US overdose deaths hit record 93,000 in pandemic last year

[Ahlevah]

Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government reported Wednesday.

That estimate far eclipses the high of about 72,000 drug overdose deaths reached the previous year and amounts to a 29% increase.

“This is a staggering loss of human life,” said Brandon Marshall, a Brown University public health researcher who tracks overdose trends.

The nation was already struggling with its worst overdose epidemic but clearly “COVID has greatly exacerbated the crisis,” he added.

US overdose deaths hit record 93,000 in pandemic last year

Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government estimate released Wednesday eclipses the 72,000 drug overdose deaths in 2019 and amounts to a 29% increase.

apnews.com

I don't take pleasure in this carnage. It's tragic, and I really feel for the families--parents, grandparents, siblings, children--the survivors who are left to pick up the pieces. I know this is a cynical way to look at the problem, but this is a simple matter of reason: demand for drugs should drop if the customers keep dying. We largely give addicts a pass in this country. They're sick and not accountable: "My back hurt and the drug companies fed me opioids. They got me addicted." "I was sexually abused as a child and buried myself in drugs to escape." "I suffered PTSD in the war and the drugs help me cope." My answer: Shut the **** up already! So you're an addict. You may have chosen to be one. You can choose to be sober. And yet you choose not to because your drugs are more important to you than anything else in your life! When you lose custody of your kids thanks to a meth addiction, you don't blame yourself. It's always someone else's fault. You claim you love your children "more than anything else"? No, you don't. You love your drugs more!

So while the death of a drug addict is a tragedy, so is the death of child killed by a stray bullet in a drug turf war. I'm going to save my tears for the kid.

 

[Visbek]

US overdose deaths hit record 93,000 in pandemic last year

Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government estimate released Wednesday eclipses the 72,000 drug overdose deaths in 2019 and amounts to a 29% increase.

apnews.com

I don't take pleasure in this carnage. It's tragic, and I really feel for the families--parents, grandparents, siblings, children--the survivors who are left to pick up the pieces. I know this is a cynical way to look at the problem, but this is a simple matter of reason: demand for drugs should drop if the customers keep dying. We largely give addicts a pass in this country: "My back hurt and the drug companies fed me opioids. They made me do it." "I was sexually abused as a child and buried myself in drugs to escape." "I suffered PTSD in the war and the drugs help me cope." My answer: Shut the **** up already! You chose to become an addict. You can choose to be sober. And yet you choose not to because your drugs are more important to you than anything else in your life! When you lose custody of your kids thanks to a meth addiction, you don't blame yourself. It's always someone else's fault. You claim you love your children "more than anything else"? No, you don't. You love your drugs more.

So while the death of a drug addict is tragedy, so is the death of child killed by a stray bullet in a drug turf war. I'm going to save my tears for the kid.

US overdose deaths hit record 93,000 in pandemic last year

Overdose deaths soared to a record 93,000 last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government estimate released Wednesday eclipses the 72,000 drug overdose deaths in 2019 and amounts to a 29% increase.

apnews.com

uch of the crime and homelessness is fueled by this menace.

It's less about the demand for drugs, and more about drug dealers importing drugs that are cheaper, more potent, and therefore more deadly.

We don't give addicts a "pass" in the US. We abandon them and treat them like garbage, which is the opposite of what we should do.

No one "chooses" to become an addict. Stopping heroin is not like choosing a different fabric softener. The whole point of referring to it as an "addiction" is that it is extremely difficult to stop using the drug.

And of course, the reality is that criminalization is what causes almost all of the harms linked to drugs.

Nations like Portugal have successfully decriminalized drugs, which results in:
- Fewer overdose deaths
- Less harm done to drug users and their families overall
- Better options to treat addicts
- Significantly less crime linked to drugs
- Significantly lower costs for enforcement and jailing otherwise harmless addicts

Maybe you ought to reconsider your position, if you really want the outcomes you claim.

 

[Ahlevah]

Maybe you ought to reconsider your position, if you really want the outcomes you claim.

I would say a prison or jail is a poor substitute for an inpatient treatment facility. Cheers to judges and jurisdictions that give addicts a chance to get clean by going through a treatment program as a first option. But when I say addicts "get a pass" what I mean is those who enter treatment either do it on their own or through a diversion program. They escape any culpability for any of the crime in this country, and that includes most of it, related to the drug trade. Unlike in, say, Singapore, they're not forced into treatment. In my opinion, addicts shouldn't be on the street. They should be in a treatment facility--by force if necessary--until they're either cured or dead. I mean, why is it preferable to have them living among the homeless on the street, where they shoot and snort to their hearts' content cause all sorts of mayhem, or in prison? Many of the people who become street dealers are addicts themselves because that's the only way they can fund their habits. And I'm sure not in favor of legalizing this crap. What possible contribution would meth or fentanyl or crack make to our society if they were legal? You ever seen what meth does to an addict?

 

[Antiwar]

Decriminalization and legalization are different.

 

[Ahlevah]

Decriminalization and legalization are different.

Yes, you're right, they are. But if the only way to get a person into treatment is to give him a choice of going to a treatment center or jail I would say keep it criminalized. Removing an incentive for people to clean up their act is poor public policy.

 

[Visbek]

I would say a prison or jail is a poor substitute for an inpatient treatment facility. Cheers to judges and jurisdictions that give addicts a chance to get clean by going through a treatment program as a first option. But when I say addicts "get a pass" what I mean is those who enter treatment either do it on their own or through a diversion program. They escape any culpability for any of the crime in this country, and that includes most of it, related to the drug trade. Unlike in, say, Singapore, they're not forced into treatment. In my opinion, addicts shouldn't be on the street. They should be in a treatment facility--by force if necessary--until they're either cured or dead. I mean, why is it preferable to have them living among the homeless on the street, where they shoot and snort to their hearts' content cause all sorts of mayhem, or in prison? Many of the people who become street dealers are addicts themselves because that's the only way they can fund their habits. And I'm sure not in favor of legalizing this crap. What possible contribution would meth or fentanyl or crack make to our society if they were legal? You ever seen what meth does to an addict?

Wow. Where to begin.

Criminalizing drugs does not work. Even in Singapore, it's a failure.

Blaming and demonizing drug addicts does not work.

Drug addicts don't magically escape criminal charges. Jails are full of people on drug charges -- usually trivial ones.

Criminalizing drugs is what forces drug users to turn to crime, and is really what causes most of the harm of using drugs. Decriminalizing drugs helps break the cycle of crime, and reduces the stigmas that prevent people from getting treatment.

This should be obvious by the ways that alcoholism, which is far more damaging than most illicit drugs, doesn't turn alcoholics into criminals, other than breaking laws directly connected with drinking (e.g. DUI or public intoxication).

Decriminalization also makes it possible to really study these drugs, in order to figure out how to treat addictions. Because so many of these drugs are illegal, that type of research is heavily restricted.

In other words: If you want to stop people from doing drugs, you need to drop the retributive attitude, decriminalize the drugs, and start treating the addicts.

 

[Court Jester]

Darwin award winners.

 

[swing_voter]

West Virginia is the number one state for overdose deaths.

West Virginia is backwards and their kids score low on standardized tests.

But the second state on the list is Delaware which has seemed to have its act together in the past.

Nebraska has the lowest amount of deaths.

I'm not sure what's going on. Maybe the Chinese sent a bad batch of fentanyl to that area? Something that was too pure?


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