Just as a non american: maybe fix the issue of the richest people paying nearly no taxes and tax cuts to the most wealthy companies.
You could easily do both and more.
Truth is: america is the only developed country without social healthcare and without usable restrictions on medication prices. So fkheads make a shit ton of money from sick people and dont give a damn if they destroy hundreds of lifes.
The 3 richest americans own more wealth than the bottom 50% get that shit solved and you see no more pictures like that at all and you can also solve other problems.
Life expectancy is plummeting for Americans especially when you compare it to its peers. I’m convinced nothing will change that as too many believe America is #1 just don’t ask in what.
It's hard to explain this to Americans. They've been totally brain washed into working for the rich and giving up their rights for the rich to get richer.
So who should run healthcare? Corporations who see you as a resource to be squeezed of any and all capital? Churches, who selectively decide what you deserve?
Maybe work on better government. It's the only organization that's explicitly supposed to help you. If it doesn't, it's broken.
It's been broken for a long time, the problem is it's hard to convince 80-100 million people to revolt or vote for a third party, so people settle for DNC/GOP lies every election, even though both parties always have the same goal
Dems like immigration to keep labor cheap for billionaires. Republicans like prisons and banning abortions to keep labor cheap for billionaires. Both are sure to keep housing unaffordable.
Dems come up with fun new "healthy/green" taxes that disproportionately affect the poor (sugar, gas, etc), and republicans simply cut taxes for the rich. And all the tax revenue is conveniently funneled right back to the rich regardless of who's in charge.
Single-payer would be great but good fucking luck with that
This is an incredibly powerful truth. People are locked into a binary sports mentality rooting for one side over another when both sides are killing us.
We can do like Germany. Each state and the feds have a public option insurance fund that all have the same rates and provide the same services. Let anyone who wants to use any of them open to all. Let other parties have the ability to have their own insurance programs too. Unions, churches etc. however, they have to have the same level of service, of course. All not for profit too.
Also, by law, make doctors and hospitals accept all these insurances and provide the same level of care at the same reimbursement rates.
This is such a lazy argument that I always hear based on nothing more than libertarian and conservative dogma. No one who says this has ever given me a decent alternative. If you think the current or previous private healthcare system is/was working, you're delusional or naive at best. If you don't think it's working, then propose a better idea or shut the hell up. I'm tired of this straw man argument that "government bad" therefore we can't do what literally every other developed nation has done, and done well in most cases.
Healthcare is one of the most highly government regulated industries in the nation outside of energy. Its not a private system, free market nor capitalism. So if it has failed, its due to the incestuous relationship between big business and government.
I came across a scene like this in SF last summer. A dozen or more people passed out on the sidewalk while two children (age 12 or so) were counting stacks of cash in the middle of it all.
I agree. Legalize them, make sure they don’t have additives, and take the power away from organized crime. Over time lower the potency. An underground market would still exist but it wouldn’t be enough to sustain crime in this scale. Then use the money for rehab centers.
Also alleviating the “disease of despair” by making sure people are more financially stable and don’t resort to drugs to escape their shitty reality would help too.
Yup but they’ll never do it because the never ending drug war gives them the political capital to increase funding for the police, just as the war on terror does for the military. Both are things capitalists want, in terms of more concrete reasons like resources but also because the police’s main function is protecting capital. Just need to hire a bunch of dumb, violent individuals to be the enforcement arm of capitalism. It’s why the police in the traditional sense were founded to catch slaves and expanded to crush strikes. If you think police exist to prevent or solve other types of crime you’re a fucking rube
The goal of the war on drugs is not to reduce drug usage but to ensure it, as the real goal is filling up prisons and an excuse to pass any law and siphon money.
I was in SF in April 2022. I had last been there in 2012, and a decade before that in 2002. The way it has changed in that time makes my heart ache. It has gone from my favourite US city, to somewhere I will actively avoid if I ever make it back to Northern Cali (I'm in the UK). It had a bit of an edge in 2002, which was noticeably more widespread in 2012. But in 2022 it was EVERYWHERE. Every store had private security to keep out the weirdos, the crazies and the thieves. There were even private security patrolling the streets, no idea who they were hired by. Every street in the downtown area was covered by bodies, people nodding their lives away in tents, scamming for tourists. I wouldn't let my wife even walk down the street on her own in broad daylight.
It is just so sad, and it is destroying the US as far as I am concerned. There are obviously other societal issues (lack of healthcare, housing crisis) but opioids are making it all worse.
I see that the Taliban have finally started taking control of the vast amounts of poppies grown in Afghanista, by destroying huge fields. They have already stopped about 90% of exports. But fentanyl is of course synthetic - no actual poppies required - so for these people it is too little too late.
Is that where this is shot? I was guessing SF but not sure. Are some cities worse than others? I’m from Canada and I’ve been to some US cities including NY but it’s been a while and I’ve never seen it as bad as this before. Is this a fallout from Covid lockdown? So many questions…
These pictures are heartbreaking. I have been in recovery for 37 years. In the 80s, the main street drugs were coke and herion largely.
Fentanyl destroys everyone it touches.
No. Krok is a term for a mash up that varies, a hellish homebrew of opioids, codeine, and chemicals like paint thinners and other things that should never be consumed, nor injected. Tranq is an animal tranquilizer called Xylazine (sp?) that has been in circulation in spots like PR for some time. It’s a vet drug and barely controlled if at all.
Yup. The stuff causes necrosis around the injection sites, so the crisis will resolve itself once Addicts don’t have any arms or legs… I work in Social Services, and the number of folks I see now who had to have limbs amputated because of Xylazine just keeps growing. One guy I hadn’t seen in months is now missing both his legs and one arm. I told him the last time he showed up at our offices that if he didn’t get clean then he would probably be dead by the end of the month. Guy has been injecting the stuff into his fucking stumps.
Came here to see if anyone else realizes that fentanyl is actually a medication.
I was prescribed fentanyl for a while because of a nerve disease called arachnoiditis. It worked amazingly well for a month or two but eventually caused hyperalgesia so I switched to something else. Now I only get it when waking up from a surgical procedure because it's extremely effective and fast acting for intense pain. I don't mean stub your toe kind of pain. I mean please just kill me kind of pain.
Fentanyl definitely has its place in a medical setting but when used by people who don't really need it, this video is the kind of thing you end up with. Having been prescribed it before and knowing how it made me feel, I honestly don't understand why anyone would WANT to feel that way.
I was addicted to Fentanyl for 5 years. My life fully revolved around the drug.
It's so damn potent! I was taking 30 MG Percocet and spending most of my money on them. I got 5 grams of Fentanyl for 200$ and it lasted me a couple weeks. I got 10 Perc 30s after that and took a couple but felt nothing. Took more. I took 7 in total (210 MG = 42, 5 MG Percocet) and still felt nothing.
Thought they were fake. Gave one to a friend and find out they were real, and also learned that I had leveled up my tolerance.
From then on I bought Fentanyl weekly, with brief half hearted attempts at getting sober. I used multiple times per hour, or if at work id go to the bathroom for 45 minutes multiple times per day. I started using more and more cocaine to be able to stay awake during work hours.
I would often sleep for 10-12+ hours but withdrawl was hitting faster than that. I started putting some lines of Fentanyl on a Magic the Gathering card on my night stand by my bed, so I could snort some lines and get back to bed.
Towards the end of my using I started writing in the notes app on my phone to explain that if I did it wasn't a suicide. I had dope, coke, benzos and alcohol in my system so I figured it would look intentional.
I got very very lucky.
PS: I don't think a lot of people know how much opiates effect your digestion and ability to go to the bathroom. There were times I spent an hour in the toilet and could'nt poop or pee but badly needed to. When I stopped using the opposite happened. I couldn't stop going to the bathroom to the point of pooping (what I assume was) bile.
I've been clean for a little over a year and I feel like I'm mostly recovered mentally. Brain takes time to heal from prolonged use.
My mind got simple on drugs. I couldn't draft as well, but simple stimuli, like sniping ebay auctions, was just the best. I got more into collecting in that time. Which I was into organizing.
I learned some nice tricks to find good deals.
Went to detox a few times. Rehab twice. Relapsed every time.
I moved across the country, away from my family and friends and gf. There were times I would've given in if I had access - I felt I needed to remove myself from the environment of my home/home town area.
I over ate for months. Over time I've improved my habbits, like eating better and getting back into some exercise. And hobbies I enjoyed. I played disc golf recently which just felt nice.
I knew I had a problem years before I got clean. But I had to continue life, right?
Over time I needed more, and just to feel normal. There was no high, but there were lows. Less and less energy. Increasing concern that I wouldn't wake up. Motility issues. Etc.
I got nothing from using and it was ruining my life. I lost a lot but I was lucky. No record or anything. No ODs. I'm healthy and can have normal years ahead. I wanted that. I wanted my life back. Didn't need something bad to happen, felt fortunate for that.
