Heroin deaths now outnumber firearms homicides

EODJoe · Feb 14, 2017

EODJoe said:
My little brother was only 21 years old when he OD'd on a mix of heroin and fentanyl almost ten years ago. My mother found him unresponsive in his bed and performed CPR on him until the EMTs arrived and took over. They worked on him for a long time but could never revive him. During the memorial service at my mother's house, my brother's best friend admitted to me that he was the one who had introduced my brother to this particular vice. We knew that my brother had occasionally smoked weed but that day was apparently only the second time that he had tried heroin and his heart stopped. If it were not for the fact that my mother, my wife, and my six week old son were in the house I may have committed homicide. He was told in very clear terminology what would happen if I ever saw him again. I searched my brother's room and found his kit with prescription fentanyl patches that had the person's name who they had been prescribed to. I turned all this over to the detectives investigating the case and was told that they were familiar with that individual selling their prescriptions in the past but that no charges against them would be likely. I have no stomach for drug dealers and feel that the death penalty should be given for anyone convicted of trafficking narcotics. The worst part of this whole narrative is that my mother spiraled into a depression that she never recovered from and passed away five and a half years after my brother. So heroin cost me my brother and my mother. The war on drugs should be fought with the same intensity as any other war.

So I recently had my faith in Karma renewed. I found out that the POS that introduced my little brother to heroin died of...wait for it...a heroin overdose! It still pisses me off that he had another ten years to enjoy this planet while stealing oxygen from the rest of us but eventually the scales balanced out.

fred55 · Feb 14, 2017

Joe, sorry for your losses and the grief it has caused you. I'm reminded of a saying "time heals all wounds and wounds all heels." We can only hope those that destroy others suffer some remorse while they are still here. Drug abuse is an evil path and those that promote it deserve a special place in hell. Fred

chilipeppermaniac · Feb 19, 2017

EODjoe, I am very sorry to hear of your losses too.

Last year I lost a good friend's younger brother to Heroin in Carroll County. About 7 years ago, I lost another friend to suicide by Ak47. He had issues with Oxy's after a motorcycle accident left him with pain in a knee. His suicide was likely due to supply issues of Oxy and a fight he had with a woman that day.

Sad and like I said, I sure am sorry to hear about your brother and mom.

swinokur · Feb 19, 2017

Obviously a NQL should be required for addicts so they don't hurt themselves.

It's common sense.

:sad20:

pbharvey · Mar 1, 2017

Hogan declares state of emergency on heroin crisis
https://apnews.com/71e4821a34974982...w&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=APSouthRegion

Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency Wednesday in response to Maryland's continuing problems with heroin and opioid addiction.

The Republican governor announced $50 million in new funding over five years to help support the state's prevention, recovery and enforcement efforts.

I guess he did this to get some federal money?
Regardless our society is facing a very big problem with opioid drug addiction.

montigre · Mar 1, 2017

Jim12 said:
If we eliminated the drug problem, shootings would go down, too.

I agree, block the Mexican cartels from distributing their junk to our country and clean up the gang elements selling it, the shootings will probably hit record lows.

traveller · Mar 1, 2017

montigre said:
I agree, block the Mexican cartels from distributing their junk to our country and clean up the gang elements selling it, the shootings will probably hit record lows.

Allow addicition treatment facilities to prescribe heroin and heroin ODs would all but disappear. Occasionally someone will overdo it, but that will be either a choice or the result of a combination with something else like sleeping pills. Most heroin ODs are the result of non-standardized potency and in recent years the result of mixing with Chinese fentany/suffentanyll (x30-100 the potency of heroin).

Heroin is just a plant sap cooked with acid. Really cheap to produce on an industrial scale. We could give the stuff to the addicts for free and we would still come out ahead as a society. Doesn't mean we shouldn't be compassionate and offer treatment to those who ask for it.

Oh, and if we make heroin freely available to the addicted, we could also move to the death penalty for dealers.

Inigoes · Mar 1, 2017

traveller said:
Allow addicition treatment facilities to prescribe heroin and heroin ODs would all but disappear. Occasionally someone will overdo it, but that will be either a choice or the result of a combination with something else like sleeping pills. Most heroin ODs are the result of non-standardized potency and in recent years the result of mixing with Chinese fentany/suffentanyll (x30-100 the potency of heroin).

Heroin is just a plant sap cooked with acid. Really cheap to produce on an industrial scale. We could give the stuff to the addicts for free and we would still come out ahead as a society. Doesn't mean we shouldn't be compassionate and offer treatment to those who ask for it.

Oh, and if we make heroin freely available to the addicted, we could also move to the death penalty for dealers.

