Quote:
Originally Posted by dktshb
Yeah, I just finished reading it. I do believe though that the Meth and Heroine of the 21st century mixed with fentanyl is the problem and until that is solved more and more people are going to become homeless and a basic mental case.
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I think people are confusing 2 issues. Fentanyl is so potent it can be easily overdosed and when it is mixed with drugs whose users don't expect that potency, it can be and is being responsible for a lot of deaths among addicts.
HOWEVER, I don't think you can blame it for the number of addicts or for homelessness. First of all, I'm not sure there are really more addicts than there were, say a decade or two ago, at least in cities like those on the West Coast with large and visible homeless problems. What there is, though, is more visibility and, I would argue, though I expect many to disagree, more tolerance for public misbehavior (not just living on the street but using drugs openly there, relieving ones bladder and bowels there, petty crime and so much more).
But to the extent there really are more addicts, I'd argue that has more to do with the availability of oral opiates like Oxycontin than with fentanyl. I've personally taken histories of their addiction from hundreds of addicts and nearly all started either with pills or smoking drugs like heroin. Then, when they no longer got a satisfactory high, they moved on to injection or seeking out something stronger and that would be fentanyl. As the article I began the thread with says, on the West Coast, a substantial number of addicts using fentanyl actual seek it out. And to the extent, when they are still not injecting their drugs, the heroin they are using is laced with some fentanyl (but not too much), or they can get fentanyl they know to be fentanyl, it could boost the experience enough to delay the move to injection which is kind of the point of no return for many. By that time they are long since addicted but as long as they aren't injecting, they can avoid some of the worst physical harm from opiates (mainly infections of all sorts).