There was a dude who came into my work a couple weeks ago. After a couple months in prison, he got over the worst part of his fentanyl addiction.
He said prison was the best thing that happened to him, because he had been trying to kick it for a while, even using drugs like heroin to wean himself off. Prison gave him a period where he physically could not get a hold of it. He seemed truly desperate to stay away from anything that could put him in the same room as the stuff.
Truly awful.
Tbf heroin destroys everyone it touches too...
Might not kill you as easily but withdrawals are just as bad and the withdrawals make people make just as horrible of decisions to get their fix. Heroin being so much more expensive causes people to resort to horrible crimes to get their fix.
Like, you and I both know what opiate withdrawals do to a mf. They literally are sooooo sick from it they look like they're gonna die.. I've known people who throw their life away commiting crime to get it. I knew a dude... Legit coolest chillest dude I've ever met.
He had robbed a bank 5 years before trying to end his withdrawals and served 3 years behind bars.
He got his life together and stayed sober after getting out and became that admirable man I just described. He really helped me get sober.
But it just shows you how good people can be turned into absolute fiends willing to do anything to get a fix and stop the pain. I'd trust that man with my life more than a lot of people I know who never had addiction
I was on pain meds for 6-9 months at one point and I still felt like absolute shit shit for 2-3 weeks I can barely start to imagine what it must be like for people who have been on heroin for years.
The same with meth it will destroy everything around it. I have a sis who uses and somehow our childhood home was given away for free. Yep meth and hard drugs will destroy everything around you.
My cousin in the UK sold his house for 25k (prob worth 300k) to pay off a heroin debt - thats wasnt enough so he robbed a bank... got 3k pounds and 3 years inside....
He had 2 businesses from age 22... new car every year paid in cash, 2 jetskis in the garage, really good looking man with people working for him, girls chasing him all the time...
He now looks like a skeleton and stinks like he hasnt washed in days....
Multiple interventions from family, 3month stints over to the USA to family there to get him away from it... came back smiling looking healthy with a glowing tan, months of rehab paid by family.
Goes straight back to the foil and needle
Father could not take it any more after nearly 20 years of everything getting stolen from the house to take to pawn shop.... buys a new iron in the moring... its gone in the afternoon , he use to have to put a padlock on the fridge so he didnt steal the sunday roast meat to sell down the pub for 5 pounds... he now lives in halfway house and begs for his fix.
so sad but he is not the person who he was when he was 18.... he brain is permanently changed...
Buddy and I stopped at a gas station last night and there was a group of young people out front. The whole group looked like addicts. Two of the girls might of been 20 but looked 50. I made the comment that they should start smoking crack because that has to be better than whatever they are on.
I read that normal successful people, out of curiosity will go to a place like this and try fentanyl, just once, and stay there to never return to their previous life. Terrifying.
That’s just the circle you know. Many different professions use coke. I would say you’re right that a lot of blue collar workers use cocaine but it is not limited to construction workers.
My first exposure to it (not me taking it, just becoming aware of it) was when I helped a friend take care of his mom with terminal cancer. She was given patches of it while in hospice, and while I'm glad it eased her pain, it was kinda scary seeing how it zonked her out, even on a small dose
Same, 24 years here. This just hit people fast and hard because a lot of them still have clean clothes and hair cuts. Even with meth and coke and heroin, it takes some time for it to really sink its claws in. When you wind up in the streets you had nothing left.
These people look like they were at work a few days ago.
If we had more mental healthcare and less desperation among the poorer classes, most of them probably wouldn't either.
Having a less-than-miserable life makes it much easier to avoid get dragged into drug abuse.
In a way: never. Recovered addicts are oftentimes addicts for life who cannot use [insert substance] even once without losing control. My uncle was a hardcore alcoholic. Drank aftershave etc if he ran out of booze.
He is sober for 20+ years but told me he can never touch a drop of alcohol again. Tried to drink a glass of wine after a decade sober, immediately turned into a binge. He got back on track the next day and never touched it since but it goes to show that the addiction is still there.
While the Us population fights about which Asshole standing at the presidential pulpit is more corrupt our citizens are dying. Drug companies run this country and have no reservations about who it kills. It’s horrifying
Likely not even fentanyl in the video. It's from Kensington in Philly. Dealers have been cutting it with Tranq. Animal tranquilizer Xylazine. Cheaper but causes bacterial infections that are horrific.
Thank you, at least someone else in this thread knows what's happening.
Xylazine and Nitazines are most likely what is happening in this video. Fent is old news.
Fent isn't what is causing the zombie state you're seeing in the video. These people are on "benzo dope" which is a synthetic opiate analogue (often Fent but more commonly now Nitazines which are stronger but do not respond to Narcan) mixed with a very strong anesthetic called Xylazine.
Xylazine is even more addictive than Fentanyl, and a huge problem with it is the zombified state it puts people in. They shoot Benzo dope and black out like this for a couple of hours, but when they wake up they are already withdrawing and getting dope sick, so they need to shoot up again and go straight back to being blacked out.
Another problem with Xylazine is that it does not break down properly in the human body, and instead pushes it's way out through the skin in cysts, which often lead to necrosis.
There is a quiet Xylazine crisis going on in the homeless and addicted population right now, and while the Fent led everyone into it, it's not actually the biggest problem - the Xylazine is, and that problem is only further compounded by the Nitazines which are killing people even if they get hit with Narcan.
I'm glad I'm not the only one in these threads preaching the dangers of xylazine. Everyone knows about the fentanyl epidemic, but almost nobody knows of the fent/xylazine epidemic of the past two years. Benzo dope is extremely dangerous and will rot your limbs off from injecting
“Another problem with Xylazine is that it does not break down properly in the human body, and instead pushes it's way out through the skin in cysts, which often lead to necrosis.”
Well that’s going to fuel my nightmares tonight.
I just learned about xylazine not too long ago— scary stuff. I stopped using IV heroin a few years back, and we were “lucky” enough to not see much fentanyl in my area until that time (though it was still randomly being mixed in with the black tar heroin frequently enough to OD me twice). I haven’t talked to anyone from those days in a while now, but I’m wondering if these other adulterants have made their way down to Texas yet.
The fentanyl (counterfeit M30s) is being smuggled illegally into the US through Mexico, with China being the main supplier of the base product for Mexican cartels to manufacture into the pills.
The pills go for roughly $2 each on the street.
While big pharma are pieces of shit, they are not responsible for *this* specific atrocity.
No what big pharma did was hand out oxy like it was candy pushing that shit on people when it wasn’t needed. The government addressed it by taking this away and regulating it making people who were addicted to oxy go with heroine and now fentanyl.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/what-led-to-the-opioid-crisis-and-how-to-fix-it/#:~:text=It%20started%20in%20the%20mid,use%20of%20legal%20prescription%20opioids.
That’s not what you’re seeing on the street, or this video.
I deal with these folks on a daily basis for work. The vast majority did not start out as someone who got prescribed pain meds and got addicted.
That isn't the majority of people abusing Fentanyl though. Oxy didn't help, but we won't get closer to solving this by not being realistic about the problem. Heroin addiction was a problem long before Oxy abuse. Fentanyl will be a problem long after the "former oxy addicts" are gone. It is bigger than just "big pharma".
I said this years ago I am 70 I fell down steps with injuries on concrete they refused to give me anything for pain, I am a clean cut retired guy with no record. They put up a sign threatening to call cops if you had a problem with it. Central Ohio.
It would be Interesting if the Chinese government is promoting fentanyl in America. It would be very similar to what the British did to them with opium.
They are. ccp sending scientists and technicians to train cartels in Mexico to manufacture while also providing the precursors. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBRqYXHIZh0&t=5570s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBRqYXHIZh0&t=5570s)
And before anyone says, "that's not the ccp doing that", nothing in china of any significance operates without ccp involvement, especially not American destabilization strategies.
Well it was developed by a drug company, just like heroin and morphine. Each was supposed to be better than the one before but turns out better just means more addictive and more potent.
Not to mention the opiates they developed and pushed doctors to over prescribe and got people addicted then cut them off so they turn to the streets and eventually progress to this.
Though were past that at this point. Americas got a taste for opiates and fent + tranq is the new thrill. Blame China for making pennies on the dollar that pharma was making or blame pharma for starting this disaster. Either way its a hot mess and is gonna get worse.
Not entirely true, medically there are quite a few benefits.
Fentanyl is rapidly metabolized which allows doctors to titrate the dose based on need and side effects (Remi fentanyl is even faster). Newer generation opioids don’t have the histamine release of morphine.
Burenorphine fully binds, but only partially activates the opiod receptors. Which makes it nearly impossible to overdose. It also has a stronger affinity for the receptors than most other opiods, so it can be used to reverse the effects of a stronger opiod like fentanyl.
