Drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in U.S.

[MRK]

"What's really scary is we don't know a lot about how to reduce prescription deaths," said Amy S.B. Bohnert, a researcher at the University of Michigan Medical School who is studying ways to lower the risk of prescription drugs.

"It's a wonderful medical advancement that we can treat pain," Bohnert said. "But we haven't figured out the safety belt yet."

ROFL.

Did you ever consider getting out of the way and letting people use better studied, safer alternatives, rather than throwing them in jail for not paying in to the medical-research-pharmaceutical-monopoly-law-enforcement-health-insurance-prescription-mill cartel?

Ah, but forgive my uncontrollable derisive laughter. That consideration surely came to mind by the time the cartel sent you your first check.

 

[MRK]

While I understand your reasoning behind this it doesn't change the fact that their are people that simply don't like weed and don't want to smoke it. Maybe they prefer alcohol or heroin or etc... Its not the drugs themselves per se that cause the problems as much as how they are used, the individual themselves, and various other factors. Drug prohibition contributes to the extremely large majority of our ills with drugs.

For example with opioids any physical damage done to the individual is associated with the route of admission. If someone isn't using clean unused rigs (or sharing them like a dumbass), sterilizing the injection site, using clean water (ideally you use sterile saline solution), properly filtering (ideally with a wheel filter, but this would be a non-issue if we had a free market for drugs since they would be pure) etc, etc, etc that's where the disease, infections, and such come from that are associated with IV drug use. Overdoses are people essentially not understanding what they are putting in their body/not understanding what their tolerance is to the drug they are doing. If someone with very little tolerance to opioids IVs a whole bundle of heroin was it the individuals poor decision or was it the drug? Now simply apply this to the "prescription drugs", which are for the most part various opioids such as hydromorphone, oxycodone, oxymorphone, fentanyl and various benzodiapines (although most deaths associated with benzos are in combination with alcohol and or opioids for drug interaction reasons and it is very difficult to overdose on benzos alone). Was it the individual's decision to take the drug at unsafe levels in relation to their tolerance or was it the fact that they had a prescription (or purchased it in the black market in some manner)?

The point I'm trying to make is essentially that it isn't the drugs as much as the individual's responsibility with those substances. Like someone could smoke weed, be lazy, and not go into work, and get fired. But someone could like to smoke weed and have a steady job and be successful, etc... There are no good and bad drugs as much as its more of the individual's decision of how they use them/act/etc/etc/etc... I never chose to do other drugs personally because "weed was illegal". I never liked weed and instead liked opioids (especially heroin) better. I don't use drugs or drink anymore, but believe me the reasons people choose to do opioids, benzos, etc, etc, etc isn't because weed is illegal.

Just curious, have you tried ingesting cannabis rather than igniting it and inhaling it (which is likely the more culturally popular medium through which one would encounter cannabis consumption)? As you said, relative damage is associated with the route of administration.

However, opiates kill thousands each year. It's not just a route of administration issue with opiate derivatives. It's the chemicals themselves that so easily overwhelm the human body's inner chemical balances and provoke painful dependency when absent, and cause sudden deaths much more easily than many other recreational substances.

My only point being: why would something that is, by the most tangible statistical measures, less safe to consume than an illegal alternative, be legal? Follow the money. The legitimate arm of drug dealing gets their mountain of a monopoly, those who have mastered (bought?) the contraband trade into the United States make untold billions in impunity, and the law enforcement agencies upholding both ends of the bargain enjoy their neverending welfare checks as far as the eye can see.

I think it's great you know what you prefer, and you clearly knew how to keep it under control. That's what we need more of. I also think it's great that we both think we should let people choose what is best for themselves. We need a lot more of that too.

 

[Jingles]

However, you can't disregard the fact that ingested opiates kill thousands each year. It's not just a route of administration issue with opiate derivatives. It's the chemicals themselves that so easily overwhelm the human body's inner chemical balances and cause sudden deaths.

That's what this is about: "Overdoses are people essentially not understanding what they are putting in their body/not understanding what their tolerance is to the drug they are doing. If someone with very little tolerance to opioids IVs a whole bundle of heroin was it the individuals poor decision or was it the drug? Now simply apply this to the "prescription drugs", which are for the most part various opioids such as hydromorphone, oxycodone, oxymorphone, fentanyl and various benzodiapines (although most deaths associated with benzos are in combination with alcohol and or opioids for drug interaction reasons and it is very difficult to overdose on benzos alone). Was it the individual's decision to take the drug at unsafe levels in relation to their tolerance or was it the fact that they had a prescription (or purchased it in the black market in some manner)?".

Namely, that people should understand what they are taking, what their tolerance is to that specific drug (its not like their doctor can't give them this information), know what your dosage is in relation to that tolerance, maybe use the internet for about a minute and they can find the information they need, etc... Of course there is a risk. Everything has a risk. Some things have more risk than others. What I am saying more or less is that it isn't exactly the opiates that are killing people in this sense as much as the person unwisely using the substance is via their choices and decisions. We don't blame the gun/weapon in a murder we blame the murderer. Why should this be any different with someone ingesting way too much of a drug?

 

[ProIndividual]

1.2 million Americans roughly die from cars every year....20,000 from all illegal drugs combined.

Damn those legal drugs are killing a lot of people!

