WP: As opioid overdoses rise, police officers become counselors, doctors and social workers

[Springfield]

Excuse my for not trusting the company that makes fentanyl.  Especially when they've come up with a synthetic replacement for something that isn't actually dangerous.

 

What a crock of ****.

[skinsmarydu]

10 hours ago, FanboyOf91 said:

 

Lol, only the fentanyl lobby could screw up weed!

Yeah, and how do you make sure weed is pure?  dude back in the 90s would spray it down with Coca-Cola because it made the crap sticky and weigh out.

 

They can't have us growing our own.  we'll pick up everything we need on the way home from work, and not go out again

You know, like any responsible human does, if they care to.

[Chump Bailey]

On 3/13/2017 at 2:50 PM, Riggo-toni said:

In the meantime, we can't prescribe even THC-free cannabis to children with epilepsy or adults in severe pain...cuz "good people don't smoke pot."

 

 

Sessions was a terrible selection I agree but the country and government's asinine view about marijuana has been a huge problem for a very long time. The DEA refused to reschedule it, which is utterly ridiculous. The DEA should be completely disbanded. 

[No Excuses]

I remember when social scientists, neuroscientists and "libruls" who tried to make the point that drug epidemics are linked to loss of social stability and economic wellbeing were laughed at by "real Americans" for believing in myths.

 

"We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee. We don't take no trips on LSD.'

 

WHOOPS.

[Riggo-toni]

The Israelis have actually developed an instrument for providing accurate dosages for medical marijuana. Along with the Dutch, they have been at the cutting-edge of research in this field. Proper dosing levels are an absolute requirement for any medication, so this was a necessary step forward.

 

The western view of alcohol as benign while cannabis is evil goes back to the crusades.  Islam forbids alcohol, so hashish became the intoxicant of choice for Muslims, particularly the militant Ismaili sect of the Hashashin (assassins). Muslims considered westerners as infidels for drinking booze, so Christians labeled pot as the drug of barbarian Saracens. Perhaps it's no surprise then that a Jewish nation has no prejudices about researching its medical potential.

In the US, pot was legal even during prohibition, until nativist legislators realized it was the drug of choice among immigrants. The first anti-mj laws in the US were passed as a way to arrest Mexican immigrants.

[Springfield]

The accurate dose of marijuana shall be referred to as "puffs", as in "two puffs and pass".

[twa]

8 minutes ago, Springfield said:

The accurate dose of marijuana shall be referred to as "puffs", as in "two puffs and pass".

 

I be needing to Bogart....old age sucks

[visionary]

 

[Captain Wiggles]

Chris Christie seems like the perfect candidate to head this up. I know when I think of self control he's the first one that comes to mind. I mean look at the guy he couldn't possibly be addicted to anything. Right?

[skinsmarydu]

5 hours ago, clietas said:

Chris Christie seems like the perfect candidate to head this up. I know when I think of self control he's the first one that comes to mind. I mean look at the guy he couldn't possibly be addicted to anything. Right?

Just thinking about what I was gonna post makes me sick...more for Mary Pat (his wife) than anything else. 

[Springfield]

It's cause he's fat.

[No Excuses]

Had this been an epidemic exclusively ravaging poor Latino and Black communities, Christie would have been leading a law enforcement task force to lock em all up. 

 

We all find empathy in quite the interesting ways.

Edited March 29, 2017 by No Excuses

[Riggo-toni]

10 minutes ago, No Excuses said:

Had this been an epidemic exclusively ravaging poor Latino and Black communities, Christie would have been leading a law enforcement task force to lock em all up. 

 

We all find empathy in quite the interesting ways.

Yeah...Jeb Bush would throw entire families out of public housing if one member got busted for drugs. Lots of horror stories about grandmothers getting evicted because of an addict grandson.  And then....Jeb's stoner daughters got busted for forging prescriptions for opiods.  If there were any consistency in policy, not only would they have gone to jail, but Jeb should have been evicted from the governor's mansion - it is public housing after all.  But no, he said it was a private matter, and no consequences followed.

 

[Riggo-toni]

As for Christie, no way he's going to be open to any solution that works. It's all about optics. There's an absolutely classic exchange between him and a father whose daughter was nearly dying from epilepsy over being able to use non-THC cannabis. Christie came out looking like such a jackass that a week later he announced NJ would look into medical marijuana. The law was passed with so many caveats and restrictions that it was pointless...but it provided him with cover. The father who confronted him eventually had to give up, sell everything, and move to Colorado. My wife asked her Dr about medical marijuana, and he flat out told her, the review takes 2 years, and then they'll just reject you anyway....you're better off buying it off the street.

[The Sisko]

23 hours ago, Springfield said:

The accurate dose of marijuana shall be referred to as "puffs", as in "two puffs and pass".

 

From the left hand side of course. ;-)

 

On 3/28/2017 at 10:18 AM, Riggo-toni said:

In the US, pot was legal even during prohibition, until nativist legislators realized it was the drug of choice among immigrants. The first anti-mj laws in the US were passed as a way to arrest Mexican immigrants.

 

Good thing that nowadays we've moved on from such backward, racist policy.

[Bang]

Marijuana or not, drug companies make TOOO much money on opioids to give them up or change their use rate.

