low key heroin epidemic

[seewhathappens]

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. There were approximately 59,000 last year, most of which were from heroin or another opiate. That's fucking insane.

I went to rehab a little over two years ago for alcohol and cocaine not really knowing the scope of opiate addiction amongst young people in our country. Obviously I'd hear news stories and shit, but it never really seemed close to me. Most of the kids that were in the two programs I went to were in their for pills/heroin, a lot of whom have since relapsed or died. The statistics aren't good for recovery (just in general, not just for opiates), maybe 10% find any kind of long-term sobriety.

When I got out of treatment I lived with 3 guys in recovery that I had been in treatment with, one of whom had unbeknownst to me had been getting high since he was in rehab. He overdosed in my basement with another guy one night and had to get Narcaned by the paramedics. The kid was facing two years in prison for robbery, was on probation/drug court, and was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, yet still chose to get high. The disease (yes, it is a disease) is absolutely mind-boggling.

As someone said, if you know someone struggling with addiction, the best thing you can possibly do is let them know that help is there, but don't force them into anything until they themselves want it. Unfortunately, a lot of times it's too late before they do, but only when the addict or alcoholic is willing to change for themselves after hitting bottom is recovery possible.

[JB]

Another gnarly story was this local ripper hurt his knee, got hooked on pain pills, and, again, rotated between on and off the wagon, until some "friends" supposedly shot him up with heroin for the first time one day. He started overdosing, and this was before the good samaritan law was in place, so no one called an ambulance for him. Instead, they put him in the backseat of a car, drove to the mall, drove to another friend's house to ask for advice, and ended up leaving him on his parent's doorstep. He died later in the hospital, due to a lack of oxygen to the brain, but he literally would have lived had someone just gotten him medical assistance immediately.

my brother was kicked out of the house one time when we both lived at home and i guess he kept nodding out at his friends house and they thought he was going to overdose. their solution to save him was throw water on him and try to get klonopin down his throat to "mellow him out". he somehow managed to snort some coke and come back alive long enough for his girlfriend to drive him to my parents house where he snorted a bunch more coke, called the cops on himself and got into a fist fight with my dad.

hes a good guy when hes not on drugs. when he is, hes a fucking mess. dont do drugs, kids.

[ChuckRamone]

was this the intended outcome all along? I remember thinking it was a ridiculous idea that crack was funneled into the ghettoes but it turns out the CIA funded its Central American coups with cocaine money, so you start to think maybe the drug companies/government pushed all these opioid painkillers with a plan in mind.

[childhood]

Honestly, I'd say the conspiracy is really just that the pharmaceutical industry wanted to make a bunch of money, and have a sociopathic disregard for the wellbeing of others.

Now they can make more money off it, by switching everybody onto stuff like Vivitrol, which is advertised at every train stop in Philly.

It definitely feels weird to consider myself lucky that I only got too deep into Xanax.


There's been a heroin/opiod epidemic in Philly of some degree since like the 60/70s.

There was a smaller boom in supply and usage for some reason then as well, that was when one of my grandfathers first got started.

But yeah, whats going on the past few years is getting out of control, and seriously sad.

[Stoop Kid 2.0]

Expand Quote

Where I live in Jersey it's pretty bad. Almost 15% of my graduating class has died from overdosing. We used to have a DYI spot at a abandoned hockey rink and one day we pulled up and there were a ton of cops and ambulances. Turns out some local kid overdosed in the penalty box.

[close]

Yeah man I'm from Jersey too, its everywhere.  Someone around the block from me just OD'd actually.  It's sad to know that it has become such a common thing these days.  I remember reading somewhere that NJ had approximately 2,000 deaths from heroin in just 2016 alone.

Yeah there's been some pretty big busts the past year. Cops put out a statement about a week ago saying to keep all doors locked because some teenage junkies have been walking into houses to steal jewelry and shot to buy drugs. They walked into a house one day thinking nobody was home but a little girl was home. It's super scummy and they've broken into quite a few houses.

