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After some initial confusion about the White House's plans earlier in the week, President Trump has followed the recommendation of the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, headed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and declared the opioid crisis to be a national emergency. He has promised to spend "a lot" of time, effort, and money to combat the problem:
Among the other recommendations were to rapidly increase treatment capacity for those who need substance abuse help; to establish and fund better access to medication-assisted treatment programs; and to make sure that health care providers are aware of the potential for misuse and abuse of prescription opioids by enhancing prevention efforts at medical and dental schools.
President Trump also decried a slowdown in federal prosecutions of drug crimes and a reduction in sentence lengths. Activists and policy experts are wary of an enforcement-heavy approach:
Bill Piper, senior director for the Drug Policy Alliance, told CNN Tuesday that stricter enforcement "has never worked" and the President would be "better focusing on the treatment side of things." "A supply side approach to drugs has never worked," Piper said. "That is what has been tried for decades and it has failed for every drug it has applied to, including alcohol during Prohibition. As long as there has been and[sic] demand for drugs, there will be a supply." Trump would not be the first administration to crack down on drug use by focusing on enforcement, but Piper said doing so would play into a desire to "sound tough," not actually solve the problem. "It makes it look like they are doing something even when they are not," Piper said.
Trump also advocated for more abstinence-based treatment to combat the opioid crisis. "The best way to prevent drug addiction and overdose is to prevent people from abusing drugs in the first place. If they don't start, they won't have a problem. If they do start, it's awfully tough to get off," Trump said. That sort of strategy advocates for targeting kids and young adults with anti-drug messaging, evocative of the "Just Say No" ad campaign of the 1980s and early 1990s.
This crisis is serious, folks:
"It is a serious problem the likes of which we have never had. You know when I was growing up, they had the LSD and they had certain generations of drugs. There's never been anything like what's happened to this country over the last four or five years. And I have to say this in all fairness, this is a worldwide problem, not just a United States problem. This is happening worldwide. But this is a national emergency, and we are drawing documents now to so attest."
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 11 2017, @11:36PM (4 children)
It was an innocent time. They had the LSD. They didn't have the heroin.
What will they snort next? Unbinilium?
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:17AM
Red-eye. Cardamine. Spice. Slam. WiDoW. Neon. Color. Each more deadly than the last.
Well, anyway, I assume this means more persecution of peaceful cannabis users whose health is improved by the herb, especially people who used cannabis to help them end an opiate addiction.
I feel less worse about my decision to vote for Hillary every day.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:18AM (2 children)
The problem isn't heroin, which is actually pretty harmless when used correctly, it's the stuff that they're selling as heroin, due to profit and needing to avoid jail. Latest here is elephant tranquilizer, if you can see the grain, that's enough to kill you. Really easy to mail into the country.
Best thing is to make heroin easily available. They've been experimenting here, have a clinic where the junkie goes for his measured hit of clinical heroin and suddenly you have these junkies becoming productive members of society.
The other thing they're doing is having injection sites. Go to a place with medics around to shoot up or snort your drugs. If you OD, you get help right then. No deaths.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @11:37PM (1 child)
A bigger problem is that the "opioid epidemic" isn't drug dealers selling heroin to junkies, it's pharma companies selling heroin equivalents to your mom, your neighbour, your brother. It's legal, state sanctioned sales of heroin equivalents to the public at large. Treatment is one thing, but a bigger one is to make it as difficult as possible to be prescribed the equivalent of heroin in the first place.
(Score: 2) by dry on Sunday August 13 2017, @01:21AM
Yea, that's been happening here as well. The problem is that some people do have chronic pain and need opiates to function and they're getting cut off from their legal morphine etc, which forces them to suffer more or go to the street for their drug.
It's a real problem balancing the fact that some people need heavy duty pain killers vs the pharmaceutical companies trying to maximize profits by overselling opiates.
BTW, here is Greater Vancouver, BC,
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 11 2017, @11:42PM (15 children)
Don't go after the junkies. They are brain dead and pathetic. Mandatory death sentence for dealers of hard drugs would work. The dealers profit and destroy people, families, neighborhoods, and society. Serious and costly crime deserves serious punishment.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:00AM (5 children)
Same as prostitution: regulate, license, take the criminal aspects out, help people get out/off, tax it to pay for the trouble.
And yes, illegal dealers, like pimps, should be dealt with, rather than customers.