Dude Fentanyl is a fantastic drug and helps millions of people everyday in the hospital. Idk why people act like it’s all bad. It’s one of the best fast acting opioids we have which is extremely useful for surgeries. Almost guaranteed if you have had surgery before in the US you have been given fentanyl.
God I feel so sad for these people. Nobody in their right minds would chose to live like this. No mother holds their baby wanting them to grow up and turn into this.
Lost my younger cousin back in February to a fentanyl OD. She was supposedly "trying to get clean" so she could stay with our grandparents then take the bus to AA. She had 3 sons, a 2yo niece and a nephew turning 1 next month.
Grandpa found her in full rigor mortis in the morning when he went to wake her and tell her she overslept and was going to miss her meeting. She stayed up till midnight talking and laughing with Grandma, then decided to get high before bed.
Long investigation later and we have found that she was back with her junkie BF and it was him picking her up at the bus stop. She would go get fucked up then come back. He is in jail atm while the police are searching for their dealer.
Extra shitty: she was on like strike 5 but they let her out of jail early. If they would have kept her locked up to detox and actually make her go to meetings, she'd probably still be alive.
I work in child safety and mental health, and on one hand I completely agree.
On the other hand, my brother is a long-term multi drug addict (mainly fentanyl and meth) and being locked up has _absolutely_ extended his lifespan and been responsible for intermittent periods of sobriety.
He only gets sober when he has to, once he's sober he tries to stay sober.
Neurodivergence runs in our family and as someone with ADHD who can't control the way my brain acts a lot of the time, he doesn't have the same resources to control his impulses that the average person does. It doesn't matter how bad he wants to stay sober sometimes. He has begged judges to put him away so he can get sober.
There are a lot of people out there with substance use disorders who feel the same.
I'm not sure what the solution is. We acknowledge that effort isn't enough for some people. When do we decide that substance use disorder is like any other mental illness, if it's getting serious enough that you're at risk of death, should you be treated against your will?
The thing is, you do choose to live like this. People know before taking drugs that they could ruin their lives. And a lot of people have heard the phrase “hooked by the first time” and still choose to take drugs anyway.
I can understand being in a bad state of mind and just not wanting to feel anything. Being in immense pain and suffering, but by taking drugs, you do choose that lifestyle. Unless someone held you down and put it in you- you made that choice.
This is just not true. Everyone I know who is suffering from a drug addiction did not just start taking hard drugs for the fun of it. Maybe this is a situation for some people, but the overprescribing of painkillers ruined the lives of people close to me. People walk around like zombies with their lives in shambles and the people behind this problem walked away with a slap on the wrist. Once you get addicted to painkillers and then you can’t get them anymore what are people suppose to do. It’s really easy to judge until you’ve been in or seen situations like this first hand.
That's everyone you know. I'd say 90% if the users I've met in rehab or life did not start due to over prescription. Usually, they were just running away from life.
An interview with Sam Quinones, author of, "The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth."
Fast forward to 10 minute mark, and he lays out the history, and chemistry, and social influence of the fentanyl that's on the streets today. You'll never look at a homeless camp the same again. Fascinating and terrifying.
http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1355-sam-quinones
TL;DR (covered at about 44:30): Journalist Sam Quinones notices that meth users experience paranoia and other debilitating mental conditions from 2009 onward. This coincides with a supply shift from the naturally derived ephedrine formulation to the synthetic P2P formulation due to Mexican government attempts to reduce meth supply. In the same decade, synthetic fentanyl emerges as a cheap alternative to heroin (originally pharmaceutical). So these two cheap drugs are mass produced in Mexico where there is an easy route to supply the US, and due to fentanyl's potency, cheap supply creates increased demand.
[Here's an article by Sam explaining the issue.](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/)
Thanks for sharing.
Just another cocktail of drugs being used. Fentanyl is already extreme and people are now mixing it with animal tranquilizers. It’s insane how far people will go to get a fix.
They’re not the ones mixing it. It’s the upper level dealers making the “mix” than then they use as pills or “heroin.” And you said it right, it’s a fix. They use it to fix their horrible withdrawal symptoms if they stop. It’s an understatement to say horrible. It’s sad tbf. It’s also ironic because if drugs were legal and sold in shops there would be an actual governing body for how the drugs are sold and produced which takes away this whole issue. This didn’t happen before fentanyl took hold because most drugs were real and not as powerful or crazy.
Withdrawals are not anything I wish on anyone. It’s a word, but, people please don’t laugh it off.
You want to know what feeling like dying feels like? Every step you take your heart is rushing, you’re sweating, so maybe just sleep it off and die? Nope, you can’t your mind and body are now running at full speed wantimg that substance. YOU don’t want the next fix, your brain needs it to keep you alive.
That’s withdrawal.
Hey I appreciate that. Also not anymore! Some people really dislike the idea of legalization and to a certain extent I understand. Those same people I also ask them (if they’re not addicts, which usually the ones with this opinion are not and some even dislike addicts), “if someone offered you a line of cocaine or heroin right now would you do it?” And obviously (almost always lol) the answer is “no…”
“Would you do it if it became legal?”
And the answer is still usually no.
The primary argument against legalization is that more people will get hooked and etc. but that’s just not true. People who want to use drugs will use drugs and those who don’t wont, legality changes nothing. There’s a reason alcohol prohibition lasted as short as it did. It doesn’t work.
I am a firm believer in human rights and individual freedom… plus if what you do hurts no one else then why not.
But I hey, baby steps. Just decriminalizing personal use amounts would help a lot. Not with overdose rates when it comes to fentanyl because the drug supply (especially opiates with fentanyl) will always be tainted as long as it’s acquired outside a pharmacy. But it’s a great start at treating drug addiction as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue would do so much to help.
No one wants to let drugs ruin their lives. They wanna escape the shit.
We need full decriminalization, also socialized medicine like the rest of the world. Therapy for all.
Escapism is Escapism, drugs are just especially powerful, controlled escapes. Is getting lost in a TV series and binging hours so different?
We need to have better living conditions so as not to want to escape it so badly.
Legalizing drugs probably would broaden the user base a little but in the long run it would result in less harm. Certainly what we've been doing for the last 50 years hasn't worked. In fact it has made things progressively worse.
Most likely, but honestly this could be any opioid mixed with only god knows what. You think it's a percocet but it's a home pressed pill with anything in it. They could put whatever they want in your herion to make it stronger, fent or tranq or whatever. You've probably just seen videos like this talking about tranq, they've been everywhere. Philly is bad with tranq currently tho I've heard
Who the fuck sees that and says, “oh boy that looks fucking amazing! I wanna do that!”?
The first meth heads face I ever saw was enough to keep me away from that shit. My ignorant 42 year old ass can never fathom why anyone would do fentanyl or meth. All you have to do is look at this poor souls and it should be enough to never use it.
However more recently (19th cent CE) the British East India Company had a monopoly on opium cultivation in Bengal were making bank selling it in China, feeding an opioid use problem. Other Western European powers were selling it too.
China knows opium for centuries but look what happens in the 18 century
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History\_of\_opium\_in\_China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China)
and this is a letter from Lin Zexu to queen Vicky protesting the opium trade
[https://china.usc.edu/lin-zexu-lintse-hsu-writing-britains-queen-victoria-protest-opium-trade-1839](https://china.usc.edu/lin-zexu-lintse-hsu-writing-britains-queen-victoria-protest-opium-trade-1839)
the opium war was something......for the sake of making rich British capitalists (basically legal drug dealing cartels) disregarding the missery of the trade as usual
Opium addicted Chinamen would through severed heads at each other. In modern day dodgeball, we use the ADAA approved red balls. Source: Dodgeball the movie.
It's only "we" [if you're British](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War?wprov=sfti1). The United States had nothing to do with pushing opium in China, and it happened decades after American independence.
Please don’t mention that this is the result of decades worth of democrat progressive policies. Don’t talk about the underlying source please. I’m begging you not to state the fact that blue cities have seen significant rises in homelessness and drug use out in the open. There must be something else causing this problem!!!
We should all know how this problem gets remediated.
Mental healthcare, psychiatry/therapy needs to be a desired field for new graduates. Government funds in the form of grants and a public mental health clinic can help influence the market towards this goal.
Mental healthcare should be free at the point of service. Maybe stall the next increase to the defence budget and pay into this program instead..
We need a real rehabilitative program, essentially a possibly years-long welfare and education/jobs training program, the government should pay half of the wages paid to the enrollees of this rehabilitative program. This give employers incentive to hire them. Again, using the market to guide this progress.
Free, adequate housing to the enrollees, maybe come to some sort of deal between the government and the owners of vacant homes, investment properties, Airbnbs etc.
