies and incompetence.

In some places it's easier to get these prescriptions than others. Have you ever watched the 2013 documentary "Oxyana"? Here is the IMDB summary:


Tucked in the Appalachian mountains of Southern West Virginia, Oceana, is a small, once thriving coal-mining town that has fallen victim to the fast spreading scourge of prescription painkiller Oxycontin. As the coal industry slowly declined and times got tough, a black market for the drug sprung up and along with it a rash of prostitution, theft and murder. Soon its own residents had nicknamed the town Oxyana and it began to live up to its reputation as abuse, addiction and overdoses became commonplace. Oxyana is a harrowing front line account of a community in the grips of an epidemic, told through the voices of the addicts, the dealers and all those affected. It is a haunting glimpse into an American nightmare unfolding before our eyes, a cautionary tale told with raw and unflinching honesty.

I don't live far from there and have seen it with my own eyes. If you haven't seen this documentary, I can't recommend it enough. I believe it's even on YouTube.

[dannno]

I'm an aging, arthritis-all-over sufferer. I've had surgery because of this more than once. My condition will never get better. It will become progressively worse.

It is NOT easy to get a prescription for opiate painkillers!

Doctors seem to feel obligated to argue with you if you bring it up and apparently they are threatened with having their medical licenses revoked if some bureaucrat sees a problem with the way they prescribe pain killers. I once had a very young doctor tell me she would never prescribe vicodin because she could possibly lose her license for it.

I have known a number of heroin addicts and none of them ever became addicted from using prescribed painkillers!

I do, however, know a young guy who started using codeine pills because they became easily available at his high school through black-market dealers.

Incidently, like most high schools, his school was allowed to perform random drug tests for marijuana, but they don't bother testing for heroin because it leaves the system too quickly to show up - another reason for young people to choose heroin over non-lethal pot and beer, as kids have done in the past. :mad:

In time, this kid started using heroin because it too, was fairly easy to obtain.

At one point, he almost died, not from a heroin overdose, but from the fentanyl the current crop of dealers always add to heroin. Had he not been immediately discovered and had CPR administered, he'd be dead.

Around that same time, several others in his town died this way, as did others throughout the state, nearby states, and other places around the country. Each area had a small local story about a sudden increase in "heroin" overdoses, but the mainstream media never covered it as a whole, never tied together all these deaths from fentanyl. Most people probably don't realize, the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was killed by fentanyl two years ago, not a heroin overdose.

The open border is the real reason for the increase in heroin use and heroin-related deaths. Drug cartels from south of our border have been permitted to send thousands of gang members/drug traffickers into the country to set up shop in neighborhoods throughout the country. They operate like a massive, well-run corporation and this nationwide network of neighborhood dealers they've established are their "chain stores". All a customer has to do to cop now, is text the right class mate and meet in a nearby parking lot. This is very different from the way heroin was purchased before the huge influx of illegal alien drug traffickers. Also these people think adding fentanyl to heroin is a great idea. Fentanyl is extremely powerful, much moreso than heroin, and it is what's caused the increase in deaths - not so much the heroin itself. (I see similarities here to all the wood-alcohol deaths during prohibition.)

The government is just trying to cover it's ass by blaming over-prescribing doctors for the increase in "prescription" painkillers, heroin use and "heroin" overdoses (actually, fentanyl poisonings). The DEA's own report essentially admits that the unhindered influx of illegal gangmembers is what's driving their "heroin epidemic", but I have never heard anyone in the mainstream media discuss this report.

DEA's 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment: http://www.dea.gov/docs/2015%20NDTA%20Report.pdf

Again, our government is using propaganda to hide a multitude of sins they've created through their own bad policies and incompetence.

You are mostly correct, but I think what the article gets right is the following:

Because of the documentaries and tv series and such like what Shane described above, there has been a lot more focus on prosecuting doctors who have 'over-prescribed', perceivably or otherwise. In general, they are more difficult to get now than they were a few years ago. A doctor in my area was arrested and called "the candy man" and I think they may even be charging him with murder as some of his patients OD'd.

