2021 Could See over 100k Drug Overdose Deaths in America | Hacker News Reader

2021 Could See over 100k Drug Overdose Deaths in America

themountain.news

Let’s not overlook why there is an increase in deaths: people are depressed due to the disruptions in their lives.

Attacking this from the perspective of increasing drug enforcement will get us nowhere. I’d argue that enforcement needs to be relaxed, remove stigma from mental health treatment, and let all consumers walk free without even an arrest. The last thing someone needs in a spiral is a court case. The court isn’t there to help you.

Anecdata time! I take a prescription medication that is also a controlled substance. I am _supposed_ to check in with my doctor every three months, and am _supposed_ to be subjected to random drug tests to make sure I am taking this med and not selling it.

But, due to COVID, I've not had to check in with my doctor since March 2020. I am not sure when the mandatory reviews will start back up again. If I were naughty, I could make a good deal of money selling this substance. This isn't an opiate, but the story could be the same. All sorts of controls and checks flew out the window 18 months ago and haven't returned. Maybe it is contributing.

Probably it is the fentanyl though.

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of drug requires testing like this? Suboxone or something similar? Seems like an invasion of privacy unless is somehow related to rehabilitation I suppose.

I'm guessing ADHD medication like dextroamphetamine.

Controlled substance agreements aren't that unusual. Usually the patient has to agree to a program and the drug tests ensure it's not diverted.

> aren't that unusual

They're unusual in countries where you are treated like a human being.

Most countries it’s much harder to get controlled substances than in the US.

I mean, we had a massive opioid epidemic, not sure you know?

Your opioid epidemic is due to your society, not any kind of difficulty (or lack thereof) in procuring something to escape from it.

Bullshit. Just look at opioid prescribing in the US compared to say the EU. It’s an order of magnitude higher than Germany (per capita).

What point are you making?

That the reason why the US has stricter rules around controlled substances is because we have a problem due to overprescribing.

In most countries it’s easier to get controlled substances. In fact, the easier and less risky it is, the lower abuse seems to be.

There is truth to this. The difficulty in getting prescription opiates does lead some to heroin I’m sure.

Not really. I am surprised at the ridiculous hoops Americans have to go through to get controlled drugs from the pharmacy. Photo ID, special prescription pads for the doctor, a special copy filed off with the federal government... here we just pick up the prescription. As far as I can tell the difference is doctors are just less willing to prescribe opiates here for minor or transitory pain. I've always gotten Tylenol after dental surgery for example. I groan about it but it probably hurts less than a smack addiction would.

Dextroamphetamine

"Many people are concerned that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic"

Every time I read a phrase like this I have to add "reaction to" in front of COVID. Whether you think our societies policies and reaction were justified or not, this has nothing to do with a disease and everything to do with how we decided to react to that disease.

Personally I know of (not direct contacts but friends or children of friends, or neighbors) three people who have committed suicide in the last year and a half and zero people who have died of covid. I'm not saying I'm a representative sample, but it's hard for me to think very positively about how our society approached this problem.

FYI Looks like this OC is about one facet of the book "Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism" [2020]

"From economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, a groundbreaking account of how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America's working class"

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691190785/de...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51801314-deaths-of-despa...

Looks important.

I binged on this and adjacent topics in 2020. Mostly David Graeber and MMT. I wish I had noticed this title then. Alas, I don't think I have the heart to keep picking this scab.

I have an entire bookcase of these books, going back ~20 years, starting with my transmutation from apolitical to political. Kevin Phillips, Barbara Ehrenreich, Paul Krugman, Jane Jacobs, Amy Goodman, etc. I even tried to at least skim read some of the seminal texts, like Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, etc. Looking back, I wish I had just started with Smith and Marx and Keynes. Oh well.

Any way. These are stories which need to be told. But at some point each of us can choose to start looking forward, fumble towards something better, starting with our own mental, physical, financial health.

Please no. It isn't the state's job to save us from ourselves. More and more of our rights are slipping away because we need to protect the children.

If you're asking how can we dave the most lives, you're asking the wrong question. You shouod be wondering how we preserve the most liberty.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com