The Global Fentanyl Plague

The 'war on drugs' will not stop until and unless people
stop using drugs....no demand = no need for drugs;.
I hope you are wrong. I can't see any way we will be able to eliminate demand, maybe reduce it through education or something but I think drug use is too much a part of human nature. For some folks anyway. However we could end the war by legalizing and regulating. Would make drugs safer and eliminate the money flow to cartels and criminals... And I don't think it would increase usage. Its what we do with alcohol, not a completely comfortable compromise, but probably the best we can do.
just as the 'war on prostitution' is not succeeding as hoped...
Another example of our failure to try and force people to do something they just won't do. Legislation of morality doesn't usually work. Prostitution is legal in parts of Nevada, not far from here. It is much safer, and better hidden than in most of the US.
 

There are periodic sales of it here in OR. The prices seem to me to be fairly cheap.

This is a higher-end store:

https://nectar.store/store/portland-alberta/

I can remember paying $10 for a "lid" (1 ounce? maybe less) of mostly stems and leaves, few buds. This was late 60s, at college.
Yea, $10 for a lid of mostly stems and leaves was a '60s thing.

Hey, your gummies in Alberta are way cheaper than here in California, I'm jealous!
 

Why do people start on this or any drug?
Drug pushers will often walk up to kids, young men, the downtrodden, etc anywhere and offer them fentanyl for free because they'll say " I just want to be your friend". Often a young kid or teenager will believe that. It doesn't take much to get them hooked and then have to start paying for their addiction. That's the "hook, line, and sinker" goal of the drug pushers....once tried they've got them.
 
Just think if you could grow your own 6 organic untreated plants, cheaper it would be. See I can remember, growing up in the 60' & 70's, people grew there own in the woods and in the basement. It would have been better to do it this way. As far as Marijuana, this would have gutted the black market to real addicts.
You can grow here for personal use.

I'm not a fan of legalizing cannibis. This is only my PERSONAL PREFERENCE. It's been legal here (purchase or grow your own since 2016) and in my opinion no DIRECT bad thing has happened. I think that people smoke it in situations where, if it was alcohol, they'd not do it--by this I mean on the way to work, etc.

I've worked with people who have told me that they were loaded the night before. They seemed fine, but I'll tell you that for sure, I still felt fuzzed up for a part of the day--spaced is the term--the next day and possibly a bit longer. I would not consider that the work I did during that tie to be my best work, and so I viewed it as stealing from my employer.

More importantly, legalizing it here has changed attitudes about *any* previously controlled substance. "Well, no one has gone nuts from legalized weed, so I'll bet mushrooms would be OK to legalize."

OK, maybe. But then they took it and ran with it and made it impossible to apply any external pressure to daily users of meth, heroin, etc.

To end up, I used to hear about Amsterdam, and it was always in the context of how tolerant it was toward drugs. Just two months ago, after seeing people shooting up on the sidewalk, with my own eyes, right there at a corner, sitting leaning against a Walgreen's, at 11 AM on a weekday, I went and looked up Amsterdam's drug policies, and believe me, Portland makes Amsterdam look like the Women's Temperance League when it comes to hard drugs.

Unintended consequences, indeed.
 
Drug pushers will often walk up to kids, young men, the downtrodden, etc anywhere and offer them fentanyl for free because they'll say " I just want to be your friend". Often a young kid or teenager will believe that. It doesn't take much to get them hooked and then have to start paying for their addiction. That's the "hook, line, and sinker" goal of the drug pushers....once tried they've got them.
I can only say my own experience with an 80 mg a day Oxycontin ( 40 mg morning, 40 mg evening) prescription for hip pain that went on for almost three years, never missing a dose (no need to worry about opioid users missing their medication--it is a "self-governing" situation).

It took me about 6 weeks to become physically dependent. On stopping (after the delayed hip replacement) it took about 3 months before I felt normal, like I had before and like I have since.

It is not what people think it is. I had three years to experience it and all the years since to thoroughly explore it.
 
I traveled from the Polish border to Vladivostok on the Pacific all the way by train across Russia. I also spent 2 months each in China and India; always by train. I had absolutely no problem. No one ever shot at any trains that I was on. Of course, I never traveled by train in the USA. Guess that makes all the difference!
 

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Sawfish, I was talking about how teenagers get hooked on "Free" Fentanyl by strangers/drug pushers acting like they want to be their friend but then the kids end up dying from a one-time episode or addiction. But I'm happy your hip replacement recovery went well and congratulations for kicking the Oxycontin habit!
 
You can grow here for personal use.

I'm not a fan of legalizing cannibis. This is only my PERSONAL PREFERENCE. It's been legal here (purchase or grow your own since 2016) and in my opinion no DIRECT bad thing has happened. I think that people smoke it in situations where, if it was alcohol, they'd not do it--by this I mean on the way to work, etc.

