I've seen it.

 

There are people that have every opportunity to stop and they don't do it. Those people don't want to be saved.

 

If you're doing heroin with elephant tranquilizers in it, you probably have no intention of giving up drugs. So...

 

Opportunities to stop are frequently not the issue. The addiction in and of itself is the problem. It is a pure addiction and not a fabricated position.

 

Most addicts don't do quality control before they buy, so they don't necessarily know that there is elephant tranquilizers in their stuff, so......

In a rational world, this position makes sense.

 

Addiction is not a rational world. Most heroin users didn't start there. Many of them started with prescription pain meds, became legitimately addicted and were unable to drag themselves out of it....hence their turn to heroin as a substitute.

 

Most don't start by lining it either....snort, or smoke laced weed is a primary gateway

 

As someone who is around this stuff much more frequently (or at least I seem to recall that you are), what % of heroin addicts, in your estimation, end up being positive contributing members of society?

Opportunities to stop are frequently not the issue. The addiction in and of itself is the problem. It is a pure addiction and not a fabricated position.

 

Most addicts don't do quality control before they buy, so they don't necessarily know that there is elephant tranquilizers in their stuff, so......

 

How do you get addicted in the first place? You make the decision to start using. Addiction is self-inflicted, I have a hard time showing sympathy towards that.

The heroin being laced with this stuff isn't news(maybe a month+). The overdoses are, but not really.

 

Channel 12(WKRC) seems to be focusing on it which means someone asked them to or it finally hit close to home.

Insanity, all the way around.

But, it brings up a question (at least in my mind)...why would any dealer/supplier push this? Yes, you want your customer base to be/become addicted...but, they can't buy any more when they're dead. And it's not like it's cigarettes, where usage may lead to death down the road. This could be a one-time thing. It just doesn't make any sense to possibly kill off your customer base.

My guess is they didn't know until it was too late.

How do you get addicted in the first place? You make the decision to start using. Addiction is self-inflicted, I have a hard time showing sympathy towards that.

 

IDK, I see more and more articles showing how addiction is a genetic trait in people. Whether it be drugs, caffeine, food, adrenaline.

As someone who is around this stuff much more frequently (or at least I seem to recall that you are), what % of heroin addicts, in your estimation, end up being positive contributing members of society?

 

I really couldn't say. The problem with addiction is the permanency of the whole thing.

 

I really don't think we are far enough down the road with this particular drug to have outcome studies that have any longevity. What I do believe is that this is very different than most addictive issues and we may not see a lot of positive outcomes.

 

I don't know that it's helpful to be hopeless about positive outcomes, but it is certainly discouraging in many cases.

It's possible this heroine has made it to Indiana. There were 16 overdoses on Tuesday night in Jackson and Jennings counties. One fatality.

How do you get addicted in the first place? You make the decision to start using. Addiction is self-inflicted, I have a hard time showing sympathy towards that.

 

Let me tell you a little story that refutes your opinion:

 

Young kid, maybe 15 or 16, playing high school football at a high level, hurts his back...it's severe enough that he never plays another down of football or even participates in another sport during high school. Multiple doctors, specialists in the field of back injuries, can't do anything for him for months and months except administer pain relief.....oxycontin to be specific...

 

Fast forward 6 - 8 months....one pill no longer kills the pain, or two, or 5 - 8 a day...so the teenager seeks more, and more, and more....until one day, he gets caught with more than 9 pills...(because in the state of Kentucky, more than 9 pills in your possession gets you a trafficking charge) and he's looking at 10 years in the state penitentiary for Trafficking in Controlled Substance.....and he's a senior in high school.

 

This is self-inflicted addiction....

 

This is the decision to start using....

 

This is how you get addicted in the first place....

 

I quit asking for sympathy for this situation many years ago and turned to God and my rock solid spouse to help me understand the "why" behind all this....it just is, and everyday you wake up, worry, shake it off and get on with your life the best you can....

 

I'm going to be attending a visitation and funeral for a young man this weekend that was addicted to heroin.....I have sympathy for his parents, because I understand, to some extent, what it's like to have those experiences.....

