low key heroin epidemic

[Moebacca]

I live in WV and the prescription drug and heroin use has skyrocketed. The doctors are cutting back on the amount of pills they dish out (because the government told them to, not because they felt morally obligated to) and it has caused more and more people to run to heroin. I know people here who are in the 60's doing it and kids as young as 11 hooked on it now. I have lost so many friends (at least 10-15) and family (5 or 6). I am 41 and should have not seen so much death in my lifetime. My dad was in Vietnam and has told me many times that he did not lose that many friends over there. Its not just a skateboard thing. Its a full blown epidemic and it knows no bounds. It doesnt care how rich, poor, white, black, gay, straight, old or young you are. But hey, weed is the real killer here 

[PAWL]

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.

[SodaJerk]

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.

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

[Nosferatu]

I live in WV and the prescription drug and heroin use has skyrocketed. The doctors are cutting back on the amount of pills they dish out (because the government told them to, not because they felt morally obligated to) and it has caused more and more people to run to heroin. I know people here who are in the 60's doing it and kids as young as 11 hooked on it now. I have lost so many friends (at least 10-15) and family (5 or 6). I am 41 and should have not seen so much death in my lifetime. My dad was in Vietnam and has told me many times that he did not lose that many friends over there. Its not just a skateboard thing. Its a full blown epidemic and it knows no bounds. It doesnt care how rich, poor, white, black, gay, straight, old or young you are. But hey, weed is the real killer here 

This story about West Virginia is depressing. But there is always a bit of hope.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/05/the-addicts-next-door

[happenstance]

I work on the SoMa side of Civic Center in San Francisco. If you are familiar with the area you know Civic Center and the Tenderloin are riddled with addicts. I never really knew how bad it was in SoMa until I started working here. I've lived in the area for 10 years and I guess I just never went into the SoMa allies enough. And in this neighborhood it is mostly kids.

EVERY SINGLE DAY I see someone under the age of 30 shooting up, nodding off, or passed out with a needle in their arm, sometimes in a pool of their own urine (you'd be surprised how often I see exactly that). The streets are riddled with needles - you can't go more than 20 feet without seeing one of those orange caps or some other part of a syringe. Sometimes you'll see a giant pile of 10-20 needles, like the addict was saving them up for 1 giant dump.

It makes me so sad working around here and there is nothing I can do.

[JB]

Dude it's fucked up how nice of a place I live, but you hear about people getting busted for heroin or meth every other day.

drugs dont discriminate.

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.

i know a few people here that the only rehab facility that their insurance would help with was in florida surrounded by those pain clinics. its fucked up.  

[micky682]

Not trying to say weed is the answer, but there are studies that have shown how pot has helped lower the use of opiates and alcohol among addicts.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/10/doctors_pioneer_pot_as_an_opioid_substitute

[shit_for_brains]

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?

Put them to work as bar backs.

[drewdown]

I think almost everybody has a friend, family member, or definitely has an "old" friend that uses this shit. Low-key is highly the wrong word to use, more like it's everywhere and all over the news. I personally know more people than I can count on one hand that currently use, in jail,  in rehab, or just got clean. It's sad knowing I have friends who probably won't make it to be 30 years old, won't ever know their kids, or how much everyone wishes they would get better.

I don't. 

[poowizard]

Its been pretty prevalent in the suburbs where I'm at. I guess it has been for a minute. It all started with Oxy.

[DISTANT RUMOURS]

I'm turning 35 soon, and I've never touched drugs or alcohol. I saw too much shit when I was younger, was a fan of Tom Knox and met some good dude that kept me away from all that stuff.

Some local ripper was datng in my class and he was on every drug there was, he was incredible on board but when I saw him for the last time he was an anorexic junkie... No teeth, pale, dead eyes, he looked like he was going going to die that same night.

Another story:
When I was a toddler I was really into disney cartoons, a guy at my dads work painted childrens rooms as an extra. He was my dads friend and he started dealing heroin because he got sick, couldnt work for a while and he couldnt get by. He got hooked himself eventually and fucked over some REAL gangsters...  His dna was found two months later at a pigfarm.

He was shot there and parts of his body was thrown into a meatgrinder. And they tried to disolve that. This happend near Maastricht, Holland, in the late nineties... And my dad sworhe would never even touch a drop of alcohol ever again. Which he still doesn't do.

Not preaching, but I'll probably stick to the straight edge as long as possible... Drugs are not for me, but I respect friends that do it and will always be there when they reach out.

How it should be.

Everyone battles demons in their own way, but you can not let them take your friends...

[Francis Xavier]

There's a dude that hangs out nearby where I work and all he does is shoot up and do his laundry in a 5 gallon bucket. My boss caught him balls out dick in hand passed out once. It started as a sad thing to see, but now he is just a joke. Hearing kids talking about smoking tar or shooting up is such a bummer.