Self control may be an issue for some junkies, but a lot of them nowadays get their addiction through legal prescriptions of powerful drugs to treat pain, and no real thought as to what may happen after they are needed.

Drug companies flood markets with them and doctors over-prescribe them.

It is INSANE the number of people being prescribed ridiculously powerful and highly addictive medications.

 

We create junkies and then turn them over to criminals to get their fix.

And we're going to win the War on drugs HOW exactly?

 

Oh, i know. By filling prisons to take over mundane manufacturing jobs that can be done for even less with slaves.. er.. prisoners..  than those competing sweatshops in Asia. Once you sweat them through the DTs, a drug convict can make ten times the items than some malnourished Cambodian kid.

 

USA! USA! USA!

 

 

~Bang

Edited March 29, 2017 by Bang

[The Sisko]

We don't want to win the war on drugs, if that's even possible. It's merely a vehicle to control segments of the population that need controlling and to provide a jobs program for Honey Boo Boo's rotting rural 'Muricuh. Oh, and of course there's the slave labor that enriches corporations. So yeah, what's not to like about the drug war?

[Llevron]

13 minutes ago, The Sisko said:

We don't want to win the war on drugs, if that's even possible. It's merely a vehicle to control segments of the population that need controlling and to provide a jobs program for Honey Boo Boo's rotting rural 'Muricuh. Oh, and of course there's the slave labor that enriches corporations. So yeah, what's not to like about the drug war?

 

Quoted so I could like it twice

[visionary]

 

[FanboyOf91]

Yikes!

[skinsmarydu]

8 minutes ago, FanboyOf91 said:

Yikes!

LEO could've helped this situation years ago, but they didn't.  They took bonuses for incarceration in private prisons.

Relax on things that don't kill people, step up on the things that do.  It ain't that hard.

[The Sisko]

On 3/28/2017 at 10:18 AM, Riggo-toni said:

The Israelis have actually developed an instrument for providing accurate dosages for medical marijuana. Along with the Dutch, they have been at the cutting-edge of research in this field. Proper dosing levels are an absolute requirement for any medication, so this was a necessary step forward.

 

The western view of alcohol as benign while cannabis is evil goes back to the crusades.  Islam forbids alcohol, so hashish became the intoxicant of choice for Muslims, particularly the militant Ismaili sect of the Hashashin (assassins). Muslims considered westerners as infidels for drinking booze, so Christians labeled pot as the drug of barbarian Saracens. Perhaps it's no surprise then that a Jewish nation has no prejudices about researching its medical potential.

In the US, pot was legal even during prohibition, until nativist legislators realized it was the drug of choice among immigrants. The first anti-mj laws in the US were passed as a way to arrest Mexican immigrants.

What always makes me shake my head during debates about the drug war, healthcare and a number of other issues is that we send billions of dollars to Israel and other countries every year to pay for stuff we can't have here. So we clearly have no problem with paying for universal healthcare coverage, MJ research and sensible drug policy, etc. We just refuse to pay for it in this country. Brilliant.

[FanboyOf91]

Quote

Bill Piper, Senior Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, tells Rolling Stone that this is a perfect opportunity for the White House to stake out a position on prison reform and show who's really steering America's criminal justice and drug policy.

 

"It's worth noting that there's a disconnect between Jeff Sessions and the President, and it's not clear who is actually in charge," Piper says. "The president put Jared Kushner in charge of his task force for looking at criminal justice reform – Jeff Sessions preemptively undermined the work Jared Kushner is doing. So does the administration oppose reform? Because it's already clear where Jeff Sessions stands."

 

Schumer should tell Trump to get his people behind this, would earn him a bipartisan win (while screwing Sessions).

[The Sisko]

Wow, when I first saw this post I thought it was satire. Let's hope Sessions gets humiliated on this. 

[Riggo-toni]

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21722189-criminalisation-not-right-way-approach-it-or-other-drugs-fentanyl-next-wave

 

The latest scourge

 

Fentanyl is the next wave of America’s opioid crisis

 

Much of this catastrophe stems from the over-prescription of legal painkillers. In 2015 some 650,000 prescriptions were handed out on an average day. But when prescriptions end, addicts sometimes turn to illicit substances. The latest one that worries experts is a synthetic opioid called fentanyl, which is around 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine. 

 

...the crisis is too far advanced for criminalisation to work as a deterrent. The country has at least 2m opioid addicts. They need treatment and safer places to take drugs. The health-care bill passed by the House of Representatives this month heads in the opposite direction. Its proposals would cut spending and reduce access to medicines.

 

But prohibition is futile for more profound reasons, too. An iron law of drugs markets, whether for painkilling opioids or recreational highs, is that demand creates supply and just as much as vice versa. Fentanyl is particularly attractive to criminals. Because it is so potent, with only 2mg of the stuff enough to cause an overdose, it is easy to hide in letters and small packages that are sent by post. The rewards are enormous: 1kg of fentanyl costs around $4,000 to buy from China and yields profits of $1.6m on the streets. By contrast, 1kg of heroin costs around $6,000 but is worth a few hundred thousand dollars.

....

 

Marijuana, which cannot lead to overdoses and which can be used as an effective pain-relief medicine, is classified by the federal authorities in America as a more dangerous drug than fentanyl, which is used in very controlled doses by cancer patients and abused fatally across the country.

 

Full article at link.