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The Real Drug Gateway

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posted on May, 30 2016 @ 12:26 PM
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Drug addiction and substance abuse are escalating like wildfire. The war on drugs was only a war on the drug Kingpins that would not play ball. If anything, it was a turf war.


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.

We are being duped again. Now supposedly the war is against prescription drugs, but they don't want to tell you their dirty little secret. How did prescription drugs become such a problem? Do you remember those medical forms they made you sign every time you received any medical treatment? Remember that big campaign, complete with posters, telling you about your rights as a patient; telling you how you had the "right" to be pain free? I am sure many are not aware that the government was pushing doctors to hand out prescription drugs like they were candy. The doctors complained, the nurses complained, and we all saw this coming as clear as the sun on a clear day. So where are your rights now?

You don't have to be a genius to know that our government breaking bad on prescription drugs is going to be a boon to the illegal drug industry. Guess who is reigning as king now?


“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.”

How cracking down on America's painkiller capital led to a heroin crisis


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

A deadly crisis


I think it is time that we stopped living in the Land of Oz. We need to pull down the curtain and remove the man from behind the curtain.
edit on 30-5-2016 by NightSkyeB4Dawn because: word correction



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 12:29 PM
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Personally I think alcohol and tobacco are the true gateway drugs, although scripts are becoming WAY too common. S&F great topic



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 12:48 PM
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a reply to: Autorico

Personally I think alcohol and tobacco are the true gateway drugs, although scripts are becoming WAY too common.

And the government also holds the keys to the gateway for those items as well.

Prescriptions are becoming more and more difficult to get. Soon it will be easier to find a first edition of the classics than to obtain a prescription for a narcotic, and it will probably be cheaper.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 12:51 PM
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a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

Yup, big bro has a strangle hold on addiction. Alcohol, tobacco and gambling.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 01:03 PM
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a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

I lived very close to one of the most popular pill mills in the city which was literally two blocks from the Womens hospital. The doctor routinely had security with AK's and AR's in his office, and witnesses would claim he had naked women counting the cash that sat in piles behind his office doors. He ended up in prison.

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.

Heroin’s surge raises life-or-death medical ethics issue



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 01:12 PM
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a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

How did people cope with pain before 1996 (I believe the year OxyContin was on the market)? 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. While analgesic opioid medications have their place as a palliative remedy, there's a dearth of medical literature suggesting it has a place in medicine as a long-term solution to chronic pain.

As you noted, this problem is still growing and when Marco Rubio was asked what message/issue on the campaign trail resonated most with him, to paraphrase, he said, "In New Hampshire, hearing the stories of parents who lost their children to addiction (namely, opioid/opiate addiction)....at one time those parents held those children in their arms as babies and 20 years later those children are struggling with addiction or are dead...that struck and stayed with me."

S&F




edit on 30-5-2016 by BeefNoMeat because: spelling



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 01:25 PM
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I saw exactly What the one person interviewed described first hand. Obviously can't go into much detail, t&c and whatnot... But I watched so many that made promises to the tune of "dude if I
Ever do the hard one, you guys gotta beat the hell outta me".

Yet as time went on, the prescriptions got rarer and more expensive, one by one they dropped like flies into the abyss. (and trust me it is a mothertrucking abyss)

And this is a pretty small town we are talking about. Once the campus lets out, population goes from well over 100k to about 50k. This isn't a city, the nearest big city it 2.5 hours away, yet you could walk down the street and pay what you would in the city for the junk!

These dealers and their tentacles reach from the biggest cities, to the smallest towns with an incredible precision and surprising logistical planning.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 01:52 PM
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a reply to: BeefNoMeat

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.

It is sad to say but the truth is that we can't take anything at face value anymore. While greed has always brought about destruction, we used to see it as the monster it is. Now we reward, idolize, and embrace the greedy.

Our obsession with instant gratification, and our ever growing narcissistic society, is leading us all straight to Hell in a hand basket.

People coped with pain before 1996, very much the same way many of us deal with pain today, you learn to live with it. You may have to slow down, put down, sit down, or lie down, until you get some relief, but it beats the alternative.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:01 PM
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a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

Part of the reason they coped with pain better, or just had less pain on a daily basis, is that people weren't so freaking fat.

Now many are enormous, eat terrible diets, don't move and use their bodies as they're meant to me moved and used, and the body start shutting down, people see more pain, knees, hips, back, joint pain, etc, and that's on top of the new Big Pharma push to sell a solution, a quick fix to any problem instead of people taking responsibility and living a healthier lifestyle.

It's a combination of unhealthy lifestyles, the current victim mentality plaguing our country, the instant gratification mentality plaguing our country, and the corruption between Big Pharma and our politicians.

But in the end, those who eat healthy, exercise, move a fair amount, are in far less pain and don't need meds as a crutch. This of course is different than those who's had serious operations or accidents and needed real pain meds, then got hooked. That's a shame.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:06 PM
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I don't believe in there being gateway drugs. There's and inclination towards doing drugs and there's genetic and mental issues involved with abuse.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:08 PM
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a reply to: AmericanRealist

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.

