Another friend of a friend dead from heroin overdose.

[Django]

I just now found out another friend of a friend is dead to an overdose. I just got a call from an old GF that her best friend had just been found dead. I have to ask, why are drugs and addiction to drugs considered a criminal issue with the State and Country while every doctor you talk to considers addiction a health issue.

I believe drugs should be regulated, taxed, and controlled. More people die over drugs than by drugs. 35,000 ppl have been killed over drugs in Mexico during the past four years alone, and the overdoses that do happen are most often because the drugs are unregulated and cut to be too strong. When a junkie on the street hears about somebody dying of an overdose, the first thing they want to know is what spot they got it from so they can get that strong stuff.

Should I get started on the prison system which is quickly becoming a privatized system, which only wants more human stock for their cells. They encourage tougher sentences on drug offenders because they know they are the easiest target. Never mind that most of which are non violent offenders, or they have families to support which will now turn to State assistance. These laws are almost only enforced in the inner cities, imprisoning the poor who are obviously unable to afford real legal defense.

My FOAF is dead because she shot a hot pack of heroin, I never knew her but I am all too familiar with the story.

If you feel the way I do you dont have to donate money to a cause but it should be your duty to talk about this issue, if enough of us talk it will get to our State, and then Washington.

For more info on this issue I personally recommend http://www.drugpolicy.org/ They have a lot of relevant info that will probably surprise you.


Do what you do best, talk, get pissed, wave your arms around in frustration, help end this ridiculous and obsolete war on drugs.

Heres a chart to show you what Regans re start of the war has done for our prison system starting in the 80s. Yes I know, I recently used this chart in an earlier thread, I like it that much. Please notice that we have two million of us in prison, and somewhere around half of those are in for a non violent drug offense.

Im curious, how many of you have lost someone to drugs? What was the story? Did they die, are they in prison, are they still struggling? Do you believe the current war on drugs treated that person correctly?

[Mikeg]

I believe drugs should be regulated, taxed, and controlled.

Roughly a quarter of violent crimes are committed by perps who are high. On/near any college campus, that percentage is nearly doubled. These stats not include the property crimes committed to fund their "habits".

How do you propose to "regulate, tax and control" the violence associated with many addicts?

[East Detroit]

Not to diminish the message, but I think the graph should be population adjusted.

[maxx]

Why do kids think taking drugs is cool? I've been watching "Freaks and Geeks" and the cool kids are the dopey ones who have defiant attitudes towards adults and spend their time doing nothing but hanging out and looking down on the good students. Taking drugs do not improve one's self-esteem and just give you bigger problems.

Answering my own question as I think about this.... If a kid can't trust the adults s/he grows up with, s/he probably won't trust the cautions given by any authority figure. I had a Detroit kid babysit for me. He was the son of a friend, and I caught him telling my children that he would give them candy if they behaved, which was a lie. He didn't have any candy. Kids have to learn to trust.

[Django]

Roughly a quarter of violent crimes are committed by perps who are high. On/near any college campus, that percentage is nearly doubled. These stats not include the property crimes committed to fund their "habits".

How do you propose to "regulate, tax and control" the violence associated with many addicts?

Why are drug prices so high? Because they are illegal which in turns causes ppl with addictions to support a habit which costs are hundreds of time higher than which they should be. Dont forget all the money saved on imprisoning ppl could go to addiction research and rehab to those that need it. There is no good outcome to drugs but prohibition has been proven not to work and another strategy needs to be looked at. As far as 50% of violent crimes near college campuses Im goig to assume that most of those crimes are alcohol related. A person high on crack isnt necessarily violent because of the drug and heroin, well thats a no brainer. I woulod guess that up to 80% of those crimes were fueled by booze.

As far as regulating the violence, what would be different than it is today? Do you really think drug use would skyrocket because it was legal. Anyone can get drugs but do they?

[epiphany]

I have lost someone to drugs. He also injected heroin which was cut with a huge amount of fentanyl, and I found him when I came home from work. What is even worse is how he was treated by the DPD. They weren't one bit interested in doing a thorough investigation of his case even though my car and a ton of money was stolen in the process and they treated him like some sort of loser even though he was actually doing relatively well and hadn't been using much in a long time until then. And it took an ambulance forever to show up. We found out who sold the drugs but they got away and the police didn't care to hear about it. They lived in the same apartment complex. He was only 27 years old. He immigrated to the U.S. from Russia with his parents when he was a kid, but because immigrations in the U.S. is so screwed up he still had no legal status several years later. Because of this, he had no legal right to work, no legal right to get financial aid for school or any of that. Still, I think that he did quite a lot with his time compared to most people. He got his documents and paperwork in the mail shortly after he died... Ironic, right?