Now, many of these patients who once received prescription opiates are turning to street heroin to manage their pain. As much as I don't like prescription opiates and would prefer some straight opium to be available for patients, I think oxy is much safer than heroin, especially due to the dangerous additives you discussed as well as the inconsistency of the product.

[tod evans]

Heroin is a far more effective pain killer with drastically reduced side effects so long as you purchase quality dope.

Oxycontin, Hydrocodone, Dilaudid and the like are all cut with extremely toxic chemicals under law (thanks gov) and truth be known deaths associated with their use are largely attributed to the "cut" big-pharm must mix in with the dope...

Get government out of the drug business!

It'll cut the scope and size of government immensely and people will be healthier and live longer.....

[Valli6]

In some places it's easier to get these prescriptions than others. :

You're probably correct about that. I have not seen that documentary.
What I'm finding most objectional about this though, is that they keep trying to blame it all on doctors prescribing painkillers too freely and talking about "prescription" opiates. They also like to claim kids are stealing them from their parents supply in the medicine cabinet. But people are getting these drugs through the black market, not from their doctors. They shouldn't even be using the term "prescription" here.

They continue to intimidate and discourge doctors from prescribing this medicine to people who need it, while covering up the fact that they themselves created this mess by encouraging the flood of illegal aliens that included all the cartel-connected drug traffickers - as well as violent gang members. They increased organized crime and violence in this country! With their money and organization, these persons were able to fill a vaccum - creating all these small town drug suppliers which never existed before - because, you know, it's illegal here.:rolleyes:

Don't know how old you are, but until this influx, there were relatively few options for those looking to buy heroin. It typically meant traveling to the most dangerous part of the nearest large city. You were likely to get mugged but had to take chances. And it certainly wasn't the norm for high school kids to buy an ongoing supply of opiates from other students.

I still have never meet a doctor who will prescribe oxycontin (I've never even bothered to ask for it), nor do I know anyone who has had it prescribed to them. It seems to be treated as illegal where I live. :confused: Who is this stuff being legally sold to?! All it is, is a time-released painkiller, which sounds great since vicodin barely works three hours.

I feel that a false narrative is being used to cover up another problem caused by open borders.

[ShaneEnochs]

Heroin is a far more effective pain killer with drastically reduced side effects so long as you purchase quality dope.

Oxycontin, Hydrocodone, Dilaudid and the like are all cut with extremely toxic chemicals under law (thanks gov) and truth be known deaths associated with their use are largely attributed to the "cut" big-pharm must mix in with the dope...

Get government out of the drug business!

It'll cut the scope and size of government immensely and people will be healthier and live longer.....

Pharmacology, Heroin and Oxycodone are the same thing, except oxycodone has Tylenol as a filler agent.

[tod evans]

Pharmacology, Heroin and Oxycodone are the same thing, except oxycodone has Tylenol as a filler agent.

I beg to disagree, I've taken both and the effects are vastly different.

They may act on the same areas of the brain but they are processed differently.

[pcosmar]

Prohibition was the cause of problems.


There was no Heroin epidemic when anyone could buy Heroin at the local drug store.
No crack problem when Cocaine was available legally over the counter.

The problem was deliberately created.. for profit.

[ShaneEnochs]

I beg to disagree, I've taken both and the effects are vastly different.

They may act on the same areas of the brain but they are processed differently.

Then your heroin was cut with something, because they're chemically identical besides the Tylenol.

[phill4paul]

I hate opiates. I have ten pills left over from my hernia op. Started weaning off them early. I'll take pain over drooling any day. A quick question for those that may know...how long are these pills still good for? I've been keeping them in a bug out bag. Should I freeze them?

[tod evans]

I hate opiates. I have ten pills left over from my hernia op. Started weaning off them early. I'll take pain over drooling any day. A quick question for those that may know...how long are these pills still good for? I've been keeping them in a bug out bag. Should I freeze them?

I've had some oxy's from dental surgery that were 12 years old, I used them first after my most recent dental work, they were effective....

Dark/dry storage, no freezer...

