wpainterw

Here in New England, as well as many other places in the U.S., heroin has become a major source of addiction. Due to its comparatively low cost (the strong strain of marijuana now available having risen in price) heroin has the singular property of being both an entry level and an exit (via death) narcotic. There are reports that some police officials have decided that it is best dealt with as a health rather than a criminal matter. Addicts, indeed arguably an entire culture, are ill and putting them in jail has not resolved the problem. Indeed, it may be less expensive in the long run to have them in rehabs rather than jail. So some police officials are reported to have said that anyone with heroin may bring drugs, needles and other equipment to the police station where it will be accepted no questions asked and an effort made to place addicts with rehabs with publicly available funds. To me this approach seems promising. Treating it as purely a criminal matter in a "war on drugs" seems to have been both costly and ineffective.

W.

least

That's one drug I never wanted to try. I didn't like the idea of needles and was afraid I'd like it too much.

Soberwolf

Thank heavens things like NA exist

soberclover

Heroin is such a huge issue here in Vermont. My partner's daughter is in rehab....again. It's been a long, tiring, exhausting journey with her and her family as they are just learning about addiction, recovery, and enabling. I'm glad the treatment and justice system is changing to meet the needs of today's addiction but I still feel like things are moving slowly. Narcotics Anonymous saved my life and I still hope she will find the peace and serenity I have in my life now.

Meraviglioso

What a great program, thank you for sharing that, it is nice to hear some good news.

fantail

I went to rehab in New England. Over half the people there were very young heroin addicts. Many of them had been in treatment 5, 6 times already. There were lots of alcoholics who'd failed to get sober, too, but at least with them the chances of them dying their first day out were slim. It was so hard to know these kids who had already lost so many friends and were on the same track themselves. Apparently there's been some heroin cut with something else going around and there's an OD epidemic.

In Vancouver (and maybe other parts of Canada?) they have clinics where people can shoot up and nurses will intervene if they begin to OD. It's cut the death rate exponentially. And the clinic will refer them to rehab when they're ready. I wish this would spread.

JimC60

Fantail,

Fentanyl is the cutting agent which is blamed for many ODs and deaths. Much more potent than heroin - therefore if someone gets some bags cut with Fentanyl, and shoots the same quantity they are used - they OD.

Luckily Narcan will also counteract fentanyl if it is administered in time.

The arrival of fentanyl laced heroin in Wilmington (just to your south) caused the deaths of a number of my daughter's friends and scared her enough to get her into rehab and off of heroin.

One day at a time,

Jim

fantail

Fentanyl, yes, that's it. Just in the month I was there two people got news of friends passing and a few more got news of near misses. It was terrible. I'm sorry about your daughter's friends.

wpainterw

I see that I was given some fentanyl when unconscious after a prostate operation a little over a month ago. And I have noticed fentanyl strips on two close friends over extended periods of time, ostensibly for chronic pain. I assume that, as tolerance builds up, the strength of the strips has to be increased for any effect and addiction must be inevitable. These are friends whom one would never think they would become addicted but it must have happened. One of them is said to have started to hallucinate that cellphone calls in her neighborhood were interfering with her brain. She sold her house and moved to another neighborhood where she thinks they don't make cellphone calls. Where in the U.S. could that be? I'll bet they make cellphone calls in Tibet. The other person began to show obvious signs of dementia and is now in a nursing home. As for me, they can put those patches on me after I'm dead if they want to, but not before, but then they probably won't try it because my medicare runs out after I'm dead; at least I think it does.

W.

KidsEverywhere

I agree with the original post here except that I don't think heroin is an entry drug at all. Back in my youth, I experimented with a lot of stuff, never graduated to heroin. I think most folks get on that stuff when they are addicted to painkillers and are looking for that next level of buzz or can no longer get the pills effectively. No way heroin is an entry drug.

wpainterw

Heroin has become an entry drug in our community because of its very low price compared to other drugs Why pay a lot more for your buzz when you can get enough heroin for maybe two days for only $30. Anyway, the issue has become rather academic since in certain places in our community, in sharp contrast to say ten or so years ago, heroin is now the main problem. The authorities say that this is because of its low cost and widespread availability.