It’s way easier to kill yourself with opioids- accidentally or on purpose. That’s why it’s being treated like an epidemic.
Why not just let people use opioids? It's cheap. People like it. Arguably healthier than weed, alcohol or tobacco. Addiction isn't an issue if you can stay supplied.
Submitted 1 year ago by dope@lemm.ee to [deleted]
Comments
Ktanaqui@lemm.ee 1 year ago
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Death by opioids happens because you had to buy from a shady source. The law is to blame.
Many more have died from alcohol than opioids.
adespoton@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Death by opioids happens because you need an ever increasing dose to achieve the same effect. Eventually the dose required is higher than what’s needed to kill you.
People turn to black market opioids because they’re often cheaper than prescription, and while the dose just keeps going up, so does the price, unless you can find a cheaper supplier.
Cheaper suppliers are usually cheaper because they don’t have the same quality control, which again leads to accidental overdose or poisoning.
space_gecko@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I used to think there was no such thing as a stupid question. You have now changed my mind.
LastYearsPumpkin@feddit.ch 1 year ago
It’s a stupid opinion dressed up like a question.
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Well, I can’t honestly say that the question is stupid.
The over-reaction to opiate over-use has been absurd. And it is true that with adherence to prescribed dosages and regular monitoring, opiates aren’t as bad as people think they are.
That being said, they are among the most addictive substances out there, and without restraint and monitoring, they will het away from a significant segment of users.
However, you’ve made the claim in comments that it’s people getting bad illegal drugs that’s the big problem. This simply isn’t the case. I’ve dealt with opiates from the outside and the inside. I took care of the disabled, injured, and dying for twenty years. That accelerated the ruin of my body, and I’m a chronic pain sufferer myself now.
Even low dose stuff like vicodin can seriously fuck people up without any need for illegal access. People die from it. Long term use has predictable and nigh inevitable effects on the body and brain. When you’re inside that, it is far harder to monitor your own usage. As your tolerance increases, and you deal with reduced efficacy because of that, you run into an escalation that isn’t tenable.
If they were OTC, you’d see massive jumps in hospitalizations and deaths, just from those less addictive forms. Hell, I lost patients to vicodin solely because they had a bad weekend pain wise, and lost track of what they were taking. I saw the log book one of them used to keep track, and over two days, it turned into a jumbled mess with the times becoming impossible. They were taking enough that they thought days were passing, but it was hours.
That’s the worst case scenario, obviously, but that’s also the least dangerous version of opioids.
You can’t just have unfettered access and expect anything else to happen. It would kill more people than it helped.
Now, it is true that as tolerance and dependence build, those that switch to stronger versions, particularly the ones that are illegal, have worse outcomes than people that have good support with access to stronger opioids with industrial consistency. There’s folks that can go most of a lifetime on things like morphine or methadone as long as they have a good team helping them. I’ve seen those successes.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m 100% behind decriminalization of all drugs. Even the horror show that is meth. They need regulation and a switch away from legal problems into treating it like the health issue it is. But unfettered access is not the same thing. Nor is pretending that there won’t still be a problem if it’s prescribed rather than street level. Opiates are not a fucking joke.
sygnius@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Everything you said is how I assume would happen. Also after watching Painkiller on Netflix, I can see how it can get out of hand even with prescriptions back in the 80s and 90s.
applejacks@lemmy.world 1 year ago
opioids kill 70k people per year in the US alone.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I think the alcohol death rate is double that, actually.
applejacks@lemmy.world 1 year ago
that doesn’t take into account how commonly it’s used though.
far far more people drink alcohol.
lyth@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Check this fella’s post history. Pretty sure this is a serial baitposter
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
I prefer the term “independent thinker”.
Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 1 year ago
Thanks for outing yourself as someone to block
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You can look at how things went down in the opium dens in China to see how that’d probably work out.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for giving up on the war on drugs immediately. Locking people up just for doing heroin or whatever is beyond stupid. But I’ve known a lot of junkies in my time, and none of them once reaching the big time addiction stage remained functioning members of society. Getting and consuming more opiates becomes priority #1 eventually, at the expense of everything else.
Same deal with meth, just from a different angle.
megsmagik@feddit.it 1 year ago
That is true for every addiction, like gambling, it’s not the opioid that makes you not functioning per se, I met some people that you couldn’t believe they were junkies because even if the substance was their priority it wasn’t at the expense of everything else. Alcohol abuse it’s the worst, I saw people devastated from it and it’s legal…
UncleBadTouch@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
ahh, OP asks the dumbest questions, then bitches at the folks who call him out on it.
Another day, another stupid question.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
If it’s such a dumb question then you should have no problem answering it.
megsmagik@feddit.it 1 year ago
Because the moment you don’t have any for whatever reason withdrawal is horrible, you can’t function properly without it… also you have to consider the risk of overdosing, for opioids is very high if you’re not careful
Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Look man, Im for hardcore legalization and access to pretty much everything. But Im for that solely on principle. Opioids are fucking dangerous and will kill the shit out of people. More dangerous than weedz alcohol and Coke all rolled into one. Maybe Meth beats em but not by much.
bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
You’re getting downvoted for asking a question in nostupidquestions, lol.
The Rolling Stones have been on smack for 50 years, paracetamol is more dangerous.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Most believe what’s popular and love bile.
So it’s a wheat and chaff situation.
CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 1 year ago
Addiction can become an issue when you build up a tolerance to something regardless of the supply. Even if someone reaches a tolerance plateau they still have a chance to overdose after breaks and there’s likely some form of health consequences.
Kalkaline@leminal.space 1 year ago
I’m in favor of legalization only with increasing access to evidence based addiction treatment programs dramatically and funding it with tax dollars. There must be major checks in place as well, because black market sales means poor standards and contamination with undesirable products like fentanyl which is incredibly easy to overdose on.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 1 year ago
Where the fuck did you get that opioids are “arguably healthier” than marijuana?
KinNectar@kbin.run 1 year ago
@dope legalize all drugs, provide clean drugs to users via regulated dispensaries or pharmacies, take all money from the drug war and allocate to mental health services including inpatient rehab. It works, check Portugals record on heroin use.
That said, cannabis has a way better afety record than any of the other substances mentioned.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Yes I know that cannabis is safer. But I think that it’s also mentally less healthy.
Don’t get me wrong. Cannabis has done wonders and I appreciate it. But it is much more muddling than opium. And of the two, it’s only cannabis that has disturbed friends of mine to the point that they gave it up.
I think that cannabis is more powerful and disturbing than we give it credit for. And, safety aside, opium is deeply smooth.
ShunkW@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You have zero clue what you’re talking about.
HerbalGamer@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Addiction isn’t an issue if you can stay supplied.
what a take lol
Smokeydope@lemmy.world 1 year ago
This is either bait or your on some serious copium.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Most here are kids. If you disagree then you are wrong, bad and dumb. Anger and malice are justified and enjoyed. There is no possible conversation between differing views. Just animal-noises and feces-throwing.
It used to not be like this. It was better.
INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone 1 year ago
Healthier than weed lol
CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 1 year ago
When are people going to wake up to the scourge of marijuana overdose deaths?!?!? Enough is enough!
lemmy___user@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Lmao I mean, I guess if you smoke 20 joints a day I guess you’ll have about the same risk of cancer as cigarettes
INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone 1 year ago
DO IT