[ShaneEnochs]

I hate opiates. I have ten pills left over from my hernia op. Started weaning off them early. I'll take pain over drooling any day. A quick question for those that may know...how long are these pills still good for? I've been keeping them in a bug out bag. Should I freeze them?

Pharmaceuticals never go bad, they just reduce in potency. Unless it's in a liquid form, of course. Liquids can become rancid, but tablets do not.

[tod evans]

Then your heroin was cut with something, because they're chemically identical besides the Tylenol.

It's entirely possible that I ingested substantially more heroin in terms of mg/K of body weight...

The effects were astronomically more intense from heroin than oxy's.

The heroin was cheaper per dose and isn't cut with ASA or Acetaminophen...

[edit] This "experiment" took place in the 70's in a Navy hospital I worked in......:cool:

[DamianTV]

Prescription drugs are the REAL gateway drugs.

[ShaneEnochs]

It's entirely possible that I ingested substantially more heroin in terms of mg/K of body weight...

The effects were astronomically more intense from heroin than oxy's.

The heroin was cheaper per dose and isn't cut with ASA or Acetaminophen...

[edit] This "experiment" took place in the 70's in a Navy hospital I worked in......:cool:

That's definitely a possibility. Dosage is difficult. Even minor differences in dosage can have substantial impact on what it does to you.

[ghengis86]

That's definitely a possibility. Dosage is difficult. Even minor differences in dosage can have substantial impact on what it does to you.

And the effects of the acetaminophen.

[Cabal]

Related.

Painkiller deaths drop by 25% in states with legalized medical marijuana (https://www.minds.com/blog/view/547170043763372032)


A study put out by the Journal of the American Medical Association (http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1898878) in 2014 made an interesting discovery. In every state that had legalized medical marijuana between 1999 and 2010 (13 states in all), there was a 25% reduction in deaths related to the overdose of legally prescribed opioids.

“The difference is quite striking,” said study co-author Colleen Barry, a health policy researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. She notes that the trend became visible in every state a year after the pot was legalized.

The study suggests that because patients that are experiencing chronic pain can substitute or suppliment marijuana for their pain pills, they are able to take smaller (or no) doses of the pills and are less likely to experience an overdose.

Barry says that it is “basically impossible” to die from an overdose on weed and suggests the substitution is the most likely reason for the reduction in deaths.

There is opposition, however. Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer at Phoenix House thinks it is less likely related to the marijuana substituting for pain pills, but more likely a progressive push, in general, to treat addiction. “You don’t have primary care doctors in these states [prescribing] marijuana instead of Vicodin,” he said.

He believes that states that legalize medical marijuana are also more likely to actively treat and help prevent addiction and that it is a more likely scenario for the decrease in overdose deaths.

Whatever the reason, it's great news and the prohibition of this medicinal plant is at its end, enabling further study.

[asurfaholic]

Shouldn't they then take the next step and find out if there are less or the same amount of opioids being prescribed in the states? Would refute dr Kolodny.

[Working Poor]

I don't like big pharma pain meds and usually won't take them for any reason. I broke my foot a few months back and did not get it set or get the pain med script which was offered. I only went to the doctor to make my family shut up. I seem to maybe have a higher threshold of pain than most people I know.

My foot hurt pretty bad and knowing I could get a script if I wanted did not even tempt me to take one. I don't like the way they make me feel I would rather just eat right and support my bodies ability to make my own dna brand of endorphin. If the pain is pretty bad I will take one aspirin. I took two aspirins a day for a week after I broke my foot mostly to help with the inflammation. I hate that big pharma sh!t greedy phucking plastards. I really believe the body can heal itself I feel that I am living proof of that. My foot is doing pretty good it still hurts a little if I walk thru the hills too much. If I could have had a cup of poppy tea before bed when my foot was acute I would have probably had a few that first week. Probably the tea would help to keep people from getting strung out on it.The more it is refined the more addictive it becomes imho.

[RJB]

Related.

Painkiller deaths drop by 25% in states with legalized medical marijuana (https://www.minds.com/blog/view/547170043763372032)

I'm sure that the herb kratom will make a dent too.