It's not deranged when there's people who will travel a sizable distance to get another prescription for opioids that they abuse
Edit: Downvote all you want, I'd bet not even half of you have even met anyone addicted to opioids. Most of you have no idea how bad it was at the peak of the opioid crisis especially in the southern US. Most of you don't know know what it's like to see nearly every adult around you heavily addicted to them as a child. None of you know what it's like to watch your uncle pass out, start choking on his own vomit, and literally die for several minutes before EMTs are able to resuscitate him after he got drunk while also taking hydros with several friends including your father, again as a child.
People will also travel a sizable distance (even to another country entirely) for medicine they need to survive. Also the opioid abuser will just buy fent and die as the other option as said by OP
sweden did it, to great effect. canada tried to do it and it didnt seem to make a difference.
the difference i see between their approaches? two-fold. sweden at the time had massive amounts of IV heroin users. they gave morphine.
canada has lots of fent users (pressed pills, smoked powder, some IV) and they gave dilaudid, a snortable pill they use in the ER. not close to what you get on the street, so they just trade em for fent.
the other difference is that sweden offered and encouraged talk therapy with professionals on the same sites they supplied the clean drugs and nurse supervision. the thought was that if a user didnt immediately take advantage of that offering, maybe they could be encouraged next time, or the time after.
they came to understand that most addicts dont want their life to be fucked. they dont want to be an addict, they want to be productive, they just dont know how to cope, how to get back on track, how to get off safely, how to improve themselves and how to stay clean.
thise policies came to pass under a cknservative govt. they were at their wits end, trying harsher policing, harsher sentencing on manufacturers and dealers, nothing worked. they hired consultants, and were extremely skeptical at the proposed system. but it turns out, treating people like people, giving people their dignity back when they thought it was fully gone, can go pretty far.
Giving addicts access to regulated medicines that are manufactured in quality controlled facilities makes them die less, actually. You're the one so morally panicked over the government/healthcare system "endorsing" their addiction that you're fine with them catching a hot batch and dying on a park bench.
Did I say it's a moral failure? It doesn't have to be a moral failure to be bad. Yes, we need to increase resources for addiction. We also need to take steps to stop people from forming addiction but you can't read and think about things with nuance, just like the rest of the people in this thread. How about you get fucking back to me after you literally watch your uncle clinically die for several minutes. Better yet do that while you're about 8, like I did. Get back to me after you've seen the effects of the opioid epidemic. Get back to me after you see nearly every fucking adult in your life as a child heavily addicted to benzos and opioids. Get back to me after you've seen people, including your parents, giving away ebt cards in exchange for opioids. It's not a fucking moral failure but I never claimed that. What we need is more resources for treatment and safeguards to stop people from getting addicted.
The number one way to reduce drug use is to improve material conditions enough to make life bearable without drugs, harshly punishing drug use actually often makes the problem worse by making people scared to seek help when they need it. Not to mention the vast majority of people who are requesting medications because they actually need them who suffer from the same restrictive policies
Improvement in one’s material conditions is not the primary driver for addiction. Substance abuse and addiction is just as common with rich people , if not more common.
Use isn't the same as abuse, if you have a genuine medical need for it to treat chronic pain in the case of opioids or anxiety or similar with benzos it's not abuse. The people driving dozens of miles and seeing multiple doctors aren't usually using it for a legitimate medical need.
I would rather 1000 addicts get unnecessarily prescribed opioids than even a single person in severe pain not receive a prescription for fear of them abusing it.
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u/Simic_Sky_Swallower 19h ago
"I can't prescribe you medicine because it seems like you came here so I can prescribe you medicine" statements dreamed up by the utterly deranged