This is still the USA. Healthcare is attached to employment. I think it safe to say that those without jobs aren't visiting the doctor, getting prescriptions, at the same rate as those with employer-provided care.
Because drugs are illegal, they are lumped to together, one guy who sells one might/probably sell the other. This is also why people call weed a "gateway" drug, because the dealer might have some MDMA or coke on them as well.
If we just made all drugs illegal, I think we would eliminate this "gateway" effect.
The can see evidence of this grouping effect in the mafia. They sell untaxed cigarettes, stolen goods, drugs, etc. What is the commonality between all of these things? The fact they are illegal of course!
Did you mean to write the opposite of this?
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-DetTab...
I do however think that heroin/opiates use decreases the ability to rejoin the workforce. I fortunately was making a great salary so I could afford an expensive heroin habit ($200-$300 a day). But your average blue-collar worker probably isn't making as much money, and therefore, there state is much more unstable. Oscillating between getting high, going into withdrawals, running out of money, etc etc. When you are in this state, it is very hard to plan for the future (the only thing you are thinking about is how to not go into horrible pain in 3-4 hours) and, therefore, get a job.
Heroin always seemed as for the "hardcore" or "musician" crowd.
This is in fact what makes heroin so dangerous. As long as you have the money, you can keep on chugging, while feeing chill and relaxed at the same time.
The problem is when you run out.
Heroin, provided you have the money, is much more sustainable. You can feel fine, day after day, on heroin (provided you don’t run out).
Moreover, it’s hard for people to notice. If you snorted some coke everyday, people might think you were overly enthusiastic and eventually, people would notice your disjointed and cracked out thoughts. Things like: “we need to replace all of our code because it was garbage!! Fuck that shit!! Lets get it done!! Lets fuck our competition up boyz!”
With heroin it’s more like: I can get this done, and more, I’m just going to work through it. Ans it’s okay, because I feel great while I’m doing it.
Certainly there is a difference between I got laid off from Company A and it took be 3 months to land a job at Company B and the only major employer in my area shut down and I have no real prospects.
I may be mistaken, but isn't "lack of participation in the labor force" equivalent to long term unemployment rather than short term unemployment?
Isn't the question whether there is a causative relation between "long term unemployment" and "opioid use"? Short-term unemployment has no bearing on the issue.
According to Autor, Dorn & Hanson (2016):
"Adjustment in local labor markets is remarkably slow, with wages and labor-force participation rates remaining depressed and unemployment rates remaining elevated for at least a full decade after the China trade shock commences"