>

I absolutely agree with your point about prescription opiates, but I don't think the ADHD example really reflects reality in the case of stimulant abuse.

those who were considered overactive or too rebellious as a kid and were put on amphetamines to keep them docile and grew into adults who can't function without the medication?

ADHD isn't a childhood disorder. The majority of people diagnosed with ADHD in childhood continue to suffer in adulthood. The children who aren't able to function without medication grow into adults who can't function without medication.
The cause/effect of substance use disorders in people with untreated ADHD is also much murkier. It's theorized that abuse of cocaine in particular is often tied to self-medicating untreated ADHD symptoms. In those cases (comorbid ADHD + SUD), it's far more safe and effective to prescribe something like a long-acting stimulant along with addiction treatment than to treat the SUD alone.
When a few friends and acquaintances died in the early 90s (in Seattle ...) I was shocked to discover that overdose deaths nationally were only ~6k/year.   D.A.R.E. lied!
Now I am shocked that direct drug related deaths are significantly higher than suicide and homicide. >

One makes a lot of money for wallstreet. That's why you don't hear about it. >

This is slight over 293 people per day. >

Slightly over 1 person every 5 minutes. >

Half of a person every 150 seconds >

r/didthemath >

My dad was one of those numbers😞 >

As was my fiancé. I'm sorry you had to suffer your loss. I hope you're holding up OK and know you're not alone in this. >

I hope you are doing the same, it’s just rougher around the holidays >

I feel that. The hurt never really goes away completely but it does get easier. Stay well, friend. >

My brother-in-law OD'd (and passed away) from canned air duster 3 months ago. It was going on for 10 years. >

i didn't even know that was a thing.  i remember hearing about people huffing paint cans, spray into a bag and wait for the paint to settle... wtf people will put in their bodies to get high.
did he survive? >

No, he passed away. Intoxication Difluorothane is listed as the cause of death. >

Jeez.  
My condolences. >

My good friend died last week from overdose. I miss her… She was addicted to various drugs and was in and out of treatment this past decade, she became an addict as a teenager. I thought she was doing well this year, she seemed to be doing okay, but all it takes is one bad day. I don’t know the substance, but she wouldn’t be my first friend to die from accidental fent overdose. >

Lost a girlfriend to opiates just before the pandemic started. She had two years clean. She didn't realize how much street drugs could change over that time. She went back once, and it killed her immediately. >

Frequent users build up tolerance and when people slip up after being clean for awhile, they often don’t realize that they don’t have the tolerances to handle the amounts that they used to take anymore >

Add in fent to the mix for returning addicts and its a recipe for disaster. I used to do alot of drugs (never heroin / meth but i knew enough people who did) and just a decade ago there was not this rampant problem with fent being in opiates left and right, and accidentally winding up in tons of other drugs as well. My brother recently had 3 kids over his house that were doing coke all OD, their coke was cut with fent of course, even though fent is the complete fucking opposite effect wise of coke. This seriously like never happened back when i was more involved with drugs, and its happened 3 times to my younger brothers friends just this year. Its fucking insanity. 
If an addict who had been clean years fell back into the cycle theres a good chance they just get fent instead of what they wanted, and boom theyre dead. No one using coke, or ketamine for example (2 powder drugs that shouldnt be, but are being found cut with fent) is going to even think to have narcan on hand for emergencies since theyre not expecting to get opiates in place of them. >

This is why if you’re using - or around people who are - to go ahead and keep narcan on hand.  
I don’t use drugs - but in my car, in my backpack, and at home I have it, because I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.   I work in healthcare and have treated my fair share of opiate ODs…it’s only a matter of time until I have to when I’m not working - either a friend or someone I come across.
It’s available for free, and can save a life.  It’s worth looking into >

my son is a social worker, carries narcan everywhere he goes (he works with the down and out) >

Does everyone know motorcycles are dangerous? Thought that stereotype went away decades ago. Like worse than cars but we all accept thise fatalities without a second glance... >