But lengthy prisons sentences for all is the way it's going to go, courtesy of the Prison Industrial Complex lobbying.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @10:48AM (3 children)
Why do the johns get a pass?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:11PM (2 children)
Why should they be punished? They are paying for a service, and the prostitute supplies the service. It just needs to be legalised, so it can be regulated and made safe for both parties.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @11:40PM (1 child)
Reducing all human interactions to the level of buying a burrito does not a healthy society make.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday August 14 2017, @04:14PM
Welcome to Raw Capitalism.
For hints of social conscience, please consult the Socialism aisle.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:10PM
Yes, I've heard that's how it works.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:02AM
Oh, a big tough guy! Yea man, maybe you can get to work and kill those dealers to help America. Don't worry, we'll wait.... Whats that? You don't want to do it? Of course you don't. Tough guys like you talk big but sit on your fucking worthless ass spewing nonsense online. Put up or shut up.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:20AM (2 children)
George Carlin raised a good point when he offered another potential target:
Vote for Pedro
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:54AM
And the justice system won't ever be corrupted by deep state nor be incorrect..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:47PM
A new meaning for "hang time".
(Score: -1, Troll) by jmorris on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:21AM (3 children)
Our "justice" system is now designed to protect the criminals from us. If Trump wants to end the drug problem there is one leader's example that he can follow:
President Rodrigo Duterte
The only question is whether we are desperate enough for that solution yet? Probably not. But it can't be argued that his methods are ineffective. He is taking a country that was on the edge of collapse into failed narco state and has the criminal element crapping their undies, the corrupt government officials running for cover and the people cheering his name. Not bad for somebody that probably really is batshit crazy. What can be expected when we live in the asylum?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:08PM
He gets labeled batshit crazy because corruption and profiting off addiction is something that isn't just relegated to drugs. Those that in power are wise enough to see very quickly that 'First they came for the drug dealers and I did not speak out...' For what it's worth Thailand went through the exact same thing. The country was getting overrun with drugs and drug related violence. A Thai PM took an extremely hardline stance not dissimilar from what Duterte is doing, and it was also a resounding success. The country still has drugs, but no longer has a drug problem. The tales of people before and after the drug crackdown are just night and day.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:16PM
It was just a matter of time. Get the fuck out of this country you traitorous piece if shit. You belong in a mental institution where you can get help before you go full meat head and start murdering people.
People like you are the real danger in the US, sad you can't even see it. But sad or not you should be committed.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday August 13 2017, @04:11AM
Jumping Buddha, i was wondering if it was gonna be you or Uzzard who suggested emulating Rodrigo Dugoddamnterte first. Just...get the fuck out of the US, will you? You love Duterte Harry so much, ship your ass over to the Philippines and stay there.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:53PM
The biggest drug pushers advertise on TV.
We not only don't have all the answers, we don't even have all of the questions.
(Score: 2) by Entropy on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:01AM (5 children)
People like doing drugs. How about give them a safe place in order to do them?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:14AM (4 children)
But they do have this place - it's called pharmacy.
And it dispenses FDA-approved synthetic opioids.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Entropy on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:27AM (1 child)
LOL, yes. I agree--But you're not supposed to have fun with them, and
that's hardly an approved place to have fun with them.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:53AM
In a country with deep roots in protestantism [olivercromwell.org], you're not supposed to have fun [wikipedia.org] FULLSTOP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:16PM (1 child)
The synthetic ones are can be more dangerous than the real thing. If they dispensed pure heroin, you'd have a valid point. Unfortunately drug dealers don't care about the quality of what they supply, so could be contaminated with who know what, or even something else entirely.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:14PM
Heroin [wikipedia.org] is synthetic:
Heroin is about two times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl [wikipedia.org] is up to 100 times more potent than morphine, with some of its analogues, like carfentanil [wikipedia.org], being even more potent.
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(Score: 1, Flamebait) by c0lo on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:11AM (9 children)
Crisis - Trump's attitude towards survival as a president.
He passed "Presidency 101" and learned the "wag the dog" technique. Now he's shaking that dog as hard as he can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:20AM (6 children)
This will probably be serious.
I'm expecting armed stand-offs outside of recreational cannabis dispensaries. It ought to be fun.
There will probably be fewer and fewer places around town selling glass pieces. Tobacco shops sell them now, in addition to places geared more towards cannabis consumers. Then nobody around here will be selling them, and then they'll be illegal to buy over the internet as well.
Cannabis legalization was nice while it lasted, but it's over. I will never have the experience of buying recreational cannabis, browsing the buds, talking to a budtender about what I bought last and getting a recommendation for something new, having 20 different kinds of bud to choose from, in my life.
