Heroin deaths now outnumber firearms homicides

[Inigoes]

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.

That is a fantasy world.

the farther people dive headlong into their herion addiction, the less the are employable. No employer wants someone strung out on the job.

the junkie will contiune to be jobless, and turning to crime to fuel their habit.

 

[Mr. Ed]

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.

I'm not a drug abuser, so I can't speak from personal experience about opioids. But I think some folks have addictive predispositions, and they're significantly more likely to become addicted to a substance than other folks. Cigarettes (and alcohol to a lesser extent) are a prime examples. Even though they contribute to a pretty high number of deaths (and a lot of disease), they're regulated and still legal. What's the real difference between the combined effects of smoking a Camel and drinking a martini, and smoking a joint?

Street drugs are definitely a crap shoot. There's no way to know what a bag of mystery powder contains, short of a lab test. Addicts aren't going to do that. Selling government produced and tested drugs would at least offer addicts a known quality and quantity so they could prevent accidental overdoses if they wanted.

I have no sympathy for most drug addicts, other than those folks who got hooked due to medical malpractice through over prescription (not their fault). I do have a lot of sympathy for the parents, relatives and friends of addicts who are powerless to stop the train wreck of drug addiction.

It is fantasy to imagine that we can end drug addiction. It can be reduced and managed to some extent, but (like alcohol prohibition) drugs will always be in demand and available. Maybe it's time to figure out another way to deal with this problem.

 

[brownspotz]

I was in Ferndale by the police station where they have a big sign that usually has stats on DUIs it now has stats on heroin ods. what a state we live in.

 

[TLL]

400 dose per person in WVa sounds like a Doctor problem.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Biggfoot44]

They're already unimployable, they would only need to illegally raise 1/10 the net proceedes. Just like unemployable alcoholics don't need to do major crimes to get their daily case of beer and pint of cheap vodka.

 

[montigre]

But...but...it's different than guns, because we need to look in to the human conditions that drive people to drugs rather than blaming it on the tools and substances they use. I mean... with guns it's clearly the inanimate object and we shouldn't waste any efforts looking in to the human conditions driving people to violence.

Careful smokey, you're beginning to make too much sense there....