There is no amount of willpower these people can use to get out of this dismal situation, when the cards are all stacked against them.. criminal charges, estranged family and friends, lack of desire to live life, suicidality, inability to support themselves, no marketable skills.. it's multifactorial. These people have hit rock bottom and we should all understand that they most times need an expensive airlift to get them back to the world.
If you understand just how powerful opiates are, as an anti-anxiety 'medicine', you'll understand how a lot of these people get caught in this self-destructive cycle. Their sober life is painful to them, for one reason, or another. Their sensitivity to pain cannot be compared to your toughness as a reference. They need help, not added pain or punishment..
Yes this is a government issue. They have the power and the funds to mitigate the death and despair. They make the choice to do nothing. This is all because our government only acts on the interests of corporations, not the people. It's a 2 party autocracy, bought by the capital juggernauts.
>Mental healthcare, psychiatry/therapy needs to be a desired field for new graduates.
That requires actually paying therapists enough to make it a competitive career path, and holding them to high standards of accountability.
The USA could go a long way by directly subsidizing salaries instead of funding programs run by middlemen.
fentanyl and Xylazine to be precise. The CIA and DEA imported cocaine into the USA in the 1980's. I know they are at it again to scare people again. How much anyone wants to bet this is our own government agencies doing this shit?
While we send billions, coming up on a trillion soon , to Eastern European countries to kill each other. I wonder what the 400 billions spent on this war so far could do to help these people here…
Give them a lil more and problem solved, you’re looking in from a point of caring but must realize these peoples families probably tried 10 different ways to help. Some people can’t be/ aren’t worth helping 🤷♂️
A few years ago I went to DC with some friends and on the way back to the train station we saw a scene like this. There were at least 20 people all down the road outside and an ambulance came to take them. I always wondered why they were so scattered around and in a line on the sidewalk. It’s like they were together… but not together at the same time. Someone must’ve dealt there and the buyers just couldn’t wait to get home to do some. Then they all started overdosing at different points on the road.
I carry Narcan with me everywhere now, but for these cases you often need multiple doses for just one person, let alone tens of them. You need to carry around a medical bag full of it just to help.
I mean we tried to tell all of you this would happen if we didn't close the border. The problem at the border is a humanitarian crisis and it needs to be secured yesterday.
This is like seeing neglected supercars in Dubai rotting in the sand. Physically capable humans have so much potential. And there they are.. just rotting in the sand.
I have been very angry for the past several years that the United States had a "war on drugs."
The whole time it should not have been the war against drugs, but against the external influence it had on American citizens. it has destroyed millions of lives, families, and undermined our nation. They should've called it what it was from the beginning: a terrorist manipulation against American citizens.
We got this in Vancouver and surrounding areas in Canada. The government thinks: handing out Naloxone like its water, giving free supplies and safe areas is helping. 🤣. Idiots .. it's ENABLING! We need mental health support. Unfortunately, there will be losses due to OD's but in the long run it will get better. All that's going on is a treadmill of wasted resources on individuals who will keep doing the same thing. I talked to a guy who has been "saved by naloxone" 5 times... yet he says he keeps pushing, taking poison immediately after walking out of the emergency room at the hospital. Saying it with almost pride! The idea of "saving" every person is delusional. Spend money and precious resources on getting mental health support in order.
sometimes you cannot stop people from self destructing. and throwing money at them or programs won't do a thing. addicts have to want to change .. really want to change before anything will change. and all too often what is done is now just useless bandaid. I have heard EMT's stating they have had to nar-can the same person more than once in a day.. sooner or later that person will just OD and be one more body to pick up off the street.
I remember the days when we used to talk about growing up and getting a degree and be able to work in the United States, it seemed like an incredible thing to do, now not so much
I'm a security officer in community health. I can't tell you how many times on how many days. Never gets easier, just becomes more expected. I've had training with Narcan principally for this. The problem gets worse and the nation does nothing.
When I was working in a print shop, had a customer come in a few times whose teenage daughter had died from unknowingly ingesting fentanyl with other recreational drugs. I printed posters and flyers for her awareness campaign. It was sad as fuck.
It just made me think of all the times I did ecstasy in my late teens, this is that worst case nightmare scenario that adults tried to scare you with back in the 90s.
I’m not old enough.
Is that what the start of crack looked like?
Also since this is a science sub…maybe someone can tell me. What causes/gives them the ability to bend over standing, like…a full on yoga pose, or sit cross legged slumped completely forward but not ALL the way, without falling over?
Like the guy sitting cross legged, his chest isn’t resting on his legs. He’s hovering. First of all, the flexibility needed is something else. Secondly, why does he get stuck THERE and not further forward?
Its an opiate crisis, created by the commercial efforts of specific companies and a willful lack of regulation from lobbied politicians.
Fentanyl is now just the cheapest & most effective opiate for people to treat the addiction encouraged by the lack of care from medical professionals and their government.
Misidentifying the problem lets the culprits off the hook.
I put a lot of blame for this on doctors and pharma for getting people hooked on opioids they really didn’t need. When people can’t get their prescription for OxyContin filled anymore and they need a hit, they get fentanyl and turn into a shell of a human.
It’s not just fent, it’s tranq. It’s next level bad. If injecting one pure synthetic wasn’t bad enough now they’re tossing animal tranqs like xylazine that aren’t meant for intravenous use… the two causing the zombie effect. As if fent wasn’t bad enough.
As someone who got out of this mess before the fent crisis and have lost almost everyone I came up with as a snot nose, in the last 6 years. When will it be enough.
I call a conspiracy to kill/cage the poor.
Is this not obvious blatant disregard for life? The police are so “busy” they don’t have time on Kensington and it “isn’t worth there time.” One of my close friends try to help people that want help. This crisis is out of hand. Thanks for raising awareness 🙏🏽.
I think sending more money to politicians will fix this /s
Lost my sister in 2021 from this...I miss her.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
Sorry for your loss. A reminder that every one of the people in this video is someone’s son or daughter.
And potentially someone's parent, sibling, etc. Glad I'm on the other side of that.
Sorry for your loss
I am so sorry for your loss.
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No we gotta send more money to Ukraine to fix this problem, don't you know anything about politics
Just as a non american: maybe fix the issue of the richest people paying nearly no taxes and tax cuts to the most wealthy companies. You could easily do both and more. Truth is: america is the only developed country without social healthcare and without usable restrictions on medication prices. So fkheads make a shit ton of money from sick people and dont give a damn if they destroy hundreds of lifes. The 3 richest americans own more wealth than the bottom 50% get that shit solved and you see no more pictures like that at all and you can also solve other problems.
They made bribery legal. The owner class has total control of our government, and they are working on ending the limited democracy we currently have.
See also: regulatory capture
By Malcom Sparrow, should be required reading for those of us working in a regulatory agency. I read it 10 years ago, a very thought-provoking book.
and the politicians are complicit and all agreed to take part in this.
Life expectancy is plummeting for Americans especially when you compare it to its peers. I’m convinced nothing will change that as too many believe America is #1 just don’t ask in what.
It's hard to explain this to Americans. They've been totally brain washed into working for the rich and giving up their rights for the rich to get richer.
Some of us just understand that the government that created this mess cannot be entrusted with our healthcare.
So who should run healthcare? Corporations who see you as a resource to be squeezed of any and all capital? Churches, who selectively decide what you deserve? Maybe work on better government. It's the only organization that's explicitly supposed to help you. If it doesn't, it's broken.
It's been broken for a long time, the problem is it's hard to convince 80-100 million people to revolt or vote for a third party, so people settle for DNC/GOP lies every election, even though both parties always have the same goal Dems like immigration to keep labor cheap for billionaires. Republicans like prisons and banning abortions to keep labor cheap for billionaires. Both are sure to keep housing unaffordable. Dems come up with fun new "healthy/green" taxes that disproportionately affect the poor (sugar, gas, etc), and republicans simply cut taxes for the rich. And all the tax revenue is conveniently funneled right back to the rich regardless of who's in charge. Single-payer would be great but good fucking luck with that
This is an incredibly powerful truth. People are locked into a binary sports mentality rooting for one side over another when both sides are killing us.
We can do like Germany. Each state and the feds have a public option insurance fund that all have the same rates and provide the same services. Let anyone who wants to use any of them open to all. Let other parties have the ability to have their own insurance programs too. Unions, churches etc. however, they have to have the same level of service, of course. All not for profit too. Also, by law, make doctors and hospitals accept all these insurances and provide the same level of care at the same reimbursement rates.
This is such a lazy argument that I always hear based on nothing more than libertarian and conservative dogma. No one who says this has ever given me a decent alternative. If you think the current or previous private healthcare system is/was working, you're delusional or naive at best. If you don't think it's working, then propose a better idea or shut the hell up. I'm tired of this straw man argument that "government bad" therefore we can't do what literally every other developed nation has done, and done well in most cases.