[childhood]

Expand Quote

There is literally a government program that sends heroin users to philadelphia. its pretty fucked here. I have had really close friends fortunately come out of addiction alive but seems like a monthly thing hearing of a friend of a friend that dies from it.

[close]

What do they do with them once they send them to Philly?

I believe PAWl is referring to this article:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/special_packages/Puerto_Ricos_solution_to_heroin_crisis_one-way_tickets_to_Philly.html

That SFB "barback" joke is funny and pretty on point too.

That's mainly the white current/recovering users though.


I've lost several friends, and even more family members, because of heroin. I've never done it, and I (hopefully) never will.

With that said, I do think there's something interesting about the stamp art and branding on the wax folds, like with that Deathwish "Decks on decks on decks" board.

It's also interesting that (from my understanding), it's largely a tri-state region thing. I used to follow this blog about them...until the girl who ran it overdosed and died: http://dequinceyjynxie.blogspot.com/?zx=f5c65f8cc8c22f03

[muntcuscle]

my main beef is when stuff gets laced with fentanyl and people don't know about it. heroin/opiates aren't my thing... won't try them and never have. but I've even heard about coke being laced with fentanyl and people dying from casual amounts. I'm not big into that scene either, but if someone offers you a bump when you're out and its laced, you could be fucked. that scares the shit out of me

[JB]

people are doing fentanyl on purpose now, which is really fucked.

[perverted super otaku!]

Even more fucked is now out west there is this shit called "W-18" out that is 100x stronger than fentanyl!!!!  insanity

edit: I think it's called carfentanil also

[augustmoon]

i used to work for the drug company that makes Fentanyl.   I don't understand how its become so prevalent because it was almost impossible to get at the time.  If I remember correctly, you pretty much had to be dying of cancer to get it.

I also worked in a pain management clinic and have seen how hard the DEA cracks down on pain doctors.  The doctors I worked for would only give out pills as a last resort, and we had a psychiatrist in clinic to help patients showing addiction issues.  Still, we'd often get obvious addicts that were trying to pill-shop.  We'd have patients try to assault doctors when they were denied.  Its really sad seeing older adults have no control.  It also sucks seeing people who legitimately need medication get denied because other people abuse it.  I think we're just starting to see the tip of the ice-berg with this

[childhood]

I believe a lot of the fentanyl on the streets now, comes from shady Chinese labs.

But I've definitely seen dudes with fentanyl lollipops for sale, so some of the U.S. pharmaceutical stuff is still getting out there.

[lampshade]

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. There were approximately 59,000 last year, most of which were from heroin or another opiate. That's fucking insane.

I went to rehab a little over two years ago for alcohol and cocaine not really knowing the scope of opiate addiction amongst young people in our country. Obviously I'd hear news stories and shit, but it never really seemed close to me. Most of the kids that were in the two programs I went to were in their for pills/heroin, a lot of whom have since relapsed or died. The statistics aren't good for recovery (just in general, not just for opiates), maybe 10% find any kind of long-term sobriety.

When I got out of treatment I lived with 3 guys in recovery that I had been in treatment with, one of whom had unbeknownst to me had been getting high since he was in rehab. He overdosed in my basement with another guy one night and had to get Narcaned by the paramedics. The kid was facing two years in prison for robbery, was on probation/drug court, and was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, yet still chose to get high. The disease (yes, it is a disease) is absolutely mind-boggling.

As someone said, if you know someone struggling with addiction, the best thing you can possibly do is let them know that help is there, but don't force them into anything until they themselves want it. Unfortunately, a lot of times it's too late before they do, but only when the addict or alcoholic is willing to change for themselves after hitting bottom is recovery possible.