 

[MRK]

That's what this is about: "Overdoses are people essentially not understanding what they are putting in their body/not understanding what their tolerance is to the drug they are doing. If someone with very little tolerance to opioids IVs a whole bundle of heroin was it the individuals poor decision or was it the drug? Now simply apply this to the "prescription drugs", which are for the most part various opioids such as hydromorphone, oxycodone, oxymorphone, fentanyl and various benzodiapines (although most deaths associated with benzos are in combination with alcohol and or opioids for drug interaction reasons and it is very difficult to overdose on benzos alone). Was it the individual's decision to take the drug at unsafe levels in relation to their tolerance or was it the fact that they had a prescription (or purchased it in the black market in some manner)?".

Namely, that people should understand what they are taking, what their tolerance is to that specific drug (its not like their doctor can't give them this information), know what your dosage is in relation to that tolerance, maybe use the internet for about a minute and they can find the information they need, etc... Of course there is a risk. Everything has a risk. Some things have more risk than others. What I am saying more or less is that it isn't exactly the opiates that are killing people in this sense as much as the person unwisely using the substance is via their choices and decisions. We don't blame the gun/weapon in a murder we blame the murderer. Why should this be any different with someone ingesting way too much of a drug?

We are both talking about the same thing essentially, which is my fault. Sorry for reediting my post so many times; it's late and I'm frazzled That article really got me riled up.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I had a family member just recently prescribed oxycoten for a broken wrist /surgery pain. After 2 days of using Oxycoten my family member went cold turkey...now take into mind that it was only a small pill taken once every 6 hours for 2 days to "relieve" pain. The cold turkey after stopping the prescription after 2 days caused body pain ,shaking,and fevers. I was more fearful of that garbage the doctor prescribed to my family member than I was afraid of the risk of infection from surgical cuts healing on that family member. Pain killers are some serious garbage, and this is why marijuana needs to be fully available and free to use.

 

[fisharmor]

I think if all drugs were legal then drug abuse as a whole would go down, but use of cannabis would increase pretty drastically both medicinally and recreationally.

I also think abuse would go down, but I think pot use would go down, too.
I believe the reason why "Just Say No" had the opposite effect, and the reason why authority figures pontificating on drugs in general has the opposite effect, is because, as usual, the state just couldn't help completely fucking it up.

As a kid, I was told that pot would make you violent. And then I did it, and I found out that violence is the very last thing I was thinking.
I was told that pot would make you into a sex-starved rapist. And then I did it, and found out that sex while high is great, but I have to be coaxed into it.
I was told that constant pot smoking would make men grow tits. (I am not making that up.)
I was told that pot destroyed long term memory - sketchy? Sure, but destroyed? Not like the times when booze has blacked me out, not by a long shot.

(They did not tell me that songs I found fairly enjoyable sober would pierce my brain and write the naked truth of an alien mode of existence on my soul.)

Now the reason I think use would go down is simple: not everyone enjoys riding the snake. And that's ok too. (Personally, I don't like the 7-mile snake at all... I like the Wal-Mart parking lot kiddie ride version of the snake.)

But we've created a situation where for kids, there's nothing better to do. If sitting around eating chips and gunning down electronic people isn't your thing, then you really only have one other weekend option anymore. Go outside and play? You kidding? That's asking for a shakedown by the people who are looking for the drugs.
And if they're going to shake them down anyway, and there's nothing to do otherwise, then why the hell wouldn't they do the drugs?
A quarter of their lives is spent in prison, and the precious free time they have is basically prison too. And most kids only have to do drugs once to find out that everything they've been told about it is a fucking lie.
How is the reason for drug use not obvious?

Stop all the lies, stop treating them like prisoners while they're supposedly on furlough (or better yet, eliminate the prisons), and I'd bet heavily that they'd stop resorting to drugs.

 

[Working Poor]

And the reason many people don't choose the safest substance is because it is illegal.




No, your post was insinuating that we shouldn't blame government when they make safe substances illegal and legitimize the deadly ones. I absolutely believe it is their fault.

Agreed 1000%

 

[WilliamC]

1.2 million Americans roughly die from cars every year....20,000 from all illegal drugs combined.

Damn those legal drugs are killing a lot of people!

Your statistic for the number of automobile deaths is far too high, perhaps you are mistaking the total number of traffic accidents or something.

From http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/fatal-accident-statistics.html

there were ~40,000 traffic related fatalities in 2005 (the last year listed) and I seriously doubt the number has increased 30 fold in the last few years.

 

[Jingles]

I had a family member just recently prescribed oxycoten for a broken wrist /surgery pain. After 2 days of using Oxycoten my family member went cold turkey...now take into mind that it was only a small pill taken once every 6 hours for 2 days to "relieve" pain. The cold turkey after stopping the prescription after 2 days caused body pain ,shaking,and fevers. I was more fearful of that garbage the doctor prescribed to my family member than I was afraid of the risk of infection from surgical cuts healing on that family member. Pain killers are some serious garbage, and this is why marijuana needs to be fully available and free to use.

That's opiate withdrawal, but its rather odd that it would occur with only 2 days of use. Typically in someone who has never used opiates its takes at least a week but more around 2 of use before there are any noticeable withdrawal symptoms. I'm guessing he got oxycodone in some form, but the size of the pill itself doesn't really matter as much as the amount of drug contained within it (at least potency wise but this really wouldn't have much to do with withdrawal symptoms in this case as much as duration of use. Although the more tolerant you are to the drug the worse the withdrawal symptoms will be). Was he on opiates for a while prior to this? That's really the only thing that could make sense of the situation (or your family member is some sort of rarity). Opioids are very effective at eliminating pain and drugs effect everyone differently. Some people say weed helps them with physical pain. For me it does the opposite (if I have a headache or am in physical pain it only makes me feel it more). I know a few people who would probably kill themselves without opioids because of their chronic pain issues (and nothing else is effective).

 

[Conza88]

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