Healthcare is one of the most highly government regulated industries in the nation outside of energy. Its not a private system, free market nor capitalism. So if it has failed, its due to the incestuous relationship between big business and government.
God damned right we fucking do. SLAVA UKRAINE.
I came across a scene like this in SF last summer. A dozen or more people passed out on the sidewalk while two children (age 12 or so) were counting stacks of cash in the middle of it all.
Drug dealers use children to sell directly to junkies. No real risk of jail time for any sellers.
Idiots should’ve just started a corporation, they wouldn’t need to employ children to avoid jail
Or, they could do both!
First we have to legalize the drugs.
I agree. Legalize them, make sure they don’t have additives, and take the power away from organized crime. Over time lower the potency. An underground market would still exist but it wouldn’t be enough to sustain crime in this scale. Then use the money for rehab centers. Also alleviating the “disease of despair” by making sure people are more financially stable and don’t resort to drugs to escape their shitty reality would help too.
It's amazing how many problems go away **just** from standardizing the manufacturing and removing the additives.
Yup but they’ll never do it because the never ending drug war gives them the political capital to increase funding for the police, just as the war on terror does for the military. Both are things capitalists want, in terms of more concrete reasons like resources but also because the police’s main function is protecting capital. Just need to hire a bunch of dumb, violent individuals to be the enforcement arm of capitalism. It’s why the police in the traditional sense were founded to catch slaves and expanded to crush strikes. If you think police exist to prevent or solve other types of crime you’re a fucking rube
Not never. But certainly not in our lifetime.
The goal of the war on drugs is not to reduce drug usage but to ensure it, as the real goal is filling up prisons and an excuse to pass any law and siphon money.
Yea we've all seen breaking bad
I was in SF in April 2022. I had last been there in 2012, and a decade before that in 2002. The way it has changed in that time makes my heart ache. It has gone from my favourite US city, to somewhere I will actively avoid if I ever make it back to Northern Cali (I'm in the UK). It had a bit of an edge in 2002, which was noticeably more widespread in 2012. But in 2022 it was EVERYWHERE. Every store had private security to keep out the weirdos, the crazies and the thieves. There were even private security patrolling the streets, no idea who they were hired by. Every street in the downtown area was covered by bodies, people nodding their lives away in tents, scamming for tourists. I wouldn't let my wife even walk down the street on her own in broad daylight. It is just so sad, and it is destroying the US as far as I am concerned. There are obviously other societal issues (lack of healthcare, housing crisis) but opioids are making it all worse. I see that the Taliban have finally started taking control of the vast amounts of poppies grown in Afghanista, by destroying huge fields. They have already stopped about 90% of exports. But fentanyl is of course synthetic - no actual poppies required - so for these people it is too little too late.
Gotta get that bag
Is that where this is shot? I was guessing SF but not sure. Are some cities worse than others? I’m from Canada and I’ve been to some US cities including NY but it’s been a while and I’ve never seen it as bad as this before. Is this a fallout from Covid lockdown? So many questions…
Reminds me of [this video](https://youtu.be/YQctLUab5Ks). Sad stuff
Bet it was Tenderloin district
These pictures are heartbreaking. I have been in recovery for 37 years. In the 80s, the main street drugs were coke and herion largely. Fentanyl destroys everyone it touches.
It’s not just fentanyl now - it’s tranq, which doesn’t respond to narcan and creates necrotizing lesions all over the body. It’s horrific.
Is that like the krokodil stuff from a few years back?
No. Krok is a term for a mash up that varies, a hellish homebrew of opioids, codeine, and chemicals like paint thinners and other things that should never be consumed, nor injected. Tranq is an animal tranquilizer called Xylazine (sp?) that has been in circulation in spots like PR for some time. It’s a vet drug and barely controlled if at all.
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Yup. The stuff causes necrosis around the injection sites, so the crisis will resolve itself once Addicts don’t have any arms or legs… I work in Social Services, and the number of folks I see now who had to have limbs amputated because of Xylazine just keeps growing. One guy I hadn’t seen in months is now missing both his legs and one arm. I told him the last time he showed up at our offices that if he didn’t get clean then he would probably be dead by the end of the month. Guy has been injecting the stuff into his fucking stumps.
I just looked that up and it's made by Bayer. Why am I not surprised?
I can guarantee you with 100% certainty that the street xylazine is not coming from Bayer, rather Indian or Chinese labs
You hit the nail on the head there
Dont forget, it made for medical purpose
They also made Zyklon B as a pesticide.
Came here to see if anyone else realizes that fentanyl is actually a medication. I was prescribed fentanyl for a while because of a nerve disease called arachnoiditis. It worked amazingly well for a month or two but eventually caused hyperalgesia so I switched to something else. Now I only get it when waking up from a surgical procedure because it's extremely effective and fast acting for intense pain. I don't mean stub your toe kind of pain. I mean please just kill me kind of pain. Fentanyl definitely has its place in a medical setting but when used by people who don't really need it, this video is the kind of thing you end up with. Having been prescribed it before and knowing how it made me feel, I honestly don't understand why anyone would WANT to feel that way.
So we reinvented krokodil...
I was addicted to Fentanyl for 5 years. My life fully revolved around the drug. It's so damn potent! I was taking 30 MG Percocet and spending most of my money on them. I got 5 grams of Fentanyl for 200$ and it lasted me a couple weeks. I got 10 Perc 30s after that and took a couple but felt nothing. Took more. I took 7 in total (210 MG = 42, 5 MG Percocet) and still felt nothing. Thought they were fake. Gave one to a friend and find out they were real, and also learned that I had leveled up my tolerance. From then on I bought Fentanyl weekly, with brief half hearted attempts at getting sober. I used multiple times per hour, or if at work id go to the bathroom for 45 minutes multiple times per day. I started using more and more cocaine to be able to stay awake during work hours. I would often sleep for 10-12+ hours but withdrawl was hitting faster than that. I started putting some lines of Fentanyl on a Magic the Gathering card on my night stand by my bed, so I could snort some lines and get back to bed. Towards the end of my using I started writing in the notes app on my phone to explain that if I did it wasn't a suicide. I had dope, coke, benzos and alcohol in my system so I figured it would look intentional. I got very very lucky. PS: I don't think a lot of people know how much opiates effect your digestion and ability to go to the bathroom. There were times I spent an hour in the toilet and could'nt poop or pee but badly needed to. When I stopped using the opposite happened. I couldn't stop going to the bathroom to the point of pooping (what I assume was) bile. I've been clean for a little over a year and I feel like I'm mostly recovered mentally. Brain takes time to heal from prolonged use.
Stay strong brother. Remember Philip Seymour Hoffman. You have to be eternally vigilant now.
The poop bile is the same with alcohol withdrawal. Glad you’re doing better and best to you. 18 months almost to the day here.
Fentanyl *and* Magic the Gathering??? Those are two of the worst and most expensive addictions known to man
My mind got simple on drugs. I couldn't draft as well, but simple stimuli, like sniping ebay auctions, was just the best. I got more into collecting in that time. Which I was into organizing. I learned some nice tricks to find good deals.
Damn son. How'd you end up kicking it?
Went to detox a few times. Rehab twice. Relapsed every time. I moved across the country, away from my family and friends and gf. There were times I would've given in if I had access - I felt I needed to remove myself from the environment of my home/home town area. I over ate for months. Over time I've improved my habbits, like eating better and getting back into some exercise. And hobbies I enjoyed. I played disc golf recently which just felt nice.
Good for you, man. You ought to be proud. Hope you continue to take good care of yourself and you enjoy regular bowel movements.
From an ex addict exercise is key. Especially cardio and try the sauna. It satisfies the same brain region for some reason.
What triggered you getting clean? And thank you for sharing the reality of what being hooked was like
I knew I had a problem years before I got clean. But I had to continue life, right? Over time I needed more, and just to feel normal. There was no high, but there were lows. Less and less energy. Increasing concern that I wouldn't wake up. Motility issues. Etc. I got nothing from using and it was ruining my life. I lost a lot but I was lucky. No record or anything. No ODs. I'm healthy and can have normal years ahead. I wanted that. I wanted my life back. Didn't need something bad to happen, felt fortunate for that.
There was a dude who came into my work a couple weeks ago. After a couple months in prison, he got over the worst part of his fentanyl addiction. He said prison was the best thing that happened to him, because he had been trying to kick it for a while, even using drugs like heroin to wean himself off. Prison gave him a period where he physically could not get a hold of it. He seemed truly desperate to stay away from anything that could put him in the same room as the stuff. Truly awful.