That is not the answer either.

methadone clinics in PA have to deal with Methadone abuse. "Patients" either take too much methadone to get high, or combine methadone with booze to get high.

There is truly one way to get away from an opiod addiction, and its death.

Bob A · Mar 1, 2017

I'm tired of the whole concept of protecting people from themselves.

Stop all prohibition. This will undercut the black market, and eventually drug lords will figure out how to run for public office to make their fortunes.

Darwin will sort it out in the long run.

balttigger · Mar 1, 2017

Inigoes said:
That is not the answer either.

methadone clinics in PA have to deal with Methadone abuse. "Patients" either take too much methadone to get high, or combine methadone with booze to get high.

There is truly one way to get away from an opiod addiction, and its death.

I work a block away from one of Baltimore City's more illustrious methadone clinics. The addicts will get their dose of methadone and then walk around the corner and get high on a smaller dose of heroin. You can see them walking up Pratt Street doing the 'Heroin Hang' in groups of 2 or 3, looking like walkers from TWD.

Every jurisdictional EMT and Police Officer in the state carries Narcan. EMT-Bs and police carry the nasal injectors. They are being used in almost every jurisdiction, multiple times a day.

Pushers are always looking for new ways to cut their product to insure a solid hookset. They don't care about their customers because the mindset in the community is to live fast. They may be arrested tomorrow or killed....no need to worry about the buyer. A few years back, they cut it with a drug called scopolamine. A drug used to treat motion sickness that has the side effect of hallucinations. Problem was that people who OD'd and were given Narcan had the opiate effect cancelled then would see the effects of a scopolamine overdose, which would cause seizures and death. It earned the street name 'Homicide'.

traveller · Mar 1, 2017

Inigoes said:
That is not the answer either.

methadone clinics in PA have to deal with Methadone abuse. "Patients" either take too much methadone to get high, or combine methadone with booze to get high.

There is truly one way to get away from an opiod addiction, and its death.

The great lie with Methadone is that we claim that it 'treats addiction'. It doesn't, it just replaces one addiction with another one. Sure, the methadone zombies are a pain in the ass, but overall they are much less of a problem than heroin addicts who have to steal and rob to get their fix. Give them the heroin to minimize societal damage from their addiction. One in 10 is going to have a come to jesus moment and kick the addiction, but that isn't any worse than what we achieve right now.

Inigoes · Mar 1, 2017

the odds may be closer to 1 in a million.

Overboost44 · Mar 1, 2017

Here on Kent Island, we just had a second death of a HS student due to this sh*t. They busted the people responsible for the girl in September. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from. Straight A student, bad student. I feel so sad for these parents.

ohen cepel · Mar 1, 2017

Heroin is killing more people than cars! Which really dwarfs the firearms #'s. Yet another case of the media pushing fear and wanting to link drugs to firearms, but not to the soccer mom's minivan which is far more likely to kill someone.

OldGunner · May 16, 2017

I think there's a lot of misinformation on both sides of the drug issue. I'm sick and tired of hearing people tell the lie that drugs are a victimless crime.

They are not a victimless crime, the people who become addicted to heroin, meth, crack, are the core engine for most crime in America. Addiction drives property and violent crime. Legalizing drugs just means more addicts who can't afford to buy their drug and will burglarize, rob, kill someone for the money. Even if the drug is legal it's still going to have a cost.

I've had so many people tell me that if we decriminalize drugs like heroin the problem will go away. Well, it just doesn't work that way. Look at drugs like Oxycontin. It's legal and regulated, look at the addiction disaster it's caused !!! Do you honestly think that legalizing Oxycontin would solve the addiction problem with that drug? No, it would explode into a problem of nightmarish proportions. 780 million high potency doses of Oxycontin were sold in West Virginia in a 6 year period. That's over 400 doses for every man woman and child in the state. That's just insane!

I don't know what the solution is but making highly addictive drugs legal is not the answer.

Mark75H · May 16, 2017

OldGunner said:
I think there's a lot of misinformation on both sides of the drug issue. I'm sick and tired of hearing people tell the lie that drugs are a victimless crime.

They are not a victimless crime, the people who become addicted to heroin, meth, crack, are the core engine for most crime in America. Addiction drives property and violent crime. Legalizing drugs just means more addicts who can't afford to buy their drug and will burglarize, rob, kill someone for the money. Even if the drug is legal it's still going to have a cost.

I've had so many people tell me that if we decriminalize drugs like heroin the problem will go away. Well, it just doesn't work that way. Look at drugs like Oxycontin. It's legal and regulated, look at the addiction disaster it's caused !!! Do you honestly think that legalizing Oxycontin would solve the addiction problem with that drug? No, it would explode into a problem of nightmarish proportions. 780 million high potency doses of Oxycontin were sold in West Virginia in a 6 year period. That's over 400 doses for every man woman and child in the state. That's just insane!