I went to a pretty fancy/expensive rehab for alcohol when I was about 30.  The people there ranged in age from 18 to 70.  It was weird to see that almost all the younger people were there for opiates and the older people were almost all there for booze.  Very few young alcoholics.   Almost all had the got hooked on Oxy, then turned to H because it was cheaper and easier to get story.  A lot of the younger patients were there because their rich parents forced them and were making plans to meet up and get high as soon as the 28 days were over.  The older people were way more serious about it. 

[JB]

^ my family isnt rich, but my brother was forced every single time up until the time where he actually stopped for the longest time, and every time he made connections with other users and used at the first chance he got. the day he got out of the first place i caught him sneaking out of the house and picking up something out of the bushes where the dealers would always leave his drugs. he was in a halfway house once that was walking distance from a skatepark. didn't take him long before he found the local kids that sold oxys and he ended up getting him and two of the other maybe 6 guys who he lived with kicked out of the house for using. i swear you can take him anywhere and within 15 minutes he can find drugs.

i used to work for the drug company that makes Fentanyl.   I don't understand how its become so prevalent because it was almost impossible to get at the time.  If I remember correctly, you pretty much had to be dying of cancer to get it.

i think it was 2011 when i went to the ER with a dislocated shoulder and they hit me with a fentanyl/xanax combo IV. they told me right before they shot me up and i couldnt believe that was what they were giving me. thats the only time ive felt drugs like that and i could feel them shooting it and immediately life went in slow motion. they said it took them about 45 seconds to a minute to get my shoulder back in place. i didnt even know they did anything to me. i had to get x-rays to make sure nothing was broken and I remember reading the posters in the wall like they were a chopped and screwed song. other than that i just remember trying my hardest not to puke when i first felt it then i was pretty much paralyzed and blacked out for about 40 minutes. after that i felt fine with barely any shoulder pain. it was a few hours later when it wore off and hurt like hell again.

people who are or were users, what is the appeal of opiates? my fentanyl experience wasn't really anything i would call fun. i took vicodin for a week when i had my wisdom teeth pulled and the only time those were fun was if i smoked weed because they made that high a lot more intense, but on their own they didn't really do anything for me that i thought was worth spending money on. i had friends who did them pretty hard, and like clock work they would puke their brains out about 15-20 minutes after taking a handful of pills. that never looked like something i wanted to do and i credit seeing those guys puke every night as a big reason why i never fucked with prescription drugs. after that they just melted into where ever they were sitting and their brains basically turned off. the shit with my brother came after i got out of the weed and drug scene, and after that id never let myself do drugs like that.

[BacksideWallride]

There's nothing "low-key" about it. My friends are dying left and right. I was an addict for almost a decade and had to do the Suboxone thing

as said already, drugs are bad.

[shit_for_brains]

I don't have any friends.

[Mark Renton]

Choose life.

[eshins]

I live in Australia,

and its ridiculous how many people are addicted to heroin and meth (mostly meth), everyone in Australia is on drugs.

Theres people everywhere you go tweaking or on some other drug. You can ask almost anyone for drugs and they'll be able to hook you up.

I know everyone in this thread has friends who've gone onto heroin, but I know so many people that take drugs even with their parents. Im not even a sketchy person.

[Nora9]

natural selection

[Nora9]

as far as pros who wrecked themself trying to make it big and got fucked by the industry and had nothing left for their pain and emptiness expect smack..

well they are no different from wannabe rockstars, be careful what you wish for

[Nora9]

if you are dumb enough to do crack meth or heroin in the first place u cant blame anything but your own stupidity if it fucks up your life, very few people are held down and forced to do these things

[Nora9]

and people don't usually go directly to shooting up it almost always starts with pills but if you are taking a pill without knowing its an opiate derivative, that again is your own stupidity

[Tracer]

I live in Australia,

and its ridiculous how many people are addicted to heroin and meth (mostly meth), everyone in Australia is on drugs.

Theres people everywhere you go tweaking or on some other drug. You can ask almost anyone for drugs and they'll be able to hook you up.

I know everyone in this thread has friends who've gone onto heroin, but I know so many people that take drugs even with their parents. Im not even a sketchy person.

