Don't jail addicts. Overdose prevention sites work, and the US needs to get on board.

[libertybele]

Don't jail addicts. Overdose prevention sites work, and the US needs to get on board.

Today, 200 Americans likely will die from a drug overdose. Most of them will die alone.

The government's modern-day response to our nation's overdose epidemic has been woefully inadequate. Rather than relying on medical science, our leaders have been influenced by the same misguided approaches that undergirded the “war on drugs” in the 1980s — fear, stigma and racism.

We need a smarter strategy that reduces harm and saves lives. This starts with prosecutors ending the criminal crackdown on drug users — pushing for treatment instead of pressing charges; encouraging law enforcement to change street approaches; and, most of all, calling for the development of overdose prevention sites where people can consume substances under supervision, get clean needles, and get access to treatment and counseling.

These sites are saving lives in Canada and Europe, where they have been in operation since the 1980s. But the criminal stigma behind drug use and addiction has kept such sites from opening in the United States, leaving users to struggle and, far too frequently, die.  ........

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2018/11/01/drugs-opioids-policing-usa/1821797002/

[DB]

That has worked just great in San Francisco...

They can make a shit hole out of your town too...

[libertybele]

That has worked just great in San Francisco...

They can make a shit hole out of your town too...

Wow.  I think you missed the premise of the article and you also need to consider that there are addicts who have been prescribed these drugs.  Addiction comes in various different forms; from smoking to alcohol, to opioids etc.

Struggling with addiction is just that; a struggle.  Those who are addicted from prescription drugs are the lucky ones as usually they have insurance to get the treatment that they need at a facility that has some type of success rate.  Those who are addicted to some type of street drug aren't so lucky; usually have no insurance to get into a decent facility with any kind of a success rate.

Addiction becomes a revolving door (arrest/jail/street) because many people don't get the treatment they need.  More affordable treatment is necessary if we ever hope to help as many people as possible.

If we take a look at Portugal (decriminalization), if arrested, for drugs, they get treatment and are assigned a case worker and a legal adviser and a psychologist to  help them with their addiction.  The success rate is much better in getting people back to a productive life, then locking someone up for a period of time with very little or no treatment and putting them back on the street.

Between 2016 - 2017 over 65,000 died from opioid overdose.  Some stats show in 2017 alone, over 70,000 people died for opioid drug overdose. The increase is due to a newer synthetic opioid; fentanyl.

https://labblog.uofmhealth.org/rounds/what-these-10-studies-taught-us-about-opioid-addiction-2017

https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/health/opioid-crisis-fast-facts/index.html

http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

[Fishrrman]

If they're stealin' to support their addiction, I say... JAIL 'EM.

I don't care about their sob stories.

[libertybele]

If they're stealin' to support their addiction, I say... JAIL 'EM.

I don't care about their sob stories.

I can see your point, but if we look at a hypothetical scenario of John Doe who was prescribed an opioid after knee surgery and becomes opioid dependent, and has a job, and one night gets pulled over for swerving a little bit and is asked to take a drug test because he swerved and his eyes look a bit droopy and tests positive and spends a day in jail and in and out of court and as a result of this loses his job ... it then becomes difficult for John to find a job with a record.  So .... meanwhile ... his dependency is still there ... because he lost his job he no longer can afford insurance, can't afford prescription opioids, and turns to the street. He steals ... he gets thrown back in jail ... he now enters the revolving door.

So ... what would have been better for society and for John?  When arrested the first time to mandate he go through a successful treatment program with psychologists, and case workers assigned to him WITHOUT him having a record and helping him get back on track ... or let him out after serving time back onto the streets, with a record making him less than employable, and suffer further consequences?

Yes there are those who have grown up in an environment where they learn to survive by stealing and selling drugs; that is a whole different ballgame. Even at that, I believe some can be rehabilitated.

[DB]

Wow.  I think you missed the premise of the article and you also need to consider that there are addicts who have been prescribed these drugs.  Addiction comes in various different forms; from smoking to alcohol, to opioids etc.

Struggling with addiction is just that; a struggle.  Those who are addicted from prescription drugs are the lucky ones as usually they have insurance to get the treatment that they need at a facility that has some type of success rate.  Those who are addicted to some type of street drug aren't so lucky; usually have no insurance to get into a decent facility with any kind of a success rate.

Addiction becomes a revolving door (arrest/jail/street) because many people don't get the treatment they need.  More affordable treatment is necessary if we ever hope to help as many people as possible.

