Heroin, the scourge of society, how do we fix it?

It can happen to anyone you love including yourself. Addiction does not respect any boundaries including those of race, social or economic.

As a person who lives in recovery my personal experience is with prescribed opioids for chronic pain. Your body becomes tolerant of then and you need more and more. I started with a prescription for 20 mg of Oxycontin and eventually ended up with 360 mg. At that time (around the turn of the century) Perdue pharma told the Dr's it was a miracle painkiller, safe and non addictive and I took my Dr's advice. When opioid addiction became a newsworthy issue, my Dr cut me off as he didn't want to be investigated by his governing body.

I can see when this happens why addicts resort to the street as withdrawals are one of the worst thing one can experience ... think of the worst flu that you have had with being sick and sore, then multiply that by 1000 and throw in a seizure or 10. In the end many opioid addicts don't even get high from their drugs. They obtain them just to obtain a feeling of what you or I would call normal.

Today I live in recovery and only worry about things one day at a time as I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. My focus is on today and what I need to do in order to not use. (it has been a number of years now and it does get a ton easier, but you always have to remain somewhat vigilant) I have found what works for me and it involves rigorous honest living and 12 steps. The cool thing about that program is that in the end, you end up reaching out and helping a fellow addict with theses 12 steps. I have sponsored a few, and some work the steps, some go 'back out there' and some die. Given the power of opioids and suggesting the addict is weak is pretty harsh judgement. Suggesting society give them free opioids with the hope they will overdose in my opinion is just sick ... that addict could be your spouse, mother, grandfather, child etc ...

Peace

do what iceland did. legalize it. Build rehab facilities instead of jails.

Most heroin addicts don't want to be on heroin. They know its killing them. If you have FREE programs to help these people they will do them. Problem is, there is too much money involved in rehab, and in the sale of heroin.

They should make profitable rehab facilities free, and have the rehab facilities be the heroin suppliers so the addicts have to go the the facilites to get their heroin where they will be offered help to ween themselves off.

correct me if im wrong but i think iceland did this and it worked.

Next, we have to hang the Bushes and the Clintons who are the main suppliers of this terrible epidemic.

Thanks for the replies so far folks, sorry I can't reply to everyone with my fat fingers lol, but cheers for the interesting opinions.
I think about it a lot, I lost a dear friend to heroin, watched him slowly go downhill and die.
His son is massively close friends with my son, and when they were around 10 we all went to the beach but my mate was drunk and a bit smacked up, even though he had his son, so I became the responsible adult. I obviously was cross with my mate though and told him so.

Anyway, it was rough waves and his son was drowning holding on to my son who was going down as well even though he was a strong swimmer, I swam out, and towed him back to the beach. That day I realised the damage that drug was doing to my mate, he couldn't even save his own son. It truly saddened me.

a reply to: chibsonguitarplayer

Years ago I had debilitating headaches. I blacked out and felt like I had a seizure or stroke. It seriously felt like I was bleeding in my brain. I went to a well known doctor. He asked me a few quick questions and just wanted to prescribe me Vicodin.
I refused. I worked for big pharma at the the time and knew the repercussions of such drugs. I am serious when I say he did not order any test, blood work etc. just wanted to prescribe Vicodin! I refused to pay that bill and they never came after me. I was ready to fight it in court if they did. This is how people become addicts, the pill mills and doctors that push these drugs. Many people trust what a doctor says, and it leads down a very dark path!

We need compassion, we need more mental health care, better health care. We are going to see things get much worse, it has already started in some areas. I think the show Walking Dead could be a metaphor for some of the things happening right now.

a reply to: JAGStorm

You have to be in really bad pain to get opiates on the NHS, but people lie to their doctor and sell them on the black market here. To be honest though, they get sold mostly to people who have had an injury, and can't be arsed with the bother of getting a doctors appointment.
If I got some injury tomorrow at work which didn't need stitches or a plastercast I'd phone a guy for some tramadol rather than #ing about meeting some appointment at my local doctors. It's quite the black market here and most dealers are old people.

I would start with doing away with the CIA. Then pull our troops guarding the poppy fields out of Afghanistan and let The Taliban eradicate the poppy like they were doing before Merica said no.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

I like the Dutch approach with free heroin and clean needles on the condition that they only inject in sanctioned areas with professional oversight. They figured out that crime rates went down and a captive audience can be weaned off the poison.

It's a death march with only one outcome.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy Rehab clinics are a huge business, and the cool thing about the 12 step program is it is free. No one runs it, no one makes money off it and it does not concern itself with politics or have outside opinions. It is just a bunch of recovering addicts who's primary goal is to help other addicts who want recovery achieve it. It works if you work it, because you are worth it!

Peace

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

This was some time ago, but in some place (like Florida) they still hand out opiates like candy.

cdn.metricgrab.com...

www.metrowestdailynews.com...

Or 30 days to detox and monthly Vivitrol shots. Fixes the problem right up. Just a question of who covers the cost.

a reply to: Kandinsky

I agree. The Dutch make sensible moves regarding drugs, I think Portugal has gone down the same route as well from memory.

originally posted by: chibsonguitarplayer
a reply to: CornishCeltGuy Rehab clinics are a huge business, and the cool thing about the 12 step program is it is free. No one runs it, no one makes money off it and it does not concern itself with politics or have outside opinions.

Not so great if you're an atheist, though, since some form of "god" is the only thing they present as a possible treatment.

a reply to: Plotus

It's a killer drug, and I know I've said it before but your current avatar is the image of my ex from Mexico.
The only reason we split was because she was getting into heroin. I couldn't deal with it, my son was my main concern so I had to dump her when she continued using. Tragic, she lives in a squat house now, doesn't look like the girl in your avatar anymore.

a reply to: Blue Shift

You don't have to believe in God. Your 'higher power' can be that cup of coffee sitting in front of you and it will be what helps you stay sober today.

originally posted by: Plotus
It's a death march with only one outcome.

Clean, legal heroin isn't that unhealthy. I know it sounds crazy, but the addiction itself isn't fatal - it's the side-effects of what it's cut with and the lifestyle that goes with it.

originally posted by: chibsonguitarplayer
a reply to: CornishCeltGuy Rehab clinics are a huge business, and the cool thing about the 12 step program is it is free. No one runs it, no one makes money off it and it does not concern itself with politics or have outside opinions.

No charity rehab in the UK, and the NHS options are vastly under resourced, only a handful of residential beds in the county. I'd pay more taxes to fund rehab and addiction services, all my friends agree when we chat about it.

These people need help. It is hard and physically horrible to get off of heroin...and I have no idea how much worse it is for those who use needles

I used to do it and kept going back just to feel normal.

Addicts need help and some kind of medicine to make the withdrawals easier. Locking them up or condemning them won't help.

Other posters are right-it can happen to anyone. Wishing them to die of overdose is cruel

Step up research into ibogaine and start opening up more clinics. Ibogaine appears to be a wonder drug for treating addiction, especially addiction to opiates.

The reason I advocate clinics over just giving people access to it, mixing ibogaine with opiates is incredibly dangerous. It can and will kill you. Ibogaine greatly potentiates opiates and completely destroys a person's tolerance. A good side to that, since it keeps the tolerance low, people with severe chronic pain who really do need opiates could get by on a much lower dose and be less likely to get hooked on them.

a reply to: ylvax

It's about just loving fellow humans.
As I said, I know all the addicts in the town centre, I stop and talk as a fellow human...every one of them has a tragic story, but we do have a laugh as well, the mother/daughter couple in my OP reckon my new eye glasses rock lol, only had them a couple of days. I thanked them as I would a mate.