 

I was lucky, my son went to jail and isn't dead....

If you're doing heroin with elephant tranquilizers in it, you probably have no intention of giving up drugs. So...

My understanding is they aren't aware it has the elephant tranquilizers in it.

Let me tell you a little story that refutes your opinion:

 

Young kid, maybe 15 or 16, playing high school football at a high level, hurts his back...it's severe enough that he never plays another down of football or even participates in another sport during high school. Multiple doctors, specialists in the field of back injuries, can't do anything for him for months and months except administer pain relief.....oxycontin to be specific...

 

Fast forward 6 - 8 months....one pill no longer kills the pain, or two, or 5 - 8 a day...so the teenager seeks more, and more, and more....until one day, he gets caught with more than 9 pills...(because in the state of Kentucky, more than 9 pills in your possession gets you a trafficking charge) and he's looking at 10 years in the state penitentiary for Trafficking in Controlled Substance.....and he's a senior in high school.

 

This is self-inflicted addiction....

 

This is the decision to start using....

 

This is how you get addicted in the first place....

 

I quit asking for sympathy for this situation many years ago and turned to God and my rock solid spouse to help me understand the "why" behind all this....it just is, and everyday you wake up, worry, shake it off and get on with your life the best you can....

 

I'm going to be attending a visitation and funeral for a young man this weekend that was addicted to heroin.....I have sympathy for his parents, because I understand, to some extent, what it's like to have those experiences.....

 

I was lucky, my son went to jail and isn't dead....

 

Sorry for your son's issue, that's gotta be tough! Is he doing better? It seems that prevention would be the best hope for slowing this epidimic. Any advice for those who may deal with injury and pain in the future?

Sorry for your son's issue, that's gotta be tough! Is he doing better? It seems that prevention would be the best hope for slowing this epidimic. Any advice for those who may deal with injury and pain in the future?

 

Thank you. He is doing much better, but I don't think, as a parent, you ever stop worrying.

 

Prevention is the best defense. I would add, awareness and open communication with health care providers.

 

I have concerns about surgeries as much as anything. When you are dealing with street or recreational drug use, I think it's different because that's what most people lack sympathy or understanding about. With prescription drugs as a gateway addiction, it's harder to see it coming.

 

My advice would be to use the least amount of pain medication possible, always...but having had rebuilds myself, I understand the pain aspect as well.

Extremely touching story, BB. I am sorry to hear about your son. I would suggest that people read Dreamland. It is an excellent book that traces the spread of opiates in American society and shows the exact points where big Pharma's push of opiates met the point where Mexican heroin became the cheaper, and more readily available option. Very interesting. Even more interesting is the work done by the University of Washington for addiction recovery. It is an immersive type of rehab, and for whatever reason, insurance companies stopped covering it over 7 years ago. It is making a comeback.

 

As for those that didn't slip into addiction as a result of pain medicine/incorrect dosage and improper medical observation, I feel no sympathy for them. I do for their families.

Insanity, all the way around.

 

But, it brings up a question (at least in my mind)...why would any dealer/supplier push this? Yes, you want your customer base to be/become addicted...but, they can't buy any more when they're dead. And it's not like it's cigarettes, where usage may lead to death down the road. This could be a one-time thing. It just doesn't make any sense to possibly kill off your customer base.

 

I'd have a tendency to think that whoever pushed this had nefarious intentions and it wouldn't surprise me that we come to find that it was someone within the ranks of narcotic investigations who were either trying to thin the herd, all the while scaring the masses away from ever starting, or continuing to take the drug. It may never come out, but this would make more sense than a dealer trying to kill off his customers.

I'd have a tendency to think that whoever pushed this had nefarious intentions and it wouldn't surprise me that we come to find that it was someone within the ranks of narcotic investigations who were either trying to thin the herd, all the while scaring the masses away from ever starting, or continuing to take the drug. It may never come out, but this would make more sense than a dealer trying to kill off his customers.

 

That's possible