How else are you going to clock 90 hour weeks on the oil rig? Ask GAY.

[wheelies]

Just watch out for the white powdered food on the east coast, shit is just cut, and fentanyl, with a teeny dope for the legs.

Yo its just a straight up drug epidemic of all drugs, its in popular culture now.

Whatever I like herion sometimes but its wack, its pretty suble so you find yourselft doin it everyday for a week or two, den you got the HOOK

Heroin dabs are where its at though, you can mix wax to, its like 2017 opium, just hit it with with no water in the rig.

[wheelies]

Plus fent is the hot drug right now. Its has been flooding from china, but he dea or whatever else have been seizing labs in china. But there is two many Chinese labs producing fent right now, so this isn't goin away any time soon.

Plus most of the time it a fentanyl analogue cause those are even cheaper, some are stronger, some last longer.

Game is getting the remix super hard.

[Cuban_Lynx]

I live in Australia,

and its ridiculous how many people are addicted to heroin and meth (mostly meth), everyone in Australia is on drugs.

Theres people everywhere you go tweaking or on some other drug. You can ask almost anyone for drugs and they'll be able to hook you up.

I know everyone in this thread has friends who've gone onto heroin, but I know so many people that take drugs even with their parents. Im not even a sketchy person.

I'd be willing to be the inflated cost of alcohol is fueling drug use in Australia. When I was there 10 years ago, it was nearly $20 for a decent 6-pack of beer. Even here in the midwest, kids can get a heroin high for cheaper/easier than booze.

[yungapplejuice]

and people don't usually go directly to shooting up it almost always starts with pills but if you are taking a pill without knowing its an opiate derivative, that again is your own stupidity

yupp , smoking it for the 1st time is a norm . .

had a friends funeral earlier this year but couldn't make it , was horrible being told by homies who went that i was in multiple pics during the slideshow . i just felt really fucking sad&embarrassed knowing that i was around him when he was going through all this . constantly swore he was clean but was lying to us all .

just last week smoking a cig outside a local gig i found out that my friend didn't OD - he committed suicide and his family hid the truth because in his culture that is the ultimate shame . he left a note behind , which i don't think ill be able to stomach reading without breaking the fuck down or running out this bitch and firing on every mother fucker i know thats using . even with his family keeping tabs on him at his childhood home . supposedly he got his hands on a gun and was hinting at leaving this place on social media . .

prayers for anyone going through it or anyone trying to save a loved one .

[TheBoognish]

I live in Australia,

and its ridiculous how many people are addicted to heroin and meth (mostly meth), everyone in Australia is on drugs.

Theres people everywhere you go tweaking or on some other drug. You can ask almost anyone for drugs and they'll be able to hook you up.

I know everyone in this thread has friends who've gone onto heroin, but I know so many people that take drugs even with their parents. Im not even a sketchy person.

Man, I had an apartement for a couple months in Surfers Paradise and for the life of me, I could not find weed. Not even primo weed, just weed. Got some once and it was very expensive schwag. While I was looking, pretty much everyone I asked told me 'no weed, but I can find you ice and MDMA'. Fuck that, that's not what I asked.

I lived close to the bars (actually had an irish pub as a neighbour) and I'd see so many tweaked out people every night. Lots of fights also. I'd find syringes in our parking lot once in a while.

Moved to Coolangatta and although I ended up finding a weed guy, I still had a hard time finding it at first. Always the same thing : 'no weed, but I can get you ice anytime'.

[Nora9]

Plus fent is the hot drug right now. Its has been flooding from china, but he dea or whatever else have been seizing labs in china. But there is two many Chinese labs producing fent right now, so this isn't goin away any time soon.

Plus most of the time it a fentanyl analogue cause those are even cheaper, some are stronger, some last longer.

Game is getting the remix super hard.

nuke china

[Nora9]

why is no one saying this

[augustmoon]

you have the logic of a 12 year old