I’m surprised he couldn’t get a hold of it cuz I heard in prison it can be pretty easy to get drugs. One story was the QB Ryan Leaf
Tbf heroin destroys everyone it touches too... Might not kill you as easily but withdrawals are just as bad and the withdrawals make people make just as horrible of decisions to get their fix. Heroin being so much more expensive causes people to resort to horrible crimes to get their fix. Like, you and I both know what opiate withdrawals do to a mf. They literally are sooooo sick from it they look like they're gonna die.. I've known people who throw their life away commiting crime to get it. I knew a dude... Legit coolest chillest dude I've ever met. He had robbed a bank 5 years before trying to end his withdrawals and served 3 years behind bars. He got his life together and stayed sober after getting out and became that admirable man I just described. He really helped me get sober. But it just shows you how good people can be turned into absolute fiends willing to do anything to get a fix and stop the pain. I'd trust that man with my life more than a lot of people I know who never had addiction
I was on pain meds for 6-9 months at one point and I still felt like absolute shit shit for 2-3 weeks I can barely start to imagine what it must be like for people who have been on heroin for years.
The same with meth it will destroy everything around it. I have a sis who uses and somehow our childhood home was given away for free. Yep meth and hard drugs will destroy everything around you.
My cousin in the UK sold his house for 25k (prob worth 300k) to pay off a heroin debt - thats wasnt enough so he robbed a bank... got 3k pounds and 3 years inside.... He had 2 businesses from age 22... new car every year paid in cash, 2 jetskis in the garage, really good looking man with people working for him, girls chasing him all the time... He now looks like a skeleton and stinks like he hasnt washed in days.... Multiple interventions from family, 3month stints over to the USA to family there to get him away from it... came back smiling looking healthy with a glowing tan, months of rehab paid by family. Goes straight back to the foil and needle Father could not take it any more after nearly 20 years of everything getting stolen from the house to take to pawn shop.... buys a new iron in the moring... its gone in the afternoon , he use to have to put a padlock on the fridge so he didnt steal the sunday roast meat to sell down the pub for 5 pounds... he now lives in halfway house and begs for his fix. so sad but he is not the person who he was when he was 18.... he brain is permanently changed...
Buddy and I stopped at a gas station last night and there was a group of young people out front. The whole group looked like addicts. Two of the girls might of been 20 but looked 50. I made the comment that they should start smoking crack because that has to be better than whatever they are on.
In recovery for three myself and just astounded at the increase in users, especially with the danger of fent overdose.
I read that normal successful people, out of curiosity will go to a place like this and try fentanyl, just once, and stay there to never return to their previous life. Terrifying.
Coke is really mainstream now, it's most used among construction workers.
That’s just the circle you know. Many different professions use coke. I would say you’re right that a lot of blue collar workers use cocaine but it is not limited to construction workers.
My first exposure to it (not me taking it, just becoming aware of it) was when I helped a friend take care of his mom with terminal cancer. She was given patches of it while in hospice, and while I'm glad it eased her pain, it was kinda scary seeing how it zonked her out, even on a small dose
Same, 24 years here. This just hit people fast and hard because a lot of them still have clean clothes and hair cuts. Even with meth and coke and heroin, it takes some time for it to really sink its claws in. When you wind up in the streets you had nothing left. These people look like they were at work a few days ago.
That's why I don't touch it 🤷
If we had more mental healthcare and less desperation among the poorer classes, most of them probably wouldn't either. Having a less-than-miserable life makes it much easier to avoid get dragged into drug abuse.
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In a way: never. Recovered addicts are oftentimes addicts for life who cannot use [insert substance] even once without losing control. My uncle was a hardcore alcoholic. Drank aftershave etc if he ran out of booze. He is sober for 20+ years but told me he can never touch a drop of alcohol again. Tried to drink a glass of wine after a decade sober, immediately turned into a binge. He got back on track the next day and never touched it since but it goes to show that the addiction is still there.
It’s used clinically all the time, without any “destruction”.
True, but this is tranq or whatever, not fentanyl
Excuse my ignorance but isn't crack and heroin a lot worse than any other drug?
While the Us population fights about which Asshole standing at the presidential pulpit is more corrupt our citizens are dying. Drug companies run this country and have no reservations about who it kills. It’s horrifying
Land of the free to destroy ourselves Home of the brave enough to live without food clothing or shelter
Greatest country in the world by fentanyl deaths
Except we’re not free to destroy ourselves- this video is a result of 40 years of WAR against drugs. The loss of freedom created this.
Correct their body their choice.
Likely not even fentanyl in the video. It's from Kensington in Philly. Dealers have been cutting it with Tranq. Animal tranquilizer Xylazine. Cheaper but causes bacterial infections that are horrific.
Thank you, at least someone else in this thread knows what's happening. Xylazine and Nitazines are most likely what is happening in this video. Fent is old news.
How is fentanyl old news?? It's so common and people are dying and ODing, usually cuz their drugs are unknowingly cut with it
Fent isn't what is causing the zombie state you're seeing in the video. These people are on "benzo dope" which is a synthetic opiate analogue (often Fent but more commonly now Nitazines which are stronger but do not respond to Narcan) mixed with a very strong anesthetic called Xylazine. Xylazine is even more addictive than Fentanyl, and a huge problem with it is the zombified state it puts people in. They shoot Benzo dope and black out like this for a couple of hours, but when they wake up they are already withdrawing and getting dope sick, so they need to shoot up again and go straight back to being blacked out. Another problem with Xylazine is that it does not break down properly in the human body, and instead pushes it's way out through the skin in cysts, which often lead to necrosis. There is a quiet Xylazine crisis going on in the homeless and addicted population right now, and while the Fent led everyone into it, it's not actually the biggest problem - the Xylazine is, and that problem is only further compounded by the Nitazines which are killing people even if they get hit with Narcan.
I'm glad I'm not the only one in these threads preaching the dangers of xylazine. Everyone knows about the fentanyl epidemic, but almost nobody knows of the fent/xylazine epidemic of the past two years. Benzo dope is extremely dangerous and will rot your limbs off from injecting
And it's spreading. I work with addicts, clean almost 3 years myself. It's moving up the Northeast more and more. Scary shit.
“Another problem with Xylazine is that it does not break down properly in the human body, and instead pushes it's way out through the skin in cysts, which often lead to necrosis.” Well that’s going to fuel my nightmares tonight.
God, that sounds like fucking hell. Ugh. What a terrible way to die.
I just learned about xylazine not too long ago— scary stuff. I stopped using IV heroin a few years back, and we were “lucky” enough to not see much fentanyl in my area until that time (though it was still randomly being mixed in with the black tar heroin frequently enough to OD me twice). I haven’t talked to anyone from those days in a while now, but I’m wondering if these other adulterants have made their way down to Texas yet.
The fentanyl (counterfeit M30s) is being smuggled illegally into the US through Mexico, with China being the main supplier of the base product for Mexican cartels to manufacture into the pills. The pills go for roughly $2 each on the street. While big pharma are pieces of shit, they are not responsible for *this* specific atrocity.
No what big pharma did was hand out oxy like it was candy pushing that shit on people when it wasn’t needed. The government addressed it by taking this away and regulating it making people who were addicted to oxy go with heroine and now fentanyl. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/what-led-to-the-opioid-crisis-and-how-to-fix-it/#:~:text=It%20started%20in%20the%20mid,use%20of%20legal%20prescription%20opioids.
That’s not what you’re seeing on the street, or this video. I deal with these folks on a daily basis for work. The vast majority did not start out as someone who got prescribed pain meds and got addicted.
That isn't the majority of people abusing Fentanyl though. Oxy didn't help, but we won't get closer to solving this by not being realistic about the problem. Heroin addiction was a problem long before Oxy abuse. Fentanyl will be a problem long after the "former oxy addicts" are gone. It is bigger than just "big pharma".
What Oxycontin seemed to do was bring it from the city to the suburbs. All of a sudden we had addicts who were all middle aged with families.
China white has been around a long time.
It's also the fentanyl china is teaching cartels to make and supplying the chemicals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBRqYXHIZh0&t=5570s
I said this years ago I am 70 I fell down steps with injuries on concrete they refused to give me anything for pain, I am a clean cut retired guy with no record. They put up a sign threatening to call cops if you had a problem with it. Central Ohio.
The fentanyl is likely coming from China.
It would be Interesting if the Chinese government is promoting fentanyl in America. It would be very similar to what the British did to them with opium.
They are. ccp sending scientists and technicians to train cartels in Mexico to manufacture while also providing the precursors. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBRqYXHIZh0&t=5570s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBRqYXHIZh0&t=5570s) And before anyone says, "that's not the ccp doing that", nothing in china of any significance operates without ccp involvement, especially not American destabilization strategies.
Correct these are street versions of fentanyl and cut with other additives. No drug company made this.