If we take a look at Portugal (decriminalization), if arrested, for drugs, they get treatment and are assigned a case worker and a legal adviser and a psychologist to  help them with their addiction.  The success rate is much better in getting people back to a productive life, then locking someone up for a period of time with very little or no treatment and putting them back on the street.

Between 2016 - 2017 over 65,000 died from opioid overdose.  Some stats show in 2017 alone, over 70,000 people died for opioid drug overdose. The increase is due to a newer synthetic opioid; fentanyl.

https://labblog.uofmhealth.org/rounds/what-these-10-studies-taught-us-about-opioid-addiction-2017

https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/health/opioid-crisis-fast-facts/index.html

http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

San Francisco has done the "clean needle" thing among many others to make it "safe" to take drugs... The irony of that is too much...

And I didn't say drug users should be made criminals - short of harming others. I think you should be free to destroy yourself if you are bent on it. And that doesn't mean they shouldn't be offered help IF they want it but for many drug addicts they don't want to change. They like it. I do not believe our taxes should be being used for these causes. Let charities, churches etc deal with it where it isn't a one size fits all solution. Where it is on a one on one basis and some evaluation of the real desire to get off the drugs can be accessed instead of just plundered.

[Emjay]

It's become a real problem for doctors too.  My own doctor recently sent all his patients a letter saying that he was no longer prescribing any opiate type drugs.  I think he had some patients who were making his life miserable, even to accosting him outside the office.  We had to acknowledge and sign an agreement to remain his patients.  He did give us a list of doctors who will prescribe these drugs.

[libertybele]

It's become a real problem for doctors too.  My own doctor recently sent all his patients a letter saying that he was no longer prescribing any opiate type drugs.  I think he had some patients who were making his life miserable, even to accosting him outside the office.  We had to acknowledge and sign an agreement to remain his patients.  He did give us a list of doctors who will prescribe these drugs.

That's terrible, especially for patients that suffer from relentless chronic long term pain.  I know people with who suffer from chronic pain that are having problems getting the frequency and dosage of medication that they need just to take the edge off their pain a little bit.  It's almost like they are being punished for those who have abused meds or drugs.  This is a nightmare for them; not only do they have to suffer with their condition, but they have to fight to get the slight relief that these drugs offer them.

[Frank Cannon]

I'm addicted to single malt scotch, top quality whores and filet mignon. I demand the govt give me a place to do that on their nickel.

[truth_seeker]

1. Obamacare DICTATES that all insurance includes 8 Essentials, and addiction treatment is one of the eight.

2. In America, everybody is supposed to have insurance, and can get subsidies from government to pay for it.


There are abundant treatment resources. If  an addict needs and wants treatment, it can be arranged.

There is a catch. The first phase included detoxification, but disconfort can be helped  The first
Phase also includes no further drugs/alcohol.


Most  addicts/alcoholics are liars. They lie about how much they use, when the last time was, how many times they have tried to be abstinent, etc.


Oh yeah. They may tell you just about anything they think you want to hear.


Giving drugs/alcohol to ddicts is insane. even if Seattle or Zurich claim otherwise.

Once again, there abundant resources. There is a shortage of willingness to go to any length to be free from drugs/alcohol.

Most people are not ready yet, to quit.

If you want to help somebody, help them get to an AA or NA meeting, an emergency room, etc.

[RoosGirl]

I'm addicted to single malt scotch, top quality whores and filet mignon. I demand the govt give me a place to do that on their nickel.

Can I be your +1 for those reservations?

[Smokin Joe]

1. Obamacare DICTATES that all insurance includes 8 Essentials, and addiction treatment is one of the eight.

2. In America, everybody is supposed to have insurance, and can get subsidies from government to pay for it.

The reason this 'free' insurance is so damned unaffordable for my NON-ADDICTED family is that it is required to provide services for addicts.

How about letting those of us who don't have this problem buy insurance that doesn't cover the expensive treatments we won't need? Then we can have health insurance again. All Obamacaare did was shift the insured population away from the middle class. You make too much to be subsidized, and not enough to afford it.

We had a plan, once upon a time, that worked just fine--until the government jumped in.

[Emjay]

That's terrible, especially for patients that suffer from relentless chronic long term pain.  I know people with who suffer from chronic pain that are having problems getting the frequency and dosage of medication that they need just to take the edge off their pain a little bit.  It's almost like they are being punished for those who have abused meds or drugs.  This is a nightmare for them; not only do they have to suffer with their condition, but they have to fight to get the slight relief that these drugs offer them.

I don't think it's terrible.  Doctors can opt out of prescribing opiates if it becomes a problem.