I was surprised myself to find out there was such a large number of Heroin addicts that were receiving medical care for cardiac impairments related to their Heroin use. I had two people, just a week ago, that I had to see in hospital, because of their cardiac conditions. Both were also on Methadone, which it seems they were using only when they couldn't get their Heroin.

The waste of lives, and the unbelievable cost in money and resources, that seems to be just thrown down the drain. The system that is presently in place is just not working. Even many of the supposed rehab and support programs that are receiving our funding, is in it just for the money. It goes right back to greed.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:09 PM
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a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn


but it beats the alternative


Does it? That is a subjective opinion. Very very subjective.

Bear in mind also that the discontinuation of these medications is also leading to deaths. People who can no longer get them are turning to heroine and methadone, which is killing them.

Please decide what's best for YOU, and don't try to make those decisions for others who's circumstances you have no knowledge.


You may have to slow down, put down, sit down, or lie down, until you get some relief, but it beats the alternative.


Tell that to somebody who has rheumatoid arthritis and get back with me.



edit on 5/30/2016 by angeldoll because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:11 PM
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I wonder why if addicted to pain meds people don't just turn to overseas pharmacies where you can get your product dirt cheep instead of buying heroin off the streets.

I don't condone either but common sense say if you are going to follow your habit, you'd at least do it in the safer and more affordable manner.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:14 PM
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a reply to: onequestion

I don't believe in there being gateway drugs.

It is the path to the drug that I am speaking of.

Whether people get their drugs by hook or by crook, they have to pay the man behind the curtain. He holds the keys to all the gates.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:28 PM
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a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

I don't believe in there being gateway drugs.


I think you may be reading something into my post that is not there.

You are right, my comments are subjective, as I am speaking for myself.

Nowhere did I says otherwise.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:34 PM
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So was it decided to just ignore that recent study where rats that lead "happy" lives did not become addicted to heroin, where as the ones left alone in a cage with nothing BUT the heroin do become addicted?

Have fun running in circles people. Drugs aren't the problem. Pharmaceutical companies aren't the problem. Our entire society is the problem. People are bereft of any sense of fulfillment, meaning, or place in their lives, and they turn to drugs. People crave having cause, which is why we see all the SJWs these days backing any stupid cause that comes across their way.

When you live an empty, hollow, shallow life like the vast majority of people in western post-industrial societies a drug problem is the obvious outcome.

I guess the Chinese of the past were all just fat lazy entitled people, that's why they had such serious opium problems? Oh, not really accurate, at all. When a few individuals have issues the cause is likely the individuals. When a problem reaches proportions that we see with the drug problem it's saying something is wrong with the society the individuals are inhabiting, not the individuals.

Certain species don't reproduce in captivity. Do we call the individuals of that population lazy for not reproducing? No. We recognize that the environment of captivity is so damaging to that species that their natural bodily processes cease to function properly. Modern society is very real form of captivity. We are animals.

The only way this doesn't apply to human beings is if you're ignorant to assume somehow you are immune from the same laws governing life that have existed here for periods of time longer than we can comprehend. Religion has claimed we are above these laws, but religion has existed since the dawn of our own and has still yet to fix any of the fundamental issues that plague life on this planet. Maybe a more humble approach of viewing humans and their behavior without the ego of their consciousness attached to it will benefit us more. For all of our intelligence we still follow patterns, and those patterns are old and easy to see, in ourselves and in other species.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:36 PM
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a reply to: James1982

Sadly, I agree with you.



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:39 PM
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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


Prescription Oxy as a "gateway" to heroin makes sense because you're replacing the same thing. *

Alcohol and tobacco don't "lead to" other drug addiction. Addictive tendencies, depression, "personality disorders", etc lead to drug addiction. Just my opinion, though I'm pretty sure the idea of "gateway" drugs has been fairly thoroughly discredited, at least as being any sort of causative factor.

* ETA- "Same thing" meaning opioid receptor agonists.
edit on 5/30/2016 by dogstar23 because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 02:55 PM
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If these drug addicts want to go clean, they can't because there has been a system put in place that makes them unemployable.

It is a cyclic trap BY design.

Heads need to roll



posted on May, 30 2016 @ 03:14 PM
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a reply to: Mandroid7

It is a cyclic trap BY design.

I agree. This is how it looks to me also.

I was in a patient's home, quite a few years back. The lighting was really poor, so she asked me to plug up a lamp for her. I had to get down on the floor to reach the plug because it was under the table. To get my balance I put my hand on the wall, and my hand went straight through. The wall had been eaten by termites right up to the paint.

That is what I think is happening to our country. The structure is being eaten away right up the paint. What looks like a solid house is froth with holes. Whitewashed to look nice but with no sustenance.

Drugs are a means for control. Control of life and death.



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