I've worked with people who have told me that they were loaded the night before. They seemed fine, but I'll tell you that for sure, I still felt fuzzed up for a part of the day--spaced is the term--the next day and possibly a bit longer. I would not consider that the work I did during that tie to be my best work, and so I viewed it as stealing from my employer.

More importantly, legalizing it here has changed attitudes about *any* previously controlled substance. "Well, no one has gone nuts from legalized weed, so I'll bet mushrooms would be OK to legalize."

OK, maybe. But then they took it and ran with it and made it impossible to apply any external pressure to daily users of meth, heroin, etc.

To end up, I used to hear about Amsterdam, and it was always in the context of how tolerant it was toward drugs. Just two months ago, after seeing people shooting up on the sidewalk, with my own eyes, right there at a corner, sitting leaning against a Walgreen's, at 11 AM on a weekday, I went and looked up Amsterdam's drug policies, and believe me, Portland makes Amsterdam look like the Women's Temperance League when it comes to hard drugs.

Unintended consequences, indeed.

Space expands, time stands still: 1:40 into the picture.

 
Hello, my name is DRUGS.

I take kids from parents, and parents from kids, I turn people from God, and separate friends.
I’ll take everything from you, your looks and your pride, I’ll be with you always, right by your side.
You’ll give up everything, your family, your home, your friends, your money, then you’ll be alone.
I’ll take and take, till you have nothing more to give, when I’m finished with you you’ll be lucky to live.

If you try me be warned this is no game – If given the chance, I’ll drive you insane.
I’ll ravish your body, I’ll control your mind. I’ll own you completely, your soul will be mine.
The nightmares I’ll give you while lying in bed, the voices you’ll hear from inside your head,
the sweats, the shakes, the visions you’ll see; I want you to know, these are all gifts from me,
But then it’s too late, and you’ll know in your heart, that you are mine, and we shall not part.

You’ll regret that you tried me, they always do, but you came to me, not I to you.
You knew this would happen, many times you were told, but you challenged my power, and chose to be bold.
You could have said no, and just walked away, If you could live that day over, now what would you say?
I’ll be your master; you will be my slave, I’ll even go with you, when you go to your grave.
Now that you have met me, what will you do? Will you try me or not? It’s all up to you.
I can bring you more misery than words can tell.
Come take my hand, I’ll take you to HELL!
That is so good, Lady Emeraude! It should be required reading at schools.
 
Hello, my name is DRUGS.

I take kids from parents, and parents from kids, I turn people from God, and separate friends.
I’ll take everything from you, your looks and your pride, I’ll be with you always, right by your side.
You’ll give up everything, your family, your home, your friends, your money, then you’ll be alone.
I’ll take and take, till you have nothing more to give, when I’m finished with you you’ll be lucky to live.

If you try me be warned this is no game – If given the chance, I’ll drive you insane.
I’ll ravish your body, I’ll control your mind. I’ll own you completely, your soul will be mine.
The nightmares I’ll give you while lying in bed, the voices you’ll hear from inside your head,
the sweats, the shakes, the visions you’ll see; I want you to know, these are all gifts from me,
But then it’s too late, and you’ll know in your heart, that you are mine, and we shall not part.

You’ll regret that you tried me, they always do, but you came to me, not I to you.
You knew this would happen, many times you were told, but you challenged my power, and chose to be bold.
You could have said no, and just walked away, If you could live that day over, now what would you say?
I’ll be your master; you will be my slave, I’ll even go with you, when you go to your grave.
Now that you have met me, what will you do? Will you try me or not? It’s all up to you.
I can bring you more misery than words can tell.
Come take my hand, I’ll take you to HELL!

 
I guess I still live in the land of OZ. I have never lived in the big city, been exposed to any of that even at my age. I have no clue how anyone finds these things or how they would even think something they get off the street is safe. Pot is a whole different thing back in the day.

All this other stuff is above what I can imagine. It is heartbreaking to know that people out there are buying stuff, they don't know what it is, they could be snorting or shooting things into their bodies they have no clue, it could be bar keepers powder used for cleaning sinks and pans for all they know. I just don't get it......pills could be anything.... .and they think there is nothing to worry about.

Still, they hand over their money for nothing or for death. The whole thing is just beyond my understanding. Believe me there have been times when my migraines were so bad I would consider almost anything but the truth is I would never take anything street wise. I have gone to the emergency room for pain and they will not even give you a pain killer that is due to the crack down on opoids. Even if you have the medical records, you have been under treatment, the are medical services are not prepared to make that decision. I get that as my nuerologist is also afraid.

So people like me, that have tried anything through the doctor, that really need help are turned away because of the opoid crisis. This has been the last 10 years of my life. I am just tired of fighting this without help because the doctors are afraid because of the government. They know what to do but they are not allowed to be doctors and give medications even when they know the patient needs it.
 
Mankind has for a very long time used some "drug" to "relax". In today's world the pressures and stress to just survive is mounting. If our societies took care of basic human needs maybe there wouldn't be such a huge demand. Remember when opium was an epidemic?
 


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