California battles killer drug epidemic

Boo hoo, take drugs suffer the consequences. Only weak people feel the need to turn to mind altering escapist substances.

Rubbish Kuribo, half the world is on meds. The rest on alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. People like getting high.

Legalize. Clean. Tax. And Tax.

“Many of the individuals said at one time or another they had a prescription and either they didn’t get it refilled or the doctor said they didn’t need it anymore.”

For the ones that didn't get it refilled, it's their fault for not keeping up their prescription. For those that didn't need it anymore, they're addicted.

@Madverts, hell no. Prescription medications are needed a lot more for those that need it than those that want a fix. And contrary to your belief, certain controlled meds aren't all that easy to keep a high supply of due to the ingredients needed being in short supply, so should only be used for those that actually need it.

Plus I've had relatives that were (and one that still is) addicted to drugs. I'll have to agree with Kuribo. Only stupid weak-willed people love getting high. Smart people can think of a million other fun things to do with their time than get messed up for "fun".

On top of the fact that the fentanyl used in these fake pills, were STOLEN from legitimate prescribed distribution during shipment. Criminal organizations do target shipments of controlled meds/or their ingredients to make their street money by converting legitimate medication into whatever they think they can make out of it.

Well, guess that will probably explain an upcoming shortage of certain controls from our distributor. So you can thank them the next time your grandparents or disabled relatives can't get their meds because the pharmacy can't distribute what they don't have.

And once again while this scourge rampages across America, House Republicans sit on their hands. The Senate (which usually does not initiate legislation) passed a bill to deal with this 94-1; the House is currently vacillating between taking that up, starting from scratch on their own, or doing nothing. Meanwhile, people die.

Kuribo, you are correct that behavior invites consequences. Many in the GOP seem to be of the mind that that is that. Others feel government should be of help to those in need, including those seduced by drugs. From another perspective, treatment is cheaper over the long term than letting the fire burn itself out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republican-heroin-opioid-bill-senate-house_us_57066a63e4b0a506064e4999

Honest,

The fact is everyone is doing it anyway. Dealers are risking death and heavy gaol terms. The end user prepared to snort a white powder from a bag who's contents he really has no idea about.

I respect your opinion as a medical professional but you're wrong on this one. The amount of casual users in the Western world is staggering.

Clean it up and Tax the hell out of it.

The white tablets bought on the street were in fact laced with fentanyl, which is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and up to 100 times more powerful than morphine.

Drug dealers add fentanyl to heroin to make it strong enough for people to overdose and/or go to the hospital and/or die. This actually helps with their sales since heroine users (in their bizarre addicted minds) think this dealer's product is stronger or not thinned out. =Adding the fentanyl to these "Norco" pain pills was no mistake and done on purpose.

=Addicts think the pills are safer (made by a company) when they are not.

The fact is everyone is doing it anyway.

Nope, that is not a fact, that's called peer pressure mentality. I'm sure your mother told you, "Just because your friend jumps off a cliff would you do it too?"

Half the battle is understanding that not everyone does the same thing the same way just because "everyone else" supposedly does it.. When someone tells someone else, "well everyone else is doing it" with no actual proof that everyone abuses drugs, alcohol, etc. is just plain and simple peer mentality. Most intelligent individuals should have realized that when they become mature adults.

Honest,

I'm a millennial that's been there and done it and moved on. Trust me on this one. Recreational use of weed, E, speed and obviously cocaïne is rife in the Western world. And why not? It's their bodies.

The sheer amount being seized by law and order proves my point adequately. And that is just the shipments that get nabbed.

My main gripe with the monumental failure of prohibition is the taxes being lost. It could probably wipe out our chronic debt issues.

Legalize. Tax. And Tax. And Tax. It's time to try something else.

And yet you still haven't perceived the consequences. I live in CO with legalized weed. It's been a year so far, and it's still not bringing as much of that "magical taxed income" as many believed it would. Still having problems that were predicted with illegal street sellers, (who are selling their weed for cheaper prices than stores), still dealing with criminal organizations trying to seem "legit" and fake licenses to sell the MJ. On top of that lots of money laundering, tax evasion etc and then the recreational users just completely ignoring the public usage and DUI laws.

Also the other thing you've missed, and I've told this to another advocate earlier, are you willing to pay for the rehab and mental health centers that will need more funding to take care of addicts that are too mentally FUBAR to ever be well again? The majority of narcotics screw people up permanently because it messes with the brain chemistry and how it functions properly. No matter how small a dose you give them, it does what its supposed to do which is mess with the brain. Depending on how much and how often each individual user does it the end result is you get a mentally disabled individual sooner or later.