Also, he provided several referrals to people who wanted to change doctors.  I opted to stay with him. .

[GtHawk]

I'm addicted to single malt scotch, top quality whores and filet mignon. I demand the govt give me a place to do that on their nickel.

@Frank Cannon they have a special shock program to break people like you of their addiction, it involves Ripple, sheep and Spam.

[GtHawk]

Yup, don't jail addicts, keep them addicted and dependent on liberals in government so that they will vote to keep liberals in government.

[roamer_1]

That's terrible, especially for patients that suffer from relentless chronic long term pain.  I know people with who suffer from chronic pain that are having problems getting the frequency and dosage of medication that they need just to take the edge off their pain a little bit.  It's almost like they are being punished for those who have abused meds or drugs.  This is a nightmare for them; not only do they have to suffer with their condition, but they have to fight to get the slight relief that these drugs offer them.

@libertybele
As one who formerly used opiates for chronic pain, I know exactly how hard it is to get opiates.
In fact, the hoops had a lot to do with why I looked for and found alternatives.

The problem is, there really aren't many alternatives - In foregoing opiates, I stand a better than average chance of developing alcoholism instead, as at least for me, opiates and alcohol are the most effective answers to acute pain episodes.

Turmeric Milk is my primary medicine, but it only goes so far - If I am having an acute episode, turmeric milk won't even touch it, and my only current recourse is to get drunk and stay that way, until the episode passes.

In fact, I am strongly considering getting back on opiates for the winter, hoops and all, because at least until I get more physically fit, opiates are the better option, as I can be far more active on opiates.

That being said, addicts are no different than drunks. If they are caught being a danger to others, or thieving, or any of the other lawless options that addiction generates, I think the law must be enforced, chronic pain or not. The reason for the addiction is incidental. the actions generated by addiction are on point, and those actions are dangerous.

And in my experience, ANY addict is offered mediation and addiction treatment as a matter of course by the courts. If you get to the point of jail, or even ordered treatment, IMHO, the court has already determined by experience that you are beyond controlling yourself.

[Emjay]

@libertybele
As one who formerly used opiates for chronic pain, I know exactly how hard it is to get opiates.
In fact, the hoops had a lot to do with why I looked for and found alternatives.


And in my experience, ANY addict is offered mediation and addiction treatment as a matter of course by the courts. If you get to the point of jail, or even ordered treatment, IMHO, the court has already determined by experience that you are beyond controlling yourself.

Wondering if pot helps at all.  My daughter-in-law used it before and after hip surgery.  They live in Colorado so it was no problem.

[roamer_1]

Wondering if pot helps at all.  My daughter-in-law used it before and after hip surgery.  They live in Colorado so it was no problem.

@Emjay
No- With the exception that part of my diagnosis is fibro, and in its essence, fibro is an inflammatory condition largely caused by not hitting deep sleep, where the 'garbage trucks' haul off the toxic junk from cells... Pot knocks me out, which is why I never really got into it for its entertainment value... But I can use it to force a sleep state, which can be helpful, providing I am not hurting too damn bad to sleep...

That is part of my particular vicious cycle... I can't sleep because I hurt too much, which causes the fibro aspect to act as a force multiplier (in a bad way), making me hurt more, which makes me sleep less, which makes me hurt even more, etc.

So in my case, what I can do to nip that sleep thing in the bud, and keep the fibro from kicking in is probably the most effective preemptive pain management I can do. Pot can help with that, but I have found I am better off to shut off the pain so the sleep will naturally occur. Alcohol (as an instance) can shut that pain off for a long time (actually longer than anything else, if I get drunk enough).

But once that vicious cycle is entered, the only thing that really works is heavy doses of either opiates or alcohol, or at times both... and that cycle can go on for a very long time.

[musiclady]

BkMk

[Emjay]

@Emjay
No- With the exception that part of my diagnosis is fibro, and in its essence, fibro is an inflammatory condition largely caused by not hitting deep sleep, where the 'garbage trucks' haul off the toxic junk from cells... Pot knocks me out, which is why I never really got into it for its entertainment value... But I can use it to force a sleep state, which can be helpful, providing I am not hurting too damn bad to sleep...

That is part of my particular vicious cycle... I can't sleep because I hurt too much, which causes the fibro aspect to act as a force multiplier (in a bad way), making me hurt more, which makes me sleep less, which makes me hurt even more, etc.

So in my case, what I can do to nip that sleep thing in the bud, and keep the fibro from kicking in is probably the most effective preemptive pain management I can do. Pot can help with that, but I have found I am better off to shut off the pain so the sleep will naturally occur. Alcohol (as an instance) can shut that pain off for a long time (actually longer than anything else, if I get drunk enough).