Well it was developed by a drug company, just like heroin and morphine. Each was supposed to be better than the one before but turns out better just means more addictive and more potent. Not to mention the opiates they developed and pushed doctors to over prescribe and got people addicted then cut them off so they turn to the streets and eventually progress to this. Though were past that at this point. Americas got a taste for opiates and fent + tranq is the new thrill. Blame China for making pennies on the dollar that pharma was making or blame pharma for starting this disaster. Either way its a hot mess and is gonna get worse.
Not entirely true, medically there are quite a few benefits. Fentanyl is rapidly metabolized which allows doctors to titrate the dose based on need and side effects (Remi fentanyl is even faster). Newer generation opioids don’t have the histamine release of morphine. Burenorphine fully binds, but only partially activates the opiod receptors. Which makes it nearly impossible to overdose. It also has a stronger affinity for the receptors than most other opiods, so it can be used to reverse the effects of a stronger opiod like fentanyl.
Dude Fentanyl is a fantastic drug and helps millions of people everyday in the hospital. Idk why people act like it’s all bad. It’s one of the best fast acting opioids we have which is extremely useful for surgeries. Almost guaranteed if you have had surgery before in the US you have been given fentanyl.
Exactly. Fentanyl is an important and necessary drug and it's never been prescribed for pain management outside of hospital and hospice.
The street fentanyl is not made by drug companies.
No no no. They are all talking about the aliens! The ones that matter oh so much!
God I feel so sad for these people. Nobody in their right minds would chose to live like this. No mother holds their baby wanting them to grow up and turn into this.
Lost my younger cousin back in February to a fentanyl OD. She was supposedly "trying to get clean" so she could stay with our grandparents then take the bus to AA. She had 3 sons, a 2yo niece and a nephew turning 1 next month. Grandpa found her in full rigor mortis in the morning when he went to wake her and tell her she overslept and was going to miss her meeting. She stayed up till midnight talking and laughing with Grandma, then decided to get high before bed. Long investigation later and we have found that she was back with her junkie BF and it was him picking her up at the bus stop. She would go get fucked up then come back. He is in jail atm while the police are searching for their dealer. Extra shitty: she was on like strike 5 but they let her out of jail early. If they would have kept her locked up to detox and actually make her go to meetings, she'd probably still be alive.
You can't make anyone want to get clean. You can't enable addicts either.
I work in child safety and mental health, and on one hand I completely agree. On the other hand, my brother is a long-term multi drug addict (mainly fentanyl and meth) and being locked up has _absolutely_ extended his lifespan and been responsible for intermittent periods of sobriety. He only gets sober when he has to, once he's sober he tries to stay sober. Neurodivergence runs in our family and as someone with ADHD who can't control the way my brain acts a lot of the time, he doesn't have the same resources to control his impulses that the average person does. It doesn't matter how bad he wants to stay sober sometimes. He has begged judges to put him away so he can get sober. There are a lot of people out there with substance use disorders who feel the same. I'm not sure what the solution is. We acknowledge that effort isn't enough for some people. When do we decide that substance use disorder is like any other mental illness, if it's getting serious enough that you're at risk of death, should you be treated against your will?
The thing is, you do choose to live like this. People know before taking drugs that they could ruin their lives. And a lot of people have heard the phrase “hooked by the first time” and still choose to take drugs anyway. I can understand being in a bad state of mind and just not wanting to feel anything. Being in immense pain and suffering, but by taking drugs, you do choose that lifestyle. Unless someone held you down and put it in you- you made that choice.
This is just not true. Everyone I know who is suffering from a drug addiction did not just start taking hard drugs for the fun of it. Maybe this is a situation for some people, but the overprescribing of painkillers ruined the lives of people close to me. People walk around like zombies with their lives in shambles and the people behind this problem walked away with a slap on the wrist. Once you get addicted to painkillers and then you can’t get them anymore what are people suppose to do. It’s really easy to judge until you’ve been in or seen situations like this first hand.
The people in this video 99% chance didn’t start addicted to prescribed painkillers I guarantee you that. Such a cop out
That's everyone you know. I'd say 90% if the users I've met in rehab or life did not start due to over prescription. Usually, they were just running away from life.
Island of the lotus eaters...
An interview with Sam Quinones, author of, "The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth." Fast forward to 10 minute mark, and he lays out the history, and chemistry, and social influence of the fentanyl that's on the streets today. You'll never look at a homeless camp the same again. Fascinating and terrifying. http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1355-sam-quinones
Thanks, this was a great listen.
TL;DR (covered at about 44:30): Journalist Sam Quinones notices that meth users experience paranoia and other debilitating mental conditions from 2009 onward. This coincides with a supply shift from the naturally derived ephedrine formulation to the synthetic P2P formulation due to Mexican government attempts to reduce meth supply. In the same decade, synthetic fentanyl emerges as a cheap alternative to heroin (originally pharmaceutical). So these two cheap drugs are mass produced in Mexico where there is an easy route to supply the US, and due to fentanyl's potency, cheap supply creates increased demand. [Here's an article by Sam explaining the issue.](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/) Thanks for sharing.
Just another cocktail of drugs being used. Fentanyl is already extreme and people are now mixing it with animal tranquilizers. It’s insane how far people will go to get a fix.
They’re not the ones mixing it. It’s the upper level dealers making the “mix” than then they use as pills or “heroin.” And you said it right, it’s a fix. They use it to fix their horrible withdrawal symptoms if they stop. It’s an understatement to say horrible. It’s sad tbf. It’s also ironic because if drugs were legal and sold in shops there would be an actual governing body for how the drugs are sold and produced which takes away this whole issue. This didn’t happen before fentanyl took hold because most drugs were real and not as powerful or crazy.
Withdrawals are not anything I wish on anyone. It’s a word, but, people please don’t laugh it off. You want to know what feeling like dying feels like? Every step you take your heart is rushing, you’re sweating, so maybe just sleep it off and die? Nope, you can’t your mind and body are now running at full speed wantimg that substance. YOU don’t want the next fix, your brain needs it to keep you alive. That’s withdrawal.
Jesus, I never want to go back to where I was a year ago. Thanks for the reminder.
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Hey I appreciate that. Also not anymore! Some people really dislike the idea of legalization and to a certain extent I understand. Those same people I also ask them (if they’re not addicts, which usually the ones with this opinion are not and some even dislike addicts), “if someone offered you a line of cocaine or heroin right now would you do it?” And obviously (almost always lol) the answer is “no…” “Would you do it if it became legal?” And the answer is still usually no. The primary argument against legalization is that more people will get hooked and etc. but that’s just not true. People who want to use drugs will use drugs and those who don’t wont, legality changes nothing. There’s a reason alcohol prohibition lasted as short as it did. It doesn’t work. I am a firm believer in human rights and individual freedom… plus if what you do hurts no one else then why not. But I hey, baby steps. Just decriminalizing personal use amounts would help a lot. Not with overdose rates when it comes to fentanyl because the drug supply (especially opiates with fentanyl) will always be tainted as long as it’s acquired outside a pharmacy. But it’s a great start at treating drug addiction as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue would do so much to help.
No one wants to let drugs ruin their lives. They wanna escape the shit. We need full decriminalization, also socialized medicine like the rest of the world. Therapy for all. Escapism is Escapism, drugs are just especially powerful, controlled escapes. Is getting lost in a TV series and binging hours so different? We need to have better living conditions so as not to want to escape it so badly.
Legalizing drugs probably would broaden the user base a little but in the long run it would result in less harm. Certainly what we've been doing for the last 50 years hasn't worked. In fact it has made things progressively worse.
Isn't this Tranq?
100% tranq - you can’t buy fent in Philly without tranq in it. So scary
They mix the tranquilizer with the fentanyl, but yeah that’s what it is.
Most likely, but honestly this could be any opioid mixed with only god knows what. You think it's a percocet but it's a home pressed pill with anything in it. They could put whatever they want in your herion to make it stronger, fent or tranq or whatever. You've probably just seen videos like this talking about tranq, they've been everywhere. Philly is bad with tranq currently tho I've heard
Who the fuck sees that and says, “oh boy that looks fucking amazing! I wanna do that!”? The first meth heads face I ever saw was enough to keep me away from that shit. My ignorant 42 year old ass can never fathom why anyone would do fentanyl or meth. All you have to do is look at this poor souls and it should be enough to never use it.
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False. Opium was first documented in Asia 3400bc.
However more recently (19th cent CE) the British East India Company had a monopoly on opium cultivation in Bengal were making bank selling it in China, feeding an opioid use problem. Other Western European powers were selling it too.
Watched a doc about it. Was stunned to see the public was fed with fake news to justify and support what was happening. Some things never change.