[epiphany]

...And yeah, I believe that drugs should be legalized and regulated. This probably wouldn't have happened.

[Augustiner]

Why do kids think taking drugs is cool?

Because drugs are fun? Everyone always talks about drugs like they're some kind of peer pressure or social prestige thing, but I think most people who aren't hardcore addicts just use them because they like them.

[Dr. Emil]

I just now found out another friend of a friend is dead to an overdose.

Another? Maybe you should take a look at the people who you are friends with.

I don't have a problem with legalization but I wouldn't be so quick to to say that it will cause drug prices to go down. Marijuana is pretty much legal right now to anyone who has a pulse. How much is it in the compassion clubs? Much higher than on the street.

[Detroitej72]

Roughly a quarter of violent crimes are committed by perps who are high. On/near any college campus, that percentage is nearly doubled.

I'd like to see what study supports that statement. Alcohol has a higher violent crime rate, yet it is perfectly legal.

That "War on Drugs" and the "Just Say No" campaign has been working so well these last 25 years, haven't they?

[GOAT]

Here's an interesting read on this. DON'T SHOVE A NEEDLE IN YOUR ARM WANTING TO GET HIGH!

Every person knows that certain drugs are highly addictive so why bother using those drugs. Stock to MJ and life isn't so bad. Gravitate to junk like needles? You get what is coming...eventually.

As for legalizing hard drugs? Yeah, lets have even more crazies wondering the streets hooked on junk. If thats the case then I get to play baseball with their heads should they acost me. Sounds fair?

[MizMotown]

I'm really, really sorry to hear that. You will always find people who love to judge the folks who have unfortunately ended up on the wrong side of road called addiction.

I lost my ex-boyfriend of 8 years [[we were not dating at the time) on June 21, 2001 to heroin addiction. He did not inject but he snorted a combination of bad dope and xanax which caused him to go into a drug related coma he did not wake from. At the time he was staying in his mother's basement after going through methodone treatment. She went to the basement to do laundry and saw that he was still laying in bed and not at work where he should have been....

His addiction began when he crushed his foot in a snowmobile accident when he was 12. Of course the doctors loaded him up with pain killers for a long time, strong ones. From that time on he had the addiction bug. When we were dating his only drug of choice was pot which on that subject it's "to each their own."

Unfortunately awhile after we broke up he moved to Detroit. His next door neighbor sold a very strong pain killer called dilaudid which is an opiate. 1 mg. of dilaudid = 2.67 mg of oxycodone and is VERY habit-forming. After becoming addicted to the expensive pills [[the neighbor charged $25 per pop) of course he found another avenue for addiction and that was snorting heroin. I remember he offered me one of those pills once. Saving grace is that i'm allergic to opiates, even a tylenol 3 makes me sick and after sugery I broke out in hives from the morphine they gave me. I choose not to take the pill.

My sister was also and addicted most of her life and finally succombed to overdose at age 53, found by her daughters who are both now fighting addiction.

Drugs and alcohol have the very serious potential of becoming highly addictive, life-altering for everyone involved, and fatal.

[Django]

The marijuana trade is local, the heroin and cocaine trade is global which makes a big diff. You can buy a gram of heroin in Asia for $10 and that same gram here will fetch $1000. There is plenty of space for price reduction in all the underground markets hard drugs have to go through to be sold here in the states.

As far as people I'm friends with I think your comment is racist. I dont discriminate because someone has a disease such as AIDS, cancer, or an addiction.

Another? Maybe you should take a look at the people who you are friends with.

I don't have a problem with legalization but I wouldn't be so quick to to say that it will cause drug prices to go down. Marijuana is pretty much legal right now to anyone who has a pulse. How much is it in the compassion clubs? Much higher than on the street.

[maxx]

Because drugs are fun? Everyone always talks about drugs like they're some kind of peer pressure or social prestige thing, but I think most people who aren't hardcore addicts just use them because they like them.

So which drugs are fun and why? There are so many different drugs, we need to get specific about what we're discussing.

