America's view on opiate use

[Griffin (OP)]

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/12/heroin-proves-a-formidable-foe-in-suburban-ohio-county/21247790/?icid=maing-grid7%7Caol20%7Cdl15%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D-1733201463

The article is okay it's about how the amount of overdoses is increasing there and nationwide. The reason I posted this was to see what everyones thoughts were about the comments for the article. I usually base my perception of Americans views on things by reading comments of different news articles. There are so many different disturbing comments about this article it is unreal. I don't think we are going to see any good change coming in the near future because the majority of people seem to think that drug users are better off dead. Some comments that stuck out were :

"Every OD does society a favor."

''I don't know what people are waiting for. Press your state representatives to make dealing drugs a capital crime. The poison they sell is killing thousands and ruining the lives of users' families. No one will miss these slugs. And look at the benefits of reduced crime by addicts who often kill people. And I don't feel sorry for junkies either, they made a stupid choice and not one can say "Gee, I didn't know i could get hooked."

"Unfortunately, here in the U.S. drugs are a cash cow for layers, judges, courts, politicians, jails, and prisons. We need to take the Singapore approach to drug control. Death to the dealers and mandatory lock down rehab for 18 months for users for first offense as well as huge fines. Second offense life."

"better throw away the book, and start arresting people, i mean start rounding up street dealers, street dist., uers, and so on."

"In the early times, when you went to war with a country and won, you got the spoils of war and put your flag on the soil. This gave you the right to control or destroy everything on that land . Now, it gets rebuilt so the same problems can go on. Don't invade if you don't intend to own it and stop the problems with it that keep coming back again."

"Well, aren't the school systems teaching kids about drugs & how bad they are? Seems to me ANYONE stupid enough to even touch heroin is simply too stupid to be of any benefit to society! Seems like there are plenty of news/information in public media how bad heroin is. They can't be that ignorant? And here we have a liberal administration that delivers the opposite message by pardoning drug peddlers because their crimes were non-violent! Really - they get dumb people hooked on drugs, their daily habit is so expensive they need to rob/steal/mug/kill others to get $$$$ to feed their habit. But, those poor jailed drug pushers committed non-violent crimes- they committed them by extension! Go ahead over-dose yourselves & end your miserable self-center life thus sparring INNOCENT people from you killing them for the $$$ in their pocket/home! Druggies do not love or care for anything or anyone beyond their next fix!"

"We need an all out war on poppy fields, worldwide. Fly planes over and drop spray their fields. We spend billions fighting other countries wars, let's march some troops through Mexico and wipe out the drug cartels and poppy fields. If we would make it harder to get, the cost would go up. At five dollars a capsule anybody could become an addict. Not too hard to con or steal something worth that. Heroin dealers need to be hung."


Most of the comments on news stories that I read about drugs and the war on them have a similar theme. There are a lot more comments like this on that page and on most news articles it seems to be the stance of the majority. Do you guys think that this is the view of most americans or just the stupid ones that read and blab on the comment section? I think that it is a good example of the views of the majority unfortunately.


I guess stupidity just runs rampant and that we are the minority. I don't necessarily condone rampant drug use but I am a libertarian and think that people who commit victimless crimes don't need to be persecuted. As long as what you are doing doesn't put anyone else in danger than you should be able to do that with out fear of being robbed, killed, or thrown in a cage by the government. I guess I just don't understand how people are still on that bandwagon when everything that has been studied about it says that it is the wrong way to go about it.

How much evidence does there need to be that things like harm reduction, maintenance, and rehabilitation are a better alternative than fining, arresting, and incarcerating everyone. How hard is it to understand that forcing someone to hit rock bottom by throwing them in a cage, making them a felon who can't get employment or housing, and displacing drug users is counterproductive. I know I am preaching to the choir I am just amazed at the views of some people.