But once that vicious cycle is entered, the only thing that really works is heavy doses of either opiates or alcohol, or at times both... and that cycle can go on for a very long time.

@roamer_1   You sound like you have a total handle on your pain problem, it's causes and it's cures.

I don't see you as ever having an opiate problem because you are only doing what you've learned you need to do for the pain.  I'm sure you thought of valium to help you sleep.

I would be in a fix because I can't drink.  I mean I could have one beer but that's about it.

[truth_seeker]

Help understanding "injection sites" "needle exchange" and various aspects of urban decline, at the hands of ridiculous, feel good leftist insanity

SEATTLE

Seattle: The Utopian Lie | NOIR S7E8

! No longer available

[goodwithagun]

Big Gov, one of the opioid crisis creators, now has a solution to the opioid crisis. Wonderful

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1   You sound like you have a total handle on your pain problem, it's causes and it's cures.

I don't see you as ever having an opiate problem because you are only doing what you've learned you need to do for the pain.  I'm sure you thought of valium to help you sleep.

I would be in a fix because I can't drink.  I mean I could have one beer but that's about it.

@Emjay
The only reason I might not have a problem is directly because I am highly cognizant that I DO have a problem... I never formally went through the 12 steps, but I do know how easy it is for me to fall into getting high.

The biggest problem with prescription opiates is literally 'chasing the high' - It doesn't feel like a high when you are treating pain, but it is the very same thing... norco 5's used to work, but after a while you need to go to 7's... and then more, and more... Functionally it isn't a high (or it wasn't in my perspective), It's that it isn't as effective against the pain as it once was...

So I deliberately only used them in the winter - going through relatively mild withdrawal every spring, with about 30 hits horded for special circumstances through the summer... That way, when winter hit in the fall, the pain relief was effective again, and I stayed off the chase-the-high train.

I have now been through 2 winters without taking them at all, but like I said, it isn't a fix, because the addiction is just as palpable and possible with alcohol...

It is a tricky business that probably makes me more sympathetic toward folks that have it worse than I do. It is a hard row to hoe.

[Absalom]

I'm addicted to single malt scotch, top quality whores and filet mignon. I demand the govt give me a place to do that on their nickel.

-------------------------------
Single Malt, Whores and Filet Mignon is fine but you gotta have a priority list!
 

[Victoria33]

roamer_1

"The problem is, there really aren't many alternatives - In foregoing opiates, I stand a better than average chance of developing alcoholism instead, as at least for me, opiates and alcohol are the most effective answers to acute pain episodes.
In fact, I am strongly considering getting back on opiates for the winter, hoops and all, because at least until I get more physically fit, opiates are the better option, as I can be far more active on opiates."
_______________________________

You also say you have fibromyalgia.  Me, too, diagnosed years ago by a neurologist.  At that time, every muscle in my body hurt so that I couldn't bush my teeth without back muscles actually rippling in pain.  Couldn't put on clothes, wore a robe all day.  Then, feet began having stabbing pains and couldn't work without pain, had to use a cane.  Went to neurologist and was diagnosed - he gave me Amitriptyline and in three days I was out washing my car.

It has gotten worse over the years.  Can have back muscles go into spasm for a whole day - can't move a bit all day - the time before last it happened, took hydrocodone (opioid) as prescribed, it didn't touch the pain, drank half a bottle of wine until Bob took it away from me, that also didn't lower the pain so I could stand it. Death would be better to stop the pain.

Next time I went to doc, he gave me a anti-spasm pill to go with hydrocodone (opioid) and upped the mg in hydrocodone (an opioid).  I now go to a orthopedic doctor for another serious problem and he has taken over the opioid ordering and added Lyrica med.  There are serious side effects from that pill and the dose had to be lowered as I couldn't function - could not write, could not spell words, messed up my mind; Bob thought of taking me to an emergency room.  I dropped the dosage myself to get me back to normal.  Then, went back to doctor.

Some people have medical problems that cause pain constantly all day.  You and I are two of those people.  There is plenty of alcohol in this house but I have not gone down that road except for the time of drinking the wine.  Medicine is developed to help people - not to create addicts.  Use them according to the prescribed dosage and if they create a problem instead of helping, get the dosage fixed by doctor.

One time there was a family member here who is a liberal to the max.  She said no one should take an opioid since they were killing people.  I told her why I took it; then, she said "I" should have it but no one else.  When it comes down to someone a liberal knows, the liberal changes his/her mind about opioids.