And either you'll end up with them on the street, or you'll have to re-open sanitariums all on the tax-payers dime because even the perceived "taxing of narcotics" will not be enough to cover that. And certain people in the US aren't even willing to put any of their taxed dollars towards a nationalized health care system, what makes you think they'd be willing to pay for the care of some fool's choice to hard narcotics?

Addicts they can't work, they can't earn a stable income to keep up their habit, and they're much more likely to turn to other criminal activities to keep some kind of money coming in.

One young man I talked with said being high was like having all the light bulbs in your brain turn on at once, to which I replied, "if you keep them all on all the time they're eventually going to burn out". And for a fact they can't be replaced.

My aunt is one of them. Used enough illicit drugs, and can barely keep herself together even with medication (which is being paid by the state of CA) because somehow she was able to get on disability from her own self-inflicted brain damage and she's still screwing up even that. One of my co-workers lost one of her good friends mental health to meth, and she stated that she used to be a very smart woman making $250k+ a year, now she's making squat, on the streets homeless.

No matter how much "control" you perceive one can get from "legalizing" it, there are going to be unforeseen consequences. And I'm pretty sure the Feds aren't going to support such a thing because losing able bodied working adults whom you can tax in the workforce. Instead losing them to addiction and having to revert from earning taxes, to having to pay taxes to take care of them is not on their list of how to manage an effective and economically viable and healthy growth of a workforce. Think hard about that...

Interesting post, thanks for taking the time. But you're completely missing the point. I'm talking about the casual use of drugs, not your hard-core losers that dabble in highly addictive substances where a rapid downward spiral is a forgone conclusion, like jacking up smack or tooting meth.

People who go hard-core are going to do it anyway. The problem is themselves not the substances. Prohibition is clearly not stopping them. The numbers are going up up and up.

We're already paying for rehab and correctional facilities. At some point you are going to have to acknowledge this simple and all important premise of failure - it's a personal responsibility issue.

As to the Colorado weed taxes, the last I read was that the state had recolted twice as much tax than they were expecting. There was even a tax free weed day I belive to say thanks. Heh, and that leads me to another point on weed;

The stuff being grown forcefully these days is nothing like the natural weed of yore. I agree this makes it potentially far more dangerous to the brain but this again can be linked to forcing the growing underground. Likewise for meth, far more dangerous and easier to make than amphetamine sulphate. Same as the "cocaïne" in Europe - again it is the norm to find synthetic forms from labs in eastern Europe or China ...something many users do not comprehend.

I must end with the same as before. You've had your solution and it has been a proven, utter failure. The only reason prohibition exists today is not your commonsense argument, but because world governments and those in the dark corridors of power control this trillion dollar per annum business for CASH. And for that, don't expect it to end soon....

I really enjoyed all the party drugs and that era of my life. My only regret is that it does spoil certain things that cannot be revisited without. The illustrious "super-high". But that is my responsibility. No one I know ended up a mess from casual use.

And as we see in Holland, once it's legal most young people aren't even interested. It's no longer cool.

Thanks again for your comments.

"Casual" use of a >>highly addictive<< narcotic still results in addiction and alteration of the brain chemistry. even if someone takes a >>highly addictive<< narcotic once, they have less than 9% chance of not becoming addicted. Take note of the >>Highly addictive<< term. No matter how you want to slice the end result is the same. All it needs is 1 use.

"Casual" use of a highly addictive narcotic still results in addiction and alteration of the brain chemistry, even if someone takes a highly addictive narcotic once, they have less than 9% chance of not becoming addicted. Take note of the Highly addictive term. No matter how you want to slice (it) the end result is the same. All it needs is 1 use.

Brain chemistry is very different for individuals and at this point not understood well. I must agree with you in that for some people only one use can cause addiction. I am a pro-marijuana (pro-organic plant) person, but once oxidized (burned/heated) it can become something quite different. = I am a pro-marijuana "juicer" type. I did not know "diesel" East-Coast (NYC) type of marijuana can be very addictive for some people =I want people to know that marijuana may not always be safe (diesel et al) depending on the strain and especially what it may be mixed with =Grow your own if possible and stay safe. I do have my faith in this plant and in its' healing prowess.

People with addictions need to be extra careful around these substances. -They are warning you for good reason.