A legalization ballot initiative in my state got shut down by Republicans pulling horseshit, and now it's all over.
I hope that Trump starts World War 3. I want to see the nuclear apocalypse. I want to see humans wipe themselves off the planet.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:34AM (3 children)
There is no way Republicans are going to shut down the cannabis initiative states. And the guy in the Administration most in favor of doing it, Jeff Sessions, is about to be pushed off a cliff by Trump.
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(Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:31AM (2 children)
Ponder something. Do you think that someone who is in the WWE Hall of Fame understands the concept of Kayfabe? Do you think that Beauregard over at the Justice Dept knows? Trump's public behavior takes on an entirely different interpretation once you read that Infogalactic / Wikipedia page.
Look at the result, not the tweets themselves. Sessions seems to be doing exactly what needs to be done, within the limitations of the reality that he still has very few loyal soldiers in his command, including that weasel #2 that he is still stuck with. Sessions now has "strange new respect" from all sorts of nominal enemies yet has new room to maneuver in hunting leaks and locking up Hillary... or at least nailing some minions.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:53AM
Maybe I haven't paid enough attention to the madness. Maybe Sessions took some advice from Steve Bannon, who entered the fire but emerged unscathed.
Still, I don't see Trump making a move on cannabis. Some of his people (Ventura is estranged but w/e) back legalization, and the polling (ratings) backs legalization:
https://news.vice.com/story/roger-stone-unveils-plan-to-get-trump-to-legalize-weed [vice.com]
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/11/trump-will-cripple-states-if-he-reverses-marijuana-laws-jesse-ventura.html [cnbc.com]
http://thehill.com/homenews/345028-poll-finds-support-for-marijuana-legalization [thehill.com]
Medical = not kill: http://www.businessinsider.com/medical-marijuana-trump-administration-2017-first-statement-2017-5 [businessinsider.com]
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(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:18PM
Lol jmo is a wrestling fan. I am not surprised, just another tick on the "basement dwelling man child" list. Apologies to any sane people who like wrestling, but that crowd has its own stereotypes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:47AM (1 child)
I'm expecting armed stand-offs outside of recreational cannabis dispensaries. It ought to be fun.
hyperbole and bullshit.
There will probably be fewer and fewer places around town selling glass pieces
Yeah.... right. 'head shops' have been around forever and will be here long after we are gone.
I will never have the experience of buying recreational cannabis
boo fucking hoooo. You are making shit up. You were never going to do it in the first place.
I hope that Trump starts World War 3. I want to see the nuclear apocalypse. I want to see humans wipe themselves off the planet.
I know a guy who will sell you Vicodins at 2-3 a pill. I can hook you up and you can have your own little personal hell instead of dragging us all into whatever disorder you have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:31AM
I don't want to mess with opiates. They sound pretty bad, though I've always been curious to try. I'll try anything except maybe jimsonweed at least once.
I sometimes have back pain, usually lower back but sometimes upper back. I've found yoga an effective solution. Frog pose can resolve my lower back pain, so I suspect it's nothing serious. Upper back pain can be likewise resolved by going through sun exercises. Everybody else seems to have a medicine cabinet full of opiates. Cubicle-mate was having intermittent back pain, sounded a lot like mine, so I showed him an easy pose (1st sun exercise pose) that works for me. That wasn't good enough for him. He had pills to pop.
I have a very reliable source for cannabis flower, but thank you anyway for the offer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:39AM (1 child)
Unlike last president, who ignored bad shit happening if it was happening to White people.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:59AM
affirmative inaction
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:22AM
The aspirin company. The opiod crisis has been around more than a hundred years.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by stretch611 on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:40AM (8 children)
First, I have a very high pain tolerance... Back when I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I had an ibuprofen that night and was fine the next day and didn't need anything else.
I was in the hospital 20 years ago. After surgery, I woke up in my room attached to a Morphine drip. If I were to push the button I could have 2 ml of Morphine every 10 minutes. I asked the nurse to remove the IV with morphine... they refused. They told me I needed it for pain; I replied that I was in less pain after surgery than any day in the prior 6 months. Every 20 minutes or so, a nurse would come in and comment, "oh, you haven't taken any morphine, you really should." I said that I was in so little pain that I didn't need it and they replied, "well the physical therapist will be here later and you will need it then, its better to take it before you need it." Finally after repeated times, I finally hit the button once just to shut them up. (for the record, I only experienced dizziness from the anesthesia, no pain with the physical therapist.)
