Good article but $20 won't get you a weekend worth of heroin unless maybe its your first time. That's not even enough for one shot for an addict. Its cheaper in phoenix than most places and I would get a half gram for $30 which was one shot for me. I needed at least a gram a day If I didn't want to get sick. I used two grams on an average day which is about $120 in AZ. When I lived in Colorado It was $120 a gram.
A major factor in the Heroin epidemic is the war in Afghanistan and the US military stabilizing the poppy industry. 10% of the world's heroin came from Afghanistan in 2001, by 2003 they were producing 90%. Heroin was readily available as soon as they tightened regulation on prescription pills driving their street price through the roof. I've met hundreds of junkies and every single one starting off using prescription pills. Almost every specialist in the recovery community agrees, legalize all drugs. end the violence. Save our communities.
Hey dajohns, thanks for your insight. I agree that a majority of people who end up abusing start off with prescriptions they either got legally them selves or from a friend. I'm not going to condone or condemn legalization- but I do question the safety of it. Perhaps if there was some kind of regulatory system in place, but as it stands I don't see it being beneficial to the individual. There will always be a need for a fix, and people will do just about anything to get it. Combine that will dealers who will cut powder with just about anything they can get their hands on. Or worse add fentanyl to the mix- getting people hooked on a bigger far more dangerous high. And all for money? At that point it seems like the only ones who win are whoever is selling.
I believe it would be safer if it was decriminalized or fully legalized. Most overdoses are either from something it's cut with, like fentynol, or because of inconsistent potency. Someone gets a batch that's twice as strong as they usually get, so they overdose off the same sized shot. Having an open free market for the drug will create consistent medical grade heroin that would save countless lives. Portugal has already decriminalized it, New Zealand has government sponsored heroin clinics where addicts can get cheap medical grade heroin every morning. Both cases are showing fantastic results. Check out this video. Theirs a lot of great research out these days.
I really appreciate the dialogue, things are really getting out of hand.
Wow. That's some great information. You and @greencycles make some really good points, as does this video. I love the war songs / love songs metaphor at the end. I agree the way we treat addiction in this country is totally backwards. Maybe if we stop looking at it like a drug problem and treat it like the community problem it is we could make some progress and save some lives.