I don't know what the solution is but making highly addictive drugs legal is not the answer.

That's what they said about alcohol too.

Melnic · May 16, 2017

OldGunner said:
I think there's a lot of misinformation on both sides of the drug issue. I'm sick and tired of hearing people tell the lie that drugs are a victimless crime.

They are not a victimless crime, the people who become addicted to heroin, meth, crack, are the core engine for most crime in America. Addiction drives property and violent crime. Legalizing drugs just means more addicts who can't afford to buy their drug and will burglarize, rob, kill someone for the money. Even if the drug is legal it's still going to have a cost.

I've had so many people tell me that if we decriminalize drugs like heroin the problem will go away. Well, it just doesn't work that way. Look at drugs like Oxycontin. It's legal and regulated, look at the addiction disaster it's caused !!! Do you honestly think that legalizing Oxycontin would solve the addiction problem with that drug? No, it would explode into a problem of nightmarish proportions. 780 million high potency doses of Oxycontin were sold in West Virginia in a 6 year period. That's over 400 doses for every man woman and child in the state. That's just insane!

I don't know what the solution is but making highly addictive drugs legal is not the answer.

Can you hang around me when my Libertarian friends get to ranting?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Minuteman · May 17, 2017

montigre said:
I agree, block the Mexican cartels from distributing their junk to our country and clean up the gang elements selling it, the shootings will probably hit record lows.

Simple. Effective. I like it.

OldGunner said:
I think there's a lot of misinformation on both sides of the drug issue. I'm sick and tired of hearing people tell the lie that drugs are a victimless crime.

They are not a victimless crime, the people who become addicted to heroin, meth, crack, are the core engine for most crime in America. Addiction drives property and violent crime. Legalizing drugs just means more addicts who can't afford to buy their drug and will burglarize, rob, kill someone for the money. Even if the drug is legal it's still going to have a cost.

I've had so many people tell me that if we decriminalize drugs like heroin the problem will go away. Well, it just doesn't work that way. Look at drugs like Oxycontin. It's legal and regulated, look at the addiction disaster it's caused !!! Do you honestly think that legalizing Oxycontin would solve the addiction problem with that drug? No, it would explode into a problem of nightmarish proportions. 780 million high potency doses of Oxycontin were sold in West Virginia in a 6 year period. That's over 400 doses for every man woman and child in the state. That's just insane!

I don't know what the solution is but making highly addictive drugs legal is not the answer.

Wise.

traveller · May 17, 2017

Inigoes said:
That is not the answer either.

methadone clinics in PA have to deal with Methadone abuse. "Patients" either take too much methadone to get high, or combine methadone with booze to get high.

There is truly one way to get away from an opiod addiction, and its death.

It wouldn't be the answer to drug addiction ( neither is methadone or suboxone). It would be one answer to the issue of overdoses. If we think overdoses are a problem (and not everyone believes they are), it would be worth pursuing that avenue.

The other day I listened to an interview with Mike Dewine, the AG of Ohio. They are now seeing a stuff called 'grey death' or 'concrete' which is a mixture including fentanyl, carfentanyl and U47700 another synthetic opoid. There has been a case of a cop who handled some of the stuff overdosing from absorption through the skin. Some of these synthetic opioids are incredibly potent and also fat soluble. The AGs office has advised police departments around Ohio to stop field-testing drugs and to just bag them up and send them to the state lab. The state lab has changed the way it handles samples to protect their staff.

Biggfoot44 · May 17, 2017

Depends on parameters of " solving " . If you mean reducing OD's , reducing gang violence, corruption, property crime, and armed robberies in general, there is a remedy .

Legalize. Full legalize, not half way like decriminalize or gov't clinics . If it could be bought at the corner luquor store for the price of beer, no more astronomical price markups as with the current illegal practices . When its more or less affordable, the users no longer have daily $ requirements the size of a car payment, that can only be met by property crime that can only be met by property crimes and occasional carjackings. Reduced profits for street level dealing, reduces turf wars, deadly drug rips, and generally takes a big chunk of cash flow from street gangs . Lack of insane profits at middle and upper levels removes the economic motivations for corruption of various LE, Prosecutors, financial sector, etc.

Know strength levels and known purity will exponentially reduce OD deaths from inconsistant strengths and unknown other ingreadents.

Won't have much effect on raw numbers of regular users, but already anyone so inclined has no trouble having access.

Heroin deaths now outnumber firearms homicides

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