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This Bold Plan to Fight Opioid Overdoses Could Save Lives--But Some Conservatives Think It's "Immoral"
With Ohio beset by a massive public health around opioid use and overdoses--more than 4,000 Ohioans died of opioid overdoses in 2016--the Cleveland Plain Dealer sent travel editor Susan Glaser to Amsterdam in search of innovative approaches to the problem. While there, she rediscovered Holland's long-standing, radical, and highly effective response to heroin addiction and properly asked whether it might be applied to good effect here.
The difference in drug-related death rates between the two countries is staggering. In the U.S., the drug overdose death rate is 245 per million, nearly twice the rate of its nearest competitor, Sweden, which came in second with 124 per million. But in Holland, the number is a vanishingly small 11 per million. In other words, Americans are more than 20 times more likely to die of drug overdoses than the Dutch.
For Plain Dealer readers, the figures that really hit home are the number of state overdose deaths compared to Holland. Ohio, with just under 12 million people, saw 4,050 drug overdose deaths in 2016; the Netherlands, with 17 million people, saw only 235.
What's the difference? The Dutch government provides free heroin to several score [where a score=20] hardcore heroin addicts and has been doing so for the past 20 years. Public health experts there say that in addition to lowering crime rates and improving the quality of life for users, the program is one reason overdose death rates there are so low. And the model could be applied here, said Amsterdam heroin clinic operator Ellen van den Hoogen.
[...]"It's not a program that is meant to help you stop," acknowledged van den Hoogen. "It keeps you addicted."
That's not a sentiment sits well with American moralizers, such as George W. Bush's drug czar, John Walters, whom Glaser consulted for the story. He suggested that providing addicts with drugs was immoral and not "real treatment," but he also resorted to lies about what the Dutch are doing.
He claimed the Dutch are "keeping people addicted for the purpose of controlling them" and that the Dutch have created "a colony of state-supported, locked-up addicts."
Your humble Ed (who rechopped the quoting, so head off to the full article(s) to see the full story) adds: of course, this is quite a contentious issue, digging deep into moralistic debate, and where clearly there's little agreed-upon objective truth and plenty of opinions. However, we are a community dotted widely round the globe, and so I'm sure there are plenty of stories of what has or has not worked in different locales.
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday July 25 2018, @06:10PM (7 children)
Just fuck off already with this stupid argument. You are paying for a bunch of bullshit and will continue to do so until you decide to stop paying taxes and live in the woods. I hope your tax dollar pays for a lot of heroin and abortions.
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(Score: 1) by Sulla on Wednesday July 25 2018, @06:22PM (6 children)
I don't think the anon was defending the war on drugs, from how I read that the government should get out of it all together and let the addict figure out how to get their drug of choice. If someone wants to do heroin they should be free and open to do so to the extent that they can pay for it. We already have laws on the books for theft so if they decide to go that route they can get hit for that. If the government is going to pay for people to have opiates because they are addicted then why not buy tobacco for people addicted to that? If I am addicted to coffee and can't stop drinking it then why am I footing the bill. My internet bill is $100/month, why doesn't the government cover that because I cannot live without internet and people are trying to claim that is an addiction.
I have no doubt that a program that gives you heroin so you don't have to worry about paying for it would reduce crime related to people stealing to pay for heroin, I just think that if someone wants to be reliant on a luxury they should figure out how to get it on their own.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday July 25 2018, @06:26PM
It's just another violently imposed monopoly/voluntary system of contracts anarchist anon. An idealist who will never get their way, at least not without a lot of bloodshed first.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by tfried on Wednesday July 25 2018, @07:59PM (4 children)
Because the latter does not help save any costs, and so why should it. In contrast, when looking at the typical hardcore heroin addict (which is the only group of "beneficiaries"), they will not be able to keep a job to fund their own addiction, but they will do just about anything to get their next dose. This "anything" will generally include criminal activities such as burglary associated with external costs much higher than what it takes to just buy them their damn drugs.
For the typical tobacco addict - even if out of cigarettes and broke - the prospect of getting caught and jailed will generally deter from self-destructive strategies like that. Not so for a hardcore heroin addict.
So that really sucks from a "fairness" point of view, but it still makes lots of sense to pay free heroin for addicts, economically. Not to mention when allowing oneself to take a humanitarian perspective.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Wednesday July 25 2018, @08:11PM (2 children)
So the heroin payments are just protection money?
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tfried on Wednesday July 25 2018, @08:21PM
Yes. And it's still the best option, because all alternatives suck more (for everybody).
On the positive side, there is no risk of setting a precedent for being susceptible to blackmail. There is extraordinarily little incentive in becoming a hardcore heroin addict just because you want to get something for free. (As also evidenced by Dutch data, for those who would think otherwise). And for - most - other cases of criminality, the prospect of jail is an effective deterrent.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Barenflimski on Wednesday July 25 2018, @09:05PM
Otherwise known as, Insurance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 25 2018, @09:35PM
Actually, before it was illegal heroin (and opium and cocaine) were often in use by middle and upper class professionals. Given a supply of high purity and low cost drugs, an addiction was not a problem for most people, probably less than an insulin dependence is now a problem for diabetics.
If it wasn't for the fact that it is illegal, heroin would be cheaper to make than aspirin.