[Augustiner]

So which drugs are fun and why? There are so many different drugs, we need to get specific about what we're discussing.

If large numbers of people use a substance recreationally, I think it's a safe assumption that there's a certain amount of recreation involved. There are lots of drugs that aren't fun [[aspirin, for instance), and they have no recreational users whatsoever.

[Papasito]

Another friend of a friend dead from heroin overdose.

I don't have a problem with legalization

drugs are bad. mmmk.
anyone with the "legalize drugs" standpoint has no room to bitch or complain about drunks or smokers.

If you think the Government can run drugs any better, think again. The Governent has both assisted and fought against drugs at the same time for the last .. what.... 5o-6o years.... and look what's happened. It can't even run Medicaid or Social Security.... and you want it to run a drug economy? Scary.

[HistoryNotHisStory]

I just now found out another friend of a friend is dead to an overdose. I just got a call from an old GF that her best friend had just been found dead. I have to ask, why are drugs and addiction to drugs considered a criminal issue with the State and Country while every doctor you talk to considers addiction a health issue.

I believe drugs should be regulated, taxed, and controlled. More people die over drugs than by drugs. 35,000 ppl have been killed over drugs in Mexico during the past four years alone, and the overdoses that do happen are most often because the drugs are unregulated and cut to be too strong. When a junkie on the street hears about somebody dying of an overdose, the first thing they want to know is what spot they got it from so they can get that strong stuff.

Should I get started on the prison system which is quickly becoming a privatized system, which only wants more human stock for their cells. They encourage tougher sentences on drug offenders because they know they are the easiest target. Never mind that most of which are non violent offenders, or they have families to support which will now turn to State assistance. These laws are almost only enforced in the inner cities, imprisoning the poor who are obviously unable to afford real legal defense.

My FOAF is dead because she shot a hot pack of heroin, I never knew her but I am all too familiar with the story.

If you feel the way I do you dont have to donate money to a cause but it should be your duty to talk about this issue, if enough of us talk it will get to our State, and then Washington.

For more info on this issue I personally recommend http://www.drugpolicy.org/ They have a lot of relevant info that will probably surprise you.


Do what you do best, talk, get pissed, wave your arms around in frustration, help end this ridiculous and obsolete war on drugs.

Heres a chart to show you what Regans re start of the war has done for our prison system starting in the 80s. Yes I know, I recently used this chart in an earlier thread, I like it that much. Please notice that we have two million of us in prison, and somewhere around half of those are in for a non violent drug offense.

Im curious, how many of you have lost someone to drugs? What was the story? Did they die, are they in prison, are they still struggling? Do you believe the current war on drugs treated that person correctly?

Notice the large spike in the Eighties. Thank You Ronald Reagan. He passed laws that incarated the casual user, while the suppliers are not even investigated.

[HistoryNotHisStory]

There are many drugs that should be over the counter rather than requiring a prescription. High cost prescription drugs are one of the culprits of the high price of health care.

Antibiotics and penicillin should be over the counter drugs. e

[Django]

If you think the Government can run drugs any better, think again. The Governent has both assisted and fought against drugs at the same time for the last .. what.... 5o-6o years.... and look what's happened. It can't even run Medicaid or Social Security.... and you want it to run a drug economy? Scary.

Your right, one hand doesnt know what the other is doing. CIA running cocaine and heroin while the DEA is locking ppl up. I just dont think we should be spending money and resources chasing drugs, its a waste and causes more deaths.

[Jimaz]

From today's Detroit News: Heroin use by young adults devastates outer suburbs

More youths have turned to heroin after abusing "gateway" prescription drugs, said Dr. Mark Menestrina, an addiction medicine physician at St. John Providence Health System's Brighton Hospital in Livingston County.

It may come down to economics: It's a quick, easy high at $10-$20 a hit.

"It's 10 times more potent and it remains quite cheap," Menestrina said.

This seems to happen every time we get involved in wars in drug-producing countries. I see a parallel with the idea of oil addiction and oil wars.

[maxx]

Antibiotics and penicillin should be over the counter drugs. e

That's a terrible idea. We already have to worry that our present antibiotics will not kill the bugs that have been created from both overuse of antibiotics in our food and the incomplete taking of prescriptions. Cipro is a new antibiotic bomb that causes diarrhea and nausea. A medicine that you can't take orally or that causes weeklong diarrhea presents serious problems.