[GershonSweaty]

In Foz' defense, he's straight edge and named the brand that to signify how addictive skateboarding is. Also, Heroin the brand is British in origin and heroin use in the UK is virtually none existent in the youth (less than 2400 users in the 18-24 bracket in 2016, in a total population of 65m).

That said, given the problems currently faced in the States, it's understandable that it appears somewhat inappropriate.

Visit Scotland.

Granted the High school/College football route if Injured-prescribed pain killers-addiction develops-painkillers cut off/too expensive-turn to heroin. In America is fucked up.

[nino brown]

Expand Quote

phelps telling that kid about wastell's issues with dope..

[close]

Details on this? I remember rumours that pills were involved in his death, but first I've heard of him and heroin.

[Casey Jones]

my friend tried it once at a party just to do it and died from just trying it about 8 years ago. overdosed the first time. the kid that gave it to him ran away and nobody has heard from him, not that it's really his fault

[BlacklistedUK]

Visit Scotland.

I've lived in Edinburgh, home of Trainspotting (probably the reason the majority of people my generation onwards won't go near the stuff) and even Scotland's junkies are mainly middle aged survivors of the 80's/90's. Kids over here smoke weed, do coke, pills or Mkat; even the homeless junkies are now doing spice (synthetic canabinoid that was legal until recently) instead as it's so much easier to get hold of - not saying that's a good thing as it is killing people but not to the extent as is happening stateside. Figures show there were 2479 deaths from illegal drugs in the whole of the UK in 2015, 1201 of which were from Heroin/Morphine and apparently the majority were elder, long term users - what's going on now in the states in comparison is truly terrifying.

We don't have a painkiller culture here either though, so that "gateway" doesn't exist; maybe that's to do with our health service refusing to give people anything stronger than paracetamol other than in the most extreme cases (that's all I got when I had four screws put in my shattered wrist and my dad got one week of codeine when he had his knee replaced, then onto the paracetamol). Fuck knows, I've had friends die from party drug induced heart attacks so that's no better.

[Bitter]

For anyone looking to learn more about this topic, I just finished reading an excellent book called Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic. Covers all the angles, from the oxycontin pill mills to the Mexican black tar heroin, and the perfect storm that brought heroin addiction to middle class America. https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidemic/dp/1620402505 

[jim]

its all part of the agenda, thats why were in Afghanistan...and its not for the dang terrorists.That and population control 

"skating on heroin is tight"

[BehindTheLens]

I mostly skate around cities north of Boston Mass and it's really bad here. In the past places like Lowell, Haverhill, and Lawrence have had there bad parts and higher crime rates, but it's insane how many people are addicted now a days there.

 Literally every spot I went to the other day there were either people shooting up in sight or clearly on some messed up shit already. It's really sad and heartbreaking to see especially since the shop I work for has lost some really close regulars to this terrible endemic. They pretty much all started with pills (thanks Doctor!), then got hooked on Heroin, then overdosed on the Fentanyl that these scumbag distributors are adding to it.

[augustmoon]

When my mom was dying of cancer she was prescribed Oxycontin and Dilaudid but refused to take them.  They day before she died I counted the pills, and discovered that my sister and her friend has stolen hundreds of them.  instead of spending what would end up being my last day with my mom, I had to deal with my sister and her lies, threatening to get the police involved. i don't know if I can ever forgive her for that.  I can't imagine that my sister hasn't graduated to heroin at this point.  all the signs are there.    opiates suck and make you do horrible things. 

[Coastal Fever]

I know it's a thing on the west coast of Canada, but I'm on the east coast and it's the only popular drug I've never seen or heard of anyone doing.

[heckler]

I've only (fucking "only", that's how bad this shit is) known four people who died of heroin-related causes. Same as everyone else stated, pills lead to smack leads to death.

A good friend of mine was on the wagon for a while and doing well, but fell off after I moved away, and ended up trying to steal some copper pipes for money, got caught, and hung himself in jail. He called me maybe a year or so before he passed and I screened it, knowing he was just strung out, looking for a ride. That would have been the last time I talked to him, and I still regret it.

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.

[Maggie]

the thread title is a bit misleading, i just feel there's such a negative stigma attached to addiction that many public figures are afraid to openly discuss it, i know the individual battle is internal.. but the ripple effect is too strong. just don't fucking try it. please.

[GAY]

I was hoping this was going to be a thread about female heroes and lady superheroes being so hot right now.

[fulltechnicalskizzy]

Loki/Heroine epidemic

[perverted super otaku!]

The whole fentanyl being put into like every powdered drug, is so fucking sketch, and yeah it's tragic how fucked things got especially out west and in the states

That's rough augustmoon and I wish you the best man

[swanronson]

I've never heard of anyone I know doing heroin where I live but meth is everywhere, seems like it's more prevelant than weed. That stuff is just as bad as H

[Maggie]

H is a little more popular here than meth, most of the meth users live on the outskirts

[jomeara1]

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.

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.

[shit_for_brains]

Loki/Heroine epidemic