this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2023
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The U.S. is in the throes of what researchers have deemed a “fourth wave” of the opioid crisis, a phase characterized by overdose deaths caused by the combination of stimulants and the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Overdose deaths in the U.S. surpassed 100,000 for the first time in 2021, fueled by the rise of synthetic opioids, which accounted for 75% of those deaths. Once propelled by prescription opioids and then heroin, the decadeslong crisis was overwhelmed by synthetic opioids in the mid-2010s.

Now it has taken on a new challenge: so-called polysubstance overdoses, which include more than one drug.

The proportion of overdoses involving fentanyl and a stimulant — most commonly cocaine and methamphetamine — increased more than fiftyfold from 2010 to 2021, a study published Thursday in the journal Addiction found.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The opioid crisis in America is fucking disgusting. It makes me physically sick to know that people made so much money off of destroying people's lives through "legal" medicine and they can walk away with a slap on the wrist.

And yet marijuana is still illegal at a federal level. Smfh.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

The invasion of Afghanistan saw a (iirc) 900% increase in poppy production. This was after reports of how they would work with farmers to reduce production.

Drug control isn't about suppression; it's about control. The opium wars emphasize that. Look at the countries that banned it, but then turned around and produced/bought and sold it to other countries for profit and societal destabilization.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This is how my father passed last month, only fentanyl and meth.

Even still, fentanyl and stimulants, if used properly, have a place as medicine. We shouldn't blame the drug or even the addict.

We need to find those profiting over spiking their drugs and remove them from society.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Sorta, but not really. My family was doxxed by some bad people, and that caused my father to run away and back slip into drugs as his paranoid schizophrenia made him think that the death threats he was getting were real (which they were sorta real). We found him after being missing for a week. He was comatose, naked and covered in chemical burns.

After he got out of the hospital, I brought him to another state where I live to try to take care of him. Only he slipped out and found some random person who sold fent spiked meth.

I found him dead on my couch.

The paramedics tried to resuscitate him, but he was already gone.

I'm looking into therapy now as I can't get that image out of my head. Plus all the guilt of him dying in my care.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

That's awful. I hope justice finds its way to the people who drove your father to this.

And I hope you manage to find some peace. Just know that the cruelty inflicted on him wasn't your fault.

[–] peopleproblems 9 points 1 year ago

Look into ART, it's the weirdest treatment I've been through, but it really helped the trauma I had when I was a teen.

Also, a couple of things:

  1. Feeling guilt is natural.
  2. You did everything you knew to do.
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

You can't feel guilty. You did everything you could and therapy is definitely a good idea.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My condolences for your father.

Are fentanyl and stimulants used together in medicine that you're aware of?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I have a degenerative bone disease that causes my bone marrow to turn into tumors. It's really painful and I break things as I walk.

I've been on fentanyl patches when my pain gets too extreme. I also drink coffee when I don't have the energy to do much due to my condition. I was taking stronger stimulants NuVigil in order to be able to function at work in a corporate job before I became 100% disabled for several years. Nowadays, I just stick to coffee or caffeine pills.

A lot of people mix uppers and downers like that. It's just that coffee and caffeine are much more acceptable stimulants even if they work pretty close to the same..

[–] PilferJynx 7 points 1 year ago

I'd assume they meant separately but both have legit uses.

[–] FlyingSquid 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was put on fentanyl (eventually) at the ER when I had a kidney stone and it was like night and day. And, contrary to what cops might think, I didn't immediately become addicted.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, cops have zero clue about it unless they sell it on the side like a lot of them do...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I've never heard anyone blame the addict for fentanyl.
It's the assholes that cut it into other drugs that are to blame.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Blaming the addict is common I'm finding. I've sadly experienced it a lot over the last month since my father passed from an over dosage.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah people that don't know usually blame addicts. Thankfully people that have been through it or know someone that has and they have empathy do understand.

I've lost a lot of friends.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A major cause is drug dealers not cleaning their scales. There's no FDA oversight of illegal drug dealers and small enough quantities of fent that can still kill cam end up in other drugs they sell via dirty scales and other equipment

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

People need to clean their shit.

[–] Pat12 2 points 1 year ago

I consider this to be the opium wars but reversed, someone tell me i'm wrong

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Doesn’t anyone follow the drugs back to the manufacturer?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The Sacklers did it intentionally that’s the crazy part.

[–] oldbaldgrumpy -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A total ban on narcan would solve the opioid crisis quickly.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Shame on you.