Government supplied heroine

[BehindBlueI's]

How does any of that help the end user? supposedly we’ll get “clean” suppplies of heroin with known potency and no fentanyl/carfentanil? I thought the goal was to stop OD deaths and the destruction of families

Even ignoring:

Funny how if someone else’s Money is on the ground and you take it that is theft. But if you get government to grab it from your neighbor and then give it to you that is wonderful

The criminal justice system is not a healthcare system. Yet we're expected to deal with everyone's overdoses and addiction issues, mental health episodes, etc. Forcing the round peg into the square hole may sorta-kinda plug the hole for a bit, but long term it doesn't work. We're seeing the results of decades of round peg-square hole.

Then, of course, someone will complain we don't have the resources to investigate identity theft or check fraud. Guess how many detectives and investigators at all levels of law enforcement are dedicated to the illegal drug trade...

You want a law to deal with it? How about a law that would penalize the drug manufacturers who, in large part, turbo-charged the current crisis.

A final strategy highlights the profits that opioid companies have reaped at the government’s expense through allegedly unfair business practices. In these “unjust enrichment” claims, governments argue that opioid companies should have to disgorge such profits. This argument has intuitive appeal, as it did in litigation over tobacco, firearms, and lead paint, because attorneys can point to huge pecuniary gains enjoyed while the government was saddled with vast medical and law-enforcement costs. Such claims have struggled to find legal footing in cases involving other products because courts typically require evidence that the government conferred a benefit on the company. For opioids, though, government payment for excessive prescriptions under public insurance programs directly contributed to companies’ profits. Already, two large settlements have occurred in cases that included unjust enrichment claims, although pharmaceutical companies avoided admitting fault (see table).

I know, .gov sucks and corporations are people too, but as long as there's an economic incentive to create addicts and pass the cost of treatment off to others, the crisis isn't going anywhere.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/purdue-opioids-oxycontin.html

Dealing with end users individually isn't working and never will. Dealing with the sources of the problem, which we can pretty much guarantee will never happen because the big boys are deeply in bed with the decision makers, could potentially make a difference.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Well since the VA started the whole “pain is fifth vital sign” and then it became a governmental credentialing of hospitals criteria, and then Medicare began judging docs and hospitals on how well we treated pain, i’ll Throw it back at .gov. Industry simply filled the demand gap created by government mandate. Sure they went beyond what was necessary and there were some bad actors who need their comeuppance.

But it wasn’t the manufacturing industry that forced drugs on people. It was the government, the patients (gasp!) and their doctors. Half of patients ***** about inadequate pain control and half *****ed about their doc giving too many pills

the current shortage is fascinating though. We’re using a lot more oral pain meds in the ED since we simply don’t have the IV versions. I haven’t seen gnashing of teeth and horrible moaning. With education people generally understand and it’s OK. When the expectation was “any pain is too much” that created our problem. Now that it’s “sorry, this is what we have, it will have to do”, it does.

Plenty of studies show equal or better analgesia in the ER with oral pain meds. Problem is patients often demand IV. They don’t care about my study I can show them. They don’t care that it won’t last long. They just want the shot 5 minutes ago for their severe 10/10 pain that they waited 12 hours at home with before deciding to come in. Then the 15 mins it takes us to medicate them is the worst injustice ever put upon a patient.

is “dealing” with the “big guys” legalizing it so the pharma companies can make heroin? Or is it suing them for another fake tobacco lawsuit?

 

[phylodog]

How does any of that help the end user? supposedly we’ll get “clean” suppplies of heroin with known potency and no fentanyl/carfentanil? I thought the goal was to stop OD deaths and the destruction of families

I'll go ahead and be a big meany pants in a second thread for the day.

It isn't my responsibility, nor the responsibility of my tax dollars, to help these people. Stopping OD deaths isn't the responsibility of society. I'd much prefer to see my tax dollars spent helping stray animals as they have little control over the situation they find themselves in. Drug addiction starts with a choice and continues with additional choices. Prohibition doesn't work, education doesn't work, incarceration doesn't work. Prayers are much cheaper and at this point I believe they're more effective.

The war on drugs has failed in grand fashion. It has had zero positive affect and plenty of negatives. It has become a black hole into which we dump billions of dollars every year and receive absolutely nothing beneficial in return.

 

[Trigger Time]

I'll go ahead and be a big meany pants in a second thread for the day.

It isn't my responsibility, nor the responsibility of my tax dollars, to help these people. Stopping OD deaths isn't the responsibility of society. I'd much prefer to see my tax dollars spent helping stray animals as they have little control over the situation they find themselves in. Drug addiction starts with a choice and continues with additional choices. Prohibition doesn't work, education doesn't work, incarceration doesn't work. Prayers are much cheaper and free and at this point I believe they're more effective.

The war on drugs has failed in grand fashion. It has had zero positive affect and plenty of negatives. It has become a black hole into which we dump billions of dollars every year and receive absolutely nothing beneficial in return.

Yep. I have little to no sympathy for drug addicts

 

[Hookeye]

Give them really strong stuff and the problem should go away.

 

[Vigilant]

Give them really strong stuff and the problem should go away.

Not as long as Naloxone is being provided every other day.

 

[Dean C.]

Not as long as Naloxone is being provided every other day.

Maybe a "3 strikes" style rule should be implemented

 

[Vigilant]

Maybe a "3 strikes" style rule should be implemented

I’m more in tune with Natural Selection. They selected drugs, nature selected death.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

It could be said, that .gov provided shooting galleries would represent a money saving strategy, as unfeeling as it may seem. Provide them with what and how much they want to shoot, and a place to do it, just boxing them up and trucking them out would be hella cheaper than sending EMS and a couple of police units into a bad neighborhood to rescue them, only to box them up and truck them out a few days later. How many of the addicts are actually turned into normal people either way?