Griffin

[suboxstitute]

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/12/heroin-proves-a-formidable-foe-in-suburban-ohio-county/21247790/?icid=maing-grid7%7Caol20%7Cdl15%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D-1733201463

<snip>
I guess stupidity just runs rampant and that we are the minority. I don't necessarily condone rampant drug use but I am a libertarian and think that people who commit victimless crimes don't need to be persecuted. As long as what you are doing doesn't put anyone else in danger than you should be able to do that with out fear of being robbed, killed, or thrown in a cage by the government. I guess I just don't understand how people are still on that bandwagon when everything that has been studied about it says that it is the wrong way to go about it.

How much evidence does there need to be that things like harm reduction, maintenance, and rehabilitation are a better alternative than fining, arresting, and incarcerating everyone. How hard is it to understand that forcing someone to hit rock bottom by throwing them in a cage, making them a felon who can't get employment or housing, and displacing drug users is counterproductive. I know I am preaching to the choir I am just amazed at the views of some people.

Griffin

Well, yeah, you are likely preaching to the choir here but this topic can always stand more discussion.  It really is crazy the way our system deals with drugs.    There is AMPLE EVIDENCE for a radically different approach (it would save tons of money, eliminate a shit-ton of prisoners in our jails, improve quality of life -don't get me started.)

But that's just it.  EVIDENCE.  There's plenty of undeniable evidence for climate change, too, and yet a sitting congressman still brought a snowball onto the house floor in our nation's capital last year to "prove" there is no global warming.     

So it takes more than evidence.  One thing is WILL take is for those folks who  DO NOT BOTHER TO VOTE to change their ways and exert their influence in the voting booth to cause change on drug policy, climate change, etc.   

I've been reading a lot about this lately and find that if the pollsters question THE FOLKS WHO DO NOT VOTE -  they are much more progressive on things like drug policy than those who do vote.     

Anyway that is my .02 for now. 

[Chip]

"Every OD does society a favor."  ?

oh man, is that brutal or what ?

quite heavy.

but to reiterate, it's not that hard to OD ... more controls are needed, i always say. Legal Dope, eliminating the criminal culture.

use with a buddy (stagger shots, of course) and even better, amazing if you can secure some Narcan etc.

[jdub]

Bunch of fucking ignorant assholes. I like the guy who blames Afghanistan's heroin on Obama, and his unwillingness to "burn the poppy fields". I don't remember troops setting fire to poppy fields while Bush was in office.

[thetalkingasshole]

Bunch of fucking ignorant assholes. I like the guy who blames Afghanistan's heroin on Obama, and his unwillingness to "burn the poppy fields". I don't remember troops setting fire to poppy fields while Bush was in office.

They were, at first
then as part of hearts-and-minds type thinking
we stopped

Reading a new book called The Dark Art
about someone investigating first-hand into the Taliban
and their involvement in the world opium/heroin trade

He seems to think NO LESS THAN 95% of their income
is derived from the poppy

[Zoops]

yeah, Something Ron Paul said once comes to mind, when discussing his views vis-à-vis drug legalization, he said something like, "most people know better than to mess with heroin or crack," but to those that are going to use them, nothing will really stop them from doing it.

If you use heroin, then you basically ARE Osama bin Laden!

What type of website is that where all these dumb comments come from? Conservative-leaning, liberal or what?

- edit - I see it was AOL. Don't know about the breakdown of political attitudes among the user base there, but I  would venture to guess that it's pretty evenly split.

Comments on certain sites are not indicative of the general population's attitudes - it's not a representative sample, in other words.

I just can't believe that most people hold the views expressed in the cited comments.

[Chip]

it's easy or foolish to forget that there are truly many people who absolutely hate people like us.

they usually keep their thoughts to themselves but some think that we are the lowest of the low.

these people don't understand drugs, buy all the media's bullshit, and blame drugs (and users) for all that's wrong with society.

that's why we are all here - to fight that mindset, correct it and ultimately, be vindicated.