People drive like idiots around here so motorcycle fatalities eventually become a normal conversation piece with most people I know. Even a motorcycle cop was run over a few years ago. But I didn't realize that the deaths are that low. I wonder if its because bikers are very careful or not many people ride bikes in comparison to other statistics akin to those who die in general aviation (personal aircraft) crashes at 332 in 2020. >

As a number of papers have found (notably by Ruhm), Raw overdose death rates are under reports. It’s just the nature of death certificate data that the CDC has access to.
It truly is an epidemic. I have a paper highlighting how areas with more doctors see more opioid prescriptions, but areas with fewer healthcare resources have fewer.
It’s just so hard. PDMP’s and pill mill laws are not very effective, other substance legalization (marijuana) has a minor impact, but nothing is working well. >

There's probably nothing that can be done about people who already started down this path. All we can really do is have economic and social programs that prevent new people from entering. People need decent jobs so they can function in society like normal people, basically. >

Recovering heroin addict. If I didn't have the support and job I do that let's ne work one day a week and still afford rent I would 100% be homeless and or dead. People have no idea the resources, will power and time it takes to get off this shit. People with less fortunate situations I just don't think it's possible. And for already homeless or mentally disadvantaged it's straight up impossible with the current system we have in place. It's fucked >

keep it up. never give in. never give up.  i get all emotional when i hear about recovering addicts.  i have my own demons that i have also slayed, but they lurk... oh they lurk, they are only half dead forever. >

Just for a bit of perspective, over 400,000 people die every year in the US to a toxic and highly addictive drug. It is legal and sold in almost every store in America. >

High fructose corn syrup?
Sugar is indeed highly addictive legal drug. >

Tobacco. Tobacco kills more people every year than all other drugs, car crashes, alcohol, and guns *combined*. >

I smoked for 10+ years, quit and I'm fine, so it sounds like a quitting problem more than anything else. 
Quitting is best achieved through behavioral therapy, which should be free for anyone who really needs it. >

You do know that cancer has a latency period that can last for decades, right? >

Ok? 
Op said he smoke for 10 yrs and is fine. I was letting him know to be mindful of the cancer latency period. >

As society worsens deaths of despair will continue to increase. >

In Canada people are applying for MAID due to poverty and falling through the ever widening gaping holes of the safety net >

It’s a problem for sure.  In the US most folks have no idea when I bring it up, so I try to bring it up often >

We don't even have a safety net in the us >

Article isn't totally clear this is the 2021 number?  It says it was up 16% from 2020.  I wonder how 2022 is going. >

right, this was last year after final tally.  2021. >

2x the number of gun deaths and car deaths combined >

Yet gun control is the only thing this gov keeps talking about.. >

Glad I’m not addicted to anything deadly. >

If people really want a solution then the answer is to legalize it and regulate it so people know exactly what they are using. Speaking as an addict, nothing is going to prevent people like me from using heroin/fent if we want to use. If society really cares about preventing these deaths why not just make it easier for us to have a safe product? Most addicts don't go in search of shit that is going to kill them but a lot of time's the options are either use this mystery bag of unknown potency or go sick and addicts are going to choose mystery bag 99% of the time. Make a consistent batch so people know the dosage and potency of the drugs they are putting into their body and deaths will significantly fall. Unfortunately, most people think we deserve death for using heroin so it'll never happen but the answer to solving this epidemic is really simple. Hell even just having safe using sites would be a step in the right direction but they are vehemently opposed by every neighborhood in the US even ones that have severe drug problems out in the open. >

What if you're an addict and the drug dealer still has cheaper drugs? Maybe it's less quality, maybe you're more likely to die, but you need to get right and the dope pusher is down the street and he'll make sure to always undercut the regulated store. >

I mean that would the addict's choice at the end of the day. I can't speak for what every addict would do in that situation but personally, even if the regulated store is more expensive, I'd suck it up and go there 100% of the time since I know I'm getting a consistent and real product. The dude down the street may be cheaper but he also may have a weak batch this week that doesn't even get me well or a have hot spot that kills me. You're paying for the knowledge of a consistent product with no surprises. I can't say I speak for all addicts but I do believe most would choose the consistent bags instead of the cheapest bags. >

