It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Florida was the crucible of the opioid epidemic now gripping the US. Before deaths from opiates spiked nationwide, the state’s south corridor earned the name “Oxy Express” for its liberal access to the extraordinarily powerful synthetic heroin painkiller, OxyContin. But after Florida spent years trying to shake off its reputation by driving out of business the worst of the notorious “pill mills”, the twist came that state officials hadn’t predicted. When the addicts Florida facilitated could not get prescription opioids any more, they turned to heroin.
“The pills were hard to get. They got to be very expensive. Heroin is cheap,” said Fata, 24. “Almost everyone that I was close to, anybody that was doing pills with me, typically they would at least get to the point where pills were not an option. You were either snorting heroin or shooting heroin.”
Overdoses kill more Americans than car crashes or guns – and experts say the crisis hasn’t yet peaked. Data reveals how a local problem became a national epidemic
Personally I think alcohol and tobacco are the true gateway drugs, although scripts are becoming WAY too common.
The prescription pain pill/opioid epidemic has many facilitators and I have heard/read many opinions on who is most responsible; however, there is no doubt this is/was a 'manufactured' crisis.
I did an article also on how this epidemic is now costing hospitals a lot of resources and time by specialists treating repeat drug users for highly specialized heart problems related to their use of dirty needles. There is a needle exchange pilot going on in Miami now that was authorized earlier this year to try and help mitigate the issue that comes from dirty shared needles.
but it beats the alternative
You may have to slow down, put down, sit down, or lie down, until you get some relief, but it beats the alternative.
I don't believe in there being gateway drugs.
I don't believe in there being gateway drugs.
originally posted by: Autorico
Personally I think alcohol and tobacco are the true gateway drugs, although scripts are becoming WAY too common. S&F great topic
It is a cyclic trap BY design.