[maxx]

drugs are bad. mmmk.
anyone with the "legalize drugs" standpoint has no room to bitch or complain about drunks or smokers.

If you think the Government can run drugs any better, think again. The Governent has both assisted and fought against drugs at the same time for the last .. what.... 5o-6o years.... and look what's happened. It can't even run Medicaid or Social Security.... and you want it to run a drug economy? Scary.

Where did you get the idea that the gov. can't run Soc. Sec.? Gov. can do what individuals or states would have an extremely hard time doing. Just look at the interstate highway system. Look at the space program. Look at the internet.

[maxx]

If large numbers of people use a substance recreationally, I think it's a safe assumption that there's a certain amount of recreation involved. There are lots of drugs that aren't fun [[aspirin, for instance), and they have no recreational users whatsoever.

That isn't much of an answer. I wonder if anyone has done a study on why people use certain drugs like hallucinagens. Do they want to eliminate their inhibitions or do they like to see weird things or feel dizzy or what? Or do they just want to not think at all, forget their troubles?

[G-DDT]

I've had far too many friends pass on me. I've noticed that most hard-core drug users are 1.) from affluent or suburban regions. 2.) most have either a compulsory abandonment towards or completely detached attitude towards sexual activity and things pertaining to the body. 3.) many heroin users are actually very intelligent and cultured folks.
Part of it is what I call "small drugs for big brains". They live promising heady upbringings, but hate being socially distant. Drugs allow them to "switch off", be more abiding [[almost too complying) and less discernible about what company they normally wouldn't keep. Plus, they are having fun and felt some big secret was kept from them, so they wouldn't mind seeing what new ground they can break into, what green room they can get invited back into, or what secreted enclave they become a member of next. After that initial experimentation the brain kicks in and says "Okay, you had your fun, now let's get back to business." Yet, like Lisa Simpson we want to get past the obstacle of that nagging brain and have our hardcore jollies while we are still young. Soon, that little squirreled away packet of joy is what we clamber towards and away from that nagging, nagging brain. It can get as duplicitous as Laura Palmer."Soon you'll be clogging that third nostril with conspiracy money drugs"-never questioning in great lengths where it all comes trickling down from [[and no, it isn't just from those "filthy foreigners" from "over there", as some would have you believe).
The War on Drugs was nothing but a war on the poor. I never caught stories about big name Hollywood white collar dealers and big industry wheels [[oh, okay Delorean) getting pinched. Hollywood and porn are nothing but coke. I've seen far too many celebrities in Detroit do that crud. You can't even make specific noise about it, or very powerful forces will descend on you. Soon you and your wife get killed, and the press will say it was a murder-suicide. Many of your friends will leave the business, some will be like that defiant director in Muholland Drive and briefly lose their contract with a big name company only to return as shills or they get busted with "child porn" [[like Landau's character in X-Files) planted on them. Sound abstract. It's happened, and Hollywood just looked the other way and adjusted it's game and the faces it decided to promote.
That's why I find somethings too hard to get into after I've seen too much of the background. Detroit is no different. Some folks went to great lengths to keep some things from folks. I find that sad. Living any life you can't be open about or abide by is pathetic and needs to change. That's why I dropped over 300 of my friends. They either hid things from me [[though they thought it was not my concern, it was perpetually confusing and frustrating my ever intuitive need to formulate a grasp on things-which is akin to providing misinformation and living secret clandestine lifestyles) or went to lengths to change stories and facts to protect those heavily involved in the lifestyle they were swept up into-yeah, thick as thieves they were. I have no respect to offer back for those who were initially deceptive, thus disrespectful from the getgo.

In short, I really don't think drug users give a rip about themselves, their friends, or how they affect others in the long run. It all boils down to junk.

[MizMotown]

Lost a sister [[long time heroin addict who's drug addiction began with weight loss pills at age 15 recommended by a doctor) and an ex who's journey into addicition began at age 9 when he crushed his foot in a snowmobile accident. At the time he was given high doses of pain-killers. Spent his teen and twenties mainly smoking pot, until he began taking some of the strongest pain killers a person can take which he got from a neighbor. This lead to snorting heroin [[a cheaper version of the pills) which one night [[after a couple fails at methadone treatement) lead to a drug induced coma from which he never woke up.

Addiction is sad and serious and until it hits home personally [[which I hope it never does) people can make all kinds of judgements about it.