indiana,hiv and oxymorphone

[clinton (OP)]

ecedented HIV outbreak in Indiana has caused the governor to declare a health emergency and set up a short-term needle exchange. But what’s fueling the epidemic in Scott County, Ind.? Experts say it’s the illegal use of Opana, a powerful pain medication that has been called the “new scourge of rural America.”

Indiana public health officials tell WKMS that Opana, otherwise known as oxymorphone, is “an incredibly powerful and potent opiate.” The drug is usually prescribed to patients with pain that has resisted non-opioid painkillers or who have had insufficient pain relief with immediate-release opioids. But Opana has gained a whole other life as an underground drug in rural communities like Scott County.

In its illegal form, Opana is crushed and injected, defeating the drug’s extended release properties and creating a potent high that’s comparable to that of heroin or OxyContin. Before 2011, the drug was “relatively easy” to shoot up, notes USA Today’s Laura Ungar, but a crush-resistant formulation was created in late 2011 to prevent Opana abuse.

However, those precautions haven’t been enough, and abuse of the drug rose dramatically in 2012. In a 2013 statement, the FDA admitted that the reformulated version of Opana could still “be compromised when subjected to other forms of manipulation, such as cutting, grinding, or chewing.”


All of the people who have been identified as HIV positive in the current outbreak have admitted to intravenous drug use, ABC News reports. And while it’s still unclear whether the governor’s temporary needle exchange will quell the spread of HIV, which is also spread through sexual contact, Indiana isn’t the only state approving needle exchanges for the first time. This Thursday, Kentucky’s governor signed a bill that will allow health departments to create needle exchanges in the state.


Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/heres-more-about-drug-behind-indianas-hiv-epidemic-180954780/#tSqowd8q543ME0k0.99
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[Narkotikon]

I'm surprised that bigoted state isn't blaming it on the gays. 

A' la the wedding cake shit: "As a pharmacist, I'm not gonna fill your Opana script b/c you're gay, and therefore have HIV, and it's against my religion and conscience as a Christian to sell Opana to homosexuals." 

You know, b/c hordes of gay guys strung out on Opana are just gonna go around raping people and recklessly infecting people with HIV.      

[Thoms]

All it took was a shit ton of subburban kids getting aids. How terrible, the worst part is it would have been avoided had a NX been there in the first place.

[Morfy]

I wonder what the actual ratio of HIV transmission by sharing needles is compared to transmission by sex, in that rural, Indiana county.

my gut says that sharing needles is causing 90% of the new HIV cases, but maybe these Hoosiers are also humping like bunnies, and sex is causing 90% of new cases.

The two highest risks factors for HIV transmission have been known for over 30 years, what are these kids thinking, that it cannot happen in small town America?  Are they really surprised that after engaging in the two most riskiest behaviors for disease transmission, that it actually IS being transmitted?

[makita]

I wonder what the actual ratio of HIV transmission by sharing needles is compared to transmission by sex, in that rural, Indiana county.

my gut says that sharing needles is causing 90% of the new HIV cases, but maybe these Hoosiers are also humping like bunnies, and sex is causing 90% of new cases.

The two highest risks factors for HIV transmission have been known for over 30 years, what are these kids thinking, that it cannot happen in small town America?  Are they really surprised that after engaging in the two most riskiest behaviors for disease transmission, that it actually IS being transmitted?

I wouldn't blame the kids.  Midwest and Southern states are more likely to use outdated abstinence based sex and drug education models.  There have been many studies showing these models dont work, and in fact are more likely to promote risky behaviors than modern educational models that treat teens as individuals capable of making informed choices. 

Its not that they dont KNOW.  Its that they are taught with a fear and ignorance based agenda that says sex is bad and wrong no matter what and condoms dont work, abortion is wrong, all drugs are equally evil, etc. and so when they actually have sex (do drugs, etc) they are more likely to say "fuck it" because of that then to weigh their options and use harm reduction.

[Morfy]

thanks Makita:


that's why this site is so important to me: i make a post about something I don't understand, and I can get several answers from several Points of View that i hadn't considered or thought about.


Thanks!

[Narkotikon]

I wonder what the actual ratio of HIV transmission by sharing needles is compared to transmission by sex, in that rural, Indiana county.

my gut says that sharing needles is causing 90% of the new HIV cases, but maybe these Hoosiers are also humping like bunnies, and sex is causing 90% of new cases.

The two highest risks factors for HIV transmission have been known for over 30 years, what are these kids thinking, that it cannot happen in small town America?  Are they really surprised that after engaging in the two most riskiest behaviors for disease transmission, that it actually IS being transmitted?

I wouldn't blame the kids.  Midwest and Southern states are more likely to use outdated abstinence based sex and drug education models.  There have been many studies showing these models dont work, and in fact are more likely to promote risky behaviors than modern educational models that treat teens as individuals capable of making informed choices. 

Its not that they dont KNOW.  Its that they are taught with a fear and ignorance based agenda that says sex is bad and wrong no matter what and condoms dont work, abortion is wrong, all drugs are equally evil, etc. and so when they actually have sex (do drugs, etc) they are more likely to say "fuck it" because of that then to weigh their options and use harm reduction.

Why do they think condoms don't work? 

[Z]

So much doublespeak and ignorance: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/life-and-family/sexuality-contraception/surprise-study-finds-condoms-dont-work/

[Biggavelli]

Just up the road from me. Really surprising that they're still using Opana...the shit is STILL outrageously priced from here to ATL from what I understand. Positive: it forced the hand of KY's governor in starting multiple needle exchanges in the Louisville-Metro area and is the driving force behind evidence based treatment in the area now. Negative: we all saw it coming from 10 miles away.

[corlene]

I'm sure it started out as pharms, most people can't afford to hold onto a habit like that for too long unless they have a script.

I'm not sure what their paying but even down here in s fl, opana is 2 dollars a mg all day long. I think prices have evened out across the us now pretty much for pharms.

I don't get why these kats are still fuckin around in that community knowing they have the highest transmission rates in the country(based on the numbers). You really can't beat the high of iv oxymorph tho.. I digress.

As someone has already mentioned, I'm sure all of these new infections aren't strictly from IV use.

I wonder what the hep c situation is like up there. What about the other major STDs?

[Daughter of Dionysus]

I just wanted to add
That my sister is in jail
In Indiana
Has been for 18 months
Among the host of charges she has
Possession of a needle is one

So yeah Thoms
If the needle exchange
Would have been there in the first place
Maybe there wouldn't be
An aids epidemic in that "rural" county