Earlier this year, I was hospitalized again, though longer this time. Fortunately, I was not attached to a morphine drip, but if I said I was in pain they would give me morphine or any other narcotic based on how bad I said I felt. After a few days, I did have some minor pain and requested an ibuprofen. The nurse said that ibuprofen was not on the list of drugs I could take, and gave me Norco instead. Really?!? WTF!!! When I was released I went to the hospital pharmacy to pick up what I needed to leave. Not only was there a prescription of Norco filled and ready, but also another opiate that was even stronger (I can't remember the name). To top it off, the hospital Dr forgot to actually get me all of the prescriptions I actually needed, and I needed to call them and wait for it to be filled. I did refuse to accept the opiate scripts though. Seriously, I didn't want or need them while I was there, and you want me to take them with me when I get released?!?
And if you think getting them from the hospital is easy, just try and go to a dentist... So many narcotics have been prescribed to me "just in case" I have pain later after the Novocaine wears off.
If we want to stop the opiate problem, maybe we should have health care workers listen to people's needs and not prescribe them indiscriminately. The last Dr in the hospital seemed to be a shining example of what the drug companies wanted her to be, not what I would ever want in my own doctor.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:08AM (2 children)
Also, if you live in the US and want ibuprofen, I am pretty sure it is over the counter now, at least in California. You can buy it in huge bottles at Costco.
I don't use it very often but every once in a while when I have nerve pain (back, neck, shoulder, carpal tunnel, etc.) I will take them for a few days until the pain dulls.
I find it utterly disappointing the way american hospitals are run. Most of the problems they are supposed to treat they create more from instead. I wish auto mechanics could get away with doing that, but they made laws against it, because mechanics are poor, while doctors are rich and often politically connected. Plus the auto repair industry has nothing on pharma as far as lobbying efforts go.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:50AM
Been over the counter for decades in the UK. Quite pricey, about 6c per 400mg pill.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:05PM
https://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/02/briefing/3882b2_04_wyeth-ibuprophen.htm [fda.gov]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibuprofen#North_America [wikipedia.org]
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(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:26AM (1 child)
I have to agree. I had surgery a couple years ago to remove something in my neck, and like you said, they were eager to give me a scrip for some opioid (oxycodone? I forget exactly). I never took it, nor did I take anything else despite having a big 2" incision in my neck. I just didn't feel the need to. It does seem to me that they hand this stuff out way too readily.
(Score: 2) by boxfetish on Saturday August 12 2017, @07:07AM
There seems to be a different standard for inpatient/hospitals. They are able to give out opioids via IV or pill without much restriction or a second though. This has been my experience too.
This ends right at the hospital door. You cannot get a doctor to prescribe opiods for pain, no matter how bad the pain, to save your life, once you are an outpatient. They act as if they are going to be severly punished if they give out scrips for opioids.
I suspect their must be a different review standard for each, and doctors must have to justify every outpatient opioid prescription they make to some board or administrator.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday August 12 2017, @07:04AM
Sounds like a "pharmacy consultant" has worked the hospital doctors and management. This need to be fixed but requires fighting the Pharma lobbyists.
Are there other recommended pain killers besides ibuprofen? especially if the pain is severe as after a operation?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday August 12 2017, @10:42AM
See, I'm the other way. I mean, I have a high pain tolerance also, but gimme the opiates. They're lovely. Except, as has happened before, last week when I had surgery they gave me opiates and the first two days were phenomenal, but after that the drugs gave me headaches and nausea. Sure, you could up the dosage, but who could sustain an addiction where you had to up the dosage every three days? You'd be dead inside a month.
I rather think they ought to more research into drugs to avoid that problem so we can all be free of pain and happy all the time.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:00PM
Had oral surgery a couple of years ago and prescribed 18 opiate pills. I took three, once when the local wore off, one before bed, and one more the next morning. The bleeding stopped, so I switched to aspirin and naproxen; those drugs make bleeding worse.
We not only don't have all the answers, we don't even have all of the questions.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by digitalaudiorock on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:35PM (1 child)
Question #1: Is an AG that wants to throw all the addicts in jail and confiscate their families belongings using asset forfeiture the best way to deal with a "national emergency"? Question #2: Being the ones who caused all this, is Big Pharma and the colluding health case industry going to pay for this...you know, like how Mexico is going to "pay for the wall"?...but I digress..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:23PM
That's enough common sense, can't you just let jmo stir up some fearful rhetoric to get everyone on board with murder? /s
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @10:31PM
stupid pigs never learn. but they're going to, aren't they.