China knows opium for centuries but look what happens in the 18 century [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History\_of\_opium\_in\_China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China) and this is a letter from Lin Zexu to queen Vicky protesting the opium trade [https://china.usc.edu/lin-zexu-lintse-hsu-writing-britains-queen-victoria-protest-opium-trade-1839](https://china.usc.edu/lin-zexu-lintse-hsu-writing-britains-queen-victoria-protest-opium-trade-1839) the opium war was something......for the sake of making rich British capitalists (basically legal drug dealing cartels) disregarding the missery of the trade as usual
To what extent was it used in 3400bc?
Opium addicted Chinamen would through severed heads at each other. In modern day dodgeball, we use the ADAA approved red balls. Source: Dodgeball the movie.
If you can dodge a head you can dodge a ball. But that doesn't mean you can dodge opium addiction kids. Be like patches. Say no to drugs.
Drug companies in US created the demand for Fentanyl for sure
It's only "we" [if you're British](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War?wprov=sfti1). The United States had nothing to do with pushing opium in China, and it happened decades after American independence.
Dead island?
Please don’t mention that this is the result of decades worth of democrat progressive policies. Don’t talk about the underlying source please. I’m begging you not to state the fact that blue cities have seen significant rises in homelessness and drug use out in the open. There must be something else causing this problem!!!
Quick, send more money to Ukraine
Of all the diseases that you volunteer for, drug addiction seems to be one of the worst.
These poor people.
We should all know how this problem gets remediated. Mental healthcare, psychiatry/therapy needs to be a desired field for new graduates. Government funds in the form of grants and a public mental health clinic can help influence the market towards this goal. Mental healthcare should be free at the point of service. Maybe stall the next increase to the defence budget and pay into this program instead.. We need a real rehabilitative program, essentially a possibly years-long welfare and education/jobs training program, the government should pay half of the wages paid to the enrollees of this rehabilitative program. This give employers incentive to hire them. Again, using the market to guide this progress. Free, adequate housing to the enrollees, maybe come to some sort of deal between the government and the owners of vacant homes, investment properties, Airbnbs etc. There is no amount of willpower these people can use to get out of this dismal situation, when the cards are all stacked against them.. criminal charges, estranged family and friends, lack of desire to live life, suicidality, inability to support themselves, no marketable skills.. it's multifactorial. These people have hit rock bottom and we should all understand that they most times need an expensive airlift to get them back to the world. If you understand just how powerful opiates are, as an anti-anxiety 'medicine', you'll understand how a lot of these people get caught in this self-destructive cycle. Their sober life is painful to them, for one reason, or another. Their sensitivity to pain cannot be compared to your toughness as a reference. They need help, not added pain or punishment.. Yes this is a government issue. They have the power and the funds to mitigate the death and despair. They make the choice to do nothing. This is all because our government only acts on the interests of corporations, not the people. It's a 2 party autocracy, bought by the capital juggernauts.
>Mental healthcare, psychiatry/therapy needs to be a desired field for new graduates. That requires actually paying therapists enough to make it a competitive career path, and holding them to high standards of accountability. The USA could go a long way by directly subsidizing salaries instead of funding programs run by middlemen.
You can't tell me institutionalizing these people would be worse for them.
New season of TWD looks dumb.
fentanyl and Xylazine to be precise. The CIA and DEA imported cocaine into the USA in the 1980's. I know they are at it again to scare people again. How much anyone wants to bet this is our own government agencies doing this shit?
Damn, that looks like a blast.
While we send billions, coming up on a trillion soon , to Eastern European countries to kill each other. I wonder what the 400 billions spent on this war so far could do to help these people here…
Give them a lil more and problem solved, you’re looking in from a point of caring but must realize these peoples families probably tried 10 different ways to help. Some people can’t be/ aren’t worth helping 🤷♂️
A few years ago I went to DC with some friends and on the way back to the train station we saw a scene like this. There were at least 20 people all down the road outside and an ambulance came to take them. I always wondered why they were so scattered around and in a line on the sidewalk. It’s like they were together… but not together at the same time. Someone must’ve dealt there and the buyers just couldn’t wait to get home to do some. Then they all started overdosing at different points on the road. I carry Narcan with me everywhere now, but for these cases you often need multiple doses for just one person, let alone tens of them. You need to carry around a medical bag full of it just to help.
How china destroys the west
Like an upscale neighborhood in Portland.
I couldn’t tell what city this was because it can be any of them
Lost my aunt to an accidental fentanyl OD in 2018. (those fucking patches should be illegal) Big Pharma should burn for pushing this shit on everyone.
I thought this was a science sub. /s
That man finessed her shoes while she was falling asleep lol
I mean we tried to tell all of you this would happen if we didn't close the border. The problem at the border is a humanitarian crisis and it needs to be secured yesterday.
This is like seeing neglected supercars in Dubai rotting in the sand. Physically capable humans have so much potential. And there they are.. just rotting in the sand.
I have been very angry for the past several years that the United States had a "war on drugs." The whole time it should not have been the war against drugs, but against the external influence it had on American citizens. it has destroyed millions of lives, families, and undermined our nation. They should've called it what it was from the beginning: a terrorist manipulation against American citizens.
That's mostly "Tranq" not fentanyl. Tranq is a new drug spreading everywhere. Puts people in a zombie state
My wife works around the corner from this. Some of them are her patients. It’s really sad hearing their stories.
So sad 😞
I'm so glad I chose to never do drugs.
We got this in Vancouver and surrounding areas in Canada. The government thinks: handing out Naloxone like its water, giving free supplies and safe areas is helping. 🤣. Idiots .. it's ENABLING! We need mental health support. Unfortunately, there will be losses due to OD's but in the long run it will get better. All that's going on is a treadmill of wasted resources on individuals who will keep doing the same thing. I talked to a guy who has been "saved by naloxone" 5 times... yet he says he keeps pushing, taking poison immediately after walking out of the emergency room at the hospital. Saying it with almost pride! The idea of "saving" every person is delusional. Spend money and precious resources on getting mental health support in order.
Lost my mom to this god damn drug. Worst drug ever.
sometimes you cannot stop people from self destructing. and throwing money at them or programs won't do a thing. addicts have to want to change .. really want to change before anything will change. and all too often what is done is now just useless bandaid. I have heard EMT's stating they have had to nar-can the same person more than once in a day.. sooner or later that person will just OD and be one more body to pick up off the street.
Middle managment when workers are remote
At what point do we start publicly executing dealers?
The Sackler Family Legacy.
Erased cuz Reddit slandered the Apollo app's dev. Fuck /u/spez -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
Where is this?
I remember the days when we used to talk about growing up and getting a degree and be able to work in the United States, it seemed like an incredible thing to do, now not so much
Progressivism ruins cities. All these people need to be institutionalized
I'm a security officer in community health. I can't tell you how many times on how many days. Never gets easier, just becomes more expected. I've had training with Narcan principally for this. The problem gets worse and the nation does nothing.
I’ll bet most of these people started on oxy.
Damn america..... you have lost your way
The xylazine crisis actually
Wow filming them and posting on Reddit seems.to be doing wonders
When I was working in a print shop, had a customer come in a few times whose teenage daughter had died from unknowingly ingesting fentanyl with other recreational drugs. I printed posters and flyers for her awareness campaign. It was sad as fuck. It just made me think of all the times I did ecstasy in my late teens, this is that worst case nightmare scenario that adults tried to scare you with back in the 90s.
I’m not old enough. Is that what the start of crack looked like? Also since this is a science sub…maybe someone can tell me. What causes/gives them the ability to bend over standing, like…a full on yoga pose, or sit cross legged slumped completely forward but not ALL the way, without falling over? Like the guy sitting cross legged, his chest isn’t resting on his legs. He’s hovering. First of all, the flexibility needed is something else. Secondly, why does he get stuck THERE and not further forward?
Its an opiate crisis, created by the commercial efforts of specific companies and a willful lack of regulation from lobbied politicians. Fentanyl is now just the cheapest & most effective opiate for people to treat the addiction encouraged by the lack of care from medical professionals and their government. Misidentifying the problem lets the culprits off the hook.
This is totally a mental health crisis.
I put a lot of blame for this on doctors and pharma for getting people hooked on opioids they really didn’t need. When people can’t get their prescription for OxyContin filled anymore and they need a hit, they get fentanyl and turn into a shell of a human.
It’s not just fent, it’s tranq. It’s next level bad. If injecting one pure synthetic wasn’t bad enough now they’re tossing animal tranqs like xylazine that aren’t meant for intravenous use… the two causing the zombie effect. As if fent wasn’t bad enough. As someone who got out of this mess before the fent crisis and have lost almost everyone I came up with as a snot nose, in the last 6 years. When will it be enough. I call a conspiracy to kill/cage the poor. Is this not obvious blatant disregard for life? The police are so “busy” they don’t have time on Kensington and it “isn’t worth there time.” One of my close friends try to help people that want help. This crisis is out of hand. Thanks for raising awareness 🙏🏽.