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 Odd_Nonposter
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 Painkillers are a gateway to heroin 
#14676861 - 06/26/11 10:31 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Painkillers are a gateway to heroin
CNN Opinion
June 23, 2011
By Mariana van Zeller, Special to CNN
This past winter, I found myself following a drug dealer and his crew up the dark stairway of a triple-decker apartment building on the outskirts of Boston. Reaching a unit on the top floor, the young man pulled a gun from his waistband and set it on a coffee table next to a digital scale and a pile of drugs.
Entering a drug den, you might expect to find cocaine or heroin. But side by side with this pile of "hard stuff" were prescription pills, lots of them.
The little green tablets the men were dealing -- known as "Perc 30s," "Percs" or simply "30s" on the streets -- were 30-milligram oxycodone. In medicine, oxycodone is known as an opioid analgesic, a powerful painkiller prescribed to patients with acute or chronic pain. On the streets, it's known as heroin in a pill, and to borrow some Boston slang, it will get you "completely jammed."
When Gil Kerlikowske, President Barack Obama's national drug policy director, recently described today's prescription drug abuse in the U.S. as worse than the crack epidemic of the 1980s, he was simply echoing what these drug dealers have long known.
"Pills are what it is now," as one of them put it to us that night.
In the U.S., more people are abusing prescription drugs than cocaine, heroin and Ecstasy combined, but the most destructive have been prescription pain drugs such as oxycodone, best known by the brand name OxyContin.
The Centers for Disease Control data show overdose deaths from prescription painkillers more than doubled from 2000 to 2007, and in 17 states, painkiller overdoses are now the number one cause of accidental death.
Other alarming trends include babies in Florida being born addicted to painkillers and prisons in Kentucky filling up with inmates charged with the petty crimes associated with trying to procure it. Across the nation, pharmacies are being robbed at gunpoint for it -- the most horrifying example occurring this past weekend when four people were killed in a pharmacy robbery on Long Island in what looks like a pill heist gone wrong.
When I began reporting on prescription drug abuse and the booming black market trade in painkillers in 2009, the investigation led me to Florida, where a growing number of cash-only pain clinics have turned the Sunshine State into the "Colombia of prescription drugs."
According to its own state officials, doctors in Florida prescribe 85% of all the oxycodone in America. One doctor in Orlando was recently arrested for allegedly prescribing as much oxycodone in one year as the entire state of California -- 300,000 pills if you're counting.
Florida's "pill mills" have had a devastating effect. On average, seven people a day now die of overdoses in Florida from prescription drugs. But the trail of devastation doesn't end there. Word of Florida's pain clinics has spread well beyond the state's borders as far north as New England.
The dealers I met in Massachusetts told me the oxycodone pills on their coffee table all came from doctor's offices in Florida. They explained how they made regular trips to Miami or Fort Lauderdale, passing through airport security with up to $100,000 in cash taped to their bodies. Young women would then be paid to mule thousands of pills back up North.
This month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott finally signed legislation that aims to monitor the state's pain clinics and put an end to the illicit trade. In April, the White House announced its own plans to cut abuse of oxycodone and other opioids by 15% in five years.
While both moves are certainly welcome, state and federal officials may still be a step behind the streets, where another worrying trend has emerged. In many places across the country, including Massachusetts, oxycodone has become a gateway drug, leading users to a more traditional street drug: heroin.
The truth is heroin is little more than a natural form of oxycodone. It has the same effect on the brain and, for addicts, satisfies the same urge. The big difference is that these days heroin is often more available, more potent and, above all, cheaper.
"I don't think I have met anybody under the age of 30 that's a heroin addict that did not start out using oxycodone or OxyContin," Lt. Tom Coffey of the Massachusetts State Police told me.
Indeed, every heroin addict I met while reporting in Massachusetts shared a similar journey: They began abusing Oxy and became addicted, and then the pills either became too expensive or unavailable. Instead of suffering through the pain of withdrawal, they turned to heroin as a substitute and never looked back.