There may be black/gray market cannabis, but I like my 10mg gummies >

Here’s how to massively drop this number: decriminalize everything. 
Instead of throwing people in jail, maybe give them a safe place to buy and use, and get them psychological help. Everyone I’ve ever met that fucks with hard drugs has some kind of issue that they’re self medicating with. 
If they buy it from a facility, they can be assured that some fuckwit hasn’t put fent in it. They can assure the correct dosages, instead of some pressed bullshit that the next pull kills them because it’s real. They don’t have to have some other shit they really don’t want because their guy is out. 
If our government actually cared about its people, it would make this move to actually help. Instead our government continues to show that all it wants is subjects, rather than citizens. >

There's a book called "In the realm of hungry ghosts" written by a Canadian doctor who treats drug attics. He says that almost all of his female intravenous drug attics were sexually or physically abused as children. >

My hometown is only some 80K people. I feel like people would notice if a whole town was wiped out in a year. >

Not if you aren't from there. Think of all the little towns that you pass on a freeway road trip with a few thousand people in them. Blink and you miss them towns. Not a soul would notice them go missing if they weren't from there. >

Drugs is really kicking the shit out of us in the war on drugs. >

What a fucking tragedy. I've been nearly-blind drunk, hoping I would die due to something out of my control, just from feeling bad about life. It breaks my heart to think of other people experiencing that.   
I wonder how many of these deaths are accidental vs. intentional overdosing? I don't know much about the world of drug use. >

Is it the alcohol? I am in despair sober or drunk >

yea blame the suppliers... until the demand is curbed nothing will change >

Why not both? Anyone profiting from enabling an addict’s self destruction deserves some blame. >

well, the war on drugs has been attempting to stop the supply for over 100 years (Harrison act) and it has not had an impact on supply >

It's actually fueled supply. The war on drugs is the reason this is such a big problem in the first place. >

As many Russians died so far in Ukraine. The same death toll as an idiotic lemming war >

It's time for the government to step up and end this madness. 
I was just out in frigid temperatures on a walk and encountered people on the streets that almost certainly will succumb to their addictions at some point. How is it that, we, the richest country in the world can watch our citizens die on the streets and do nothing? It's shameful! >

What exactly would you recommend >

Thanks China for selling the Cartel the precursors to make Phentynal for them to sell on the American market. >

I always joked about it being their revenge for the opium wars >

That’s a long game. >

They’re known for playing the long game >

Yeah but there might be someone we don't like playing women's sports, so let's focus on that bullshit instead. >

Canadian here. Does anyone in the US advocate for safe supply? Is it even something that’s discussed as a serious option? >

Ppl talk about,  but the right wing jar heads won't even legalize pot, let alone a truly dangerous drug family like opiods. >

Safe supply is only useful if you go all the way like Portugal. You need to support those trying to quit and help them instead of what we do. Give them safe supply and off they go! >

Ask yourself does every single American at least know someone that's been impacted by this? It's all our problem and there's a name to every single number.......... >

But let’s go after mushrooms because that will fix the problem… >

This is really sad. In my state, valuable resources have been oriented to supporting drug addicts, but overdose deaths keep adding up. >

Because people see no future in american nightmare. There is only debt and existence at the low wage until you die.
Similar was at the end of Soviet Union, there was no feeling of future and alcoholism was rampant. >

That's probably one of the better ways to die. >

I've been prescribed fent patches highest was 50mcg and yeah... Feeling sleepy and then you just nod off and thats it. Patches are safe, illegal street fent not so much. >

I always find it strange how people just decide to do drugs. >

Because not everyone knows the consequences down the road. What about the people who had surgery and couldn't function in their daily lives with the pain  and developed painkiller addictions after being overprescribed them and cut off cold turkey when they recovered? Or what about those who were considered overactive or too rebellious as a kid and were put on amphetamines to keep them docile and grew into adults who can't function without the medication? Did they "just decide" to do it then? You can't generalize  a symptom of drug abuse with the simple notion that people "just decided" to do drugs