For those who have suffered and lost because of prescription drug addiction, the importance of state and federal authorities taking the issue seriously cannot be understated. But it's also important for us to acknowledge that painkillers have now introduced a whole new generation of addicts to heroin, an addictive, dangerous drug and one of the most difficult to quit. Every action, no matter how well-intentioned, brings a reaction.
While Florida's new law is unquestionably needed, it also begs us to start thinking about what happens when Oxy addicts up and down the Eastern Seaboard have their supply cut off. If treatment isn't there for them, dealers, like the ones I met, will be.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mariana van Zeller.
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Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
-Commissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"
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lacma50
Registered: 03/14/09
Posts: 1,872
Loc: Lazy Daze in California
Last seen: 1 month, 24 days
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: Odd_Nonposter]
#14676931 - 06/26/11 10:47 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mariana van Zeller.
What're they worried about?
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"Any rational person changes his mind when confronted with new evidence."
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 Darwin23
INFJ
Registered: 10/08/10
Posts: 2,194
Loc: United States
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: Odd_Nonposter]
#14676960 - 06/26/11 10:51 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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I'm glad CNN noticed her.
Anyway, I think it's a bad idea to cut off this supply. Like the article said, people will certainly turn to heroin. Other will rob pharmacies.
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withoutawire
Bunny Lover
Registered: 08/16/09
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: lacma50]
#14676975 - 06/26/11 10:53 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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So the heroin epidemic begins by cracking down on opioid produced by businesses/American economy, the exact dosage is known, and can avoid IV.
20... or 30 years until we adopt EU's policy of helping drug addicts instead of criminalizing them?
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sporophight
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: Odd_Nonposter]
#14677146 - 06/26/11 11:25 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Odd_Nonposter said:
The truth is heroin is little more than a natural form of oxycodone.
That doesn't sound correct to me. someone correct me if i'm wrong.
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TheDukeofLizards
you should take larger doses
Registered: 04/04/10
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: sporophight]
#14677163 - 06/26/11 11:28 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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breaking news
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 mikehauncho
Registered: 06/18/09
Posts: 567
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin *DELETED* [Re: sporophight]
#14677183 - 06/26/11 11:32 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Post deleted by mikehaunchoReason for deletion: law enforcement
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ToiletDuk
Give me Librium or give me Meth!
Registered: 05/17/03
Posts: 81,259
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: withoutawire]
#14677309 - 06/26/11 11:57 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
withoutawire said:
So the heroin epidemic begins by cracking down on opioid produced by businesses/American economy, the exact dosage is known, and can avoid IV.
20... or 30 years until we adopt EU's policy of helping drug addicts instead of criminalizing them?
Seriously. I mean street heroin is much more dangerous than pharmies. You don't know what it's been cut with or its strength when you get it. At least with pharms, you get a pure, consistent product.
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withoutawire
Bunny Lover
Registered: 08/16/09
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: ToiletDuk]
#14677713 - 06/27/11 01:17 AM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Yup. I think addicts should pay what it costs to buy pills without insurance, unless they have some, from the pharmacy after failing rehab attempts and intervention. The money we save can be used to educate the youth how horrible the life is, and how much it sucks to be one of them. People don't do heroin because it's illegal. Only personal, individual morality and sometimes group ideology that forms some alternative morality has ever prevent people from doing illegal things.
I guarantee you people think twice when you get someone like myself who had opiates take almost everything talking telling them how awful the life style is, along side a lifetime junkie telling his/her story. That is prevention, education, and opioid maintenance.
I graduate from highschool with 325 kids. 18 of them got addicted to an opiate. When was the last time a generation had a nearly 10% addiction rate to very hard drugs coming out of high school? I lost track when I graduated who had more problems, but I heard of maybe another 10-15 people who developed dependence and addiction.
"durrr why is there so much heroin after we make theez pills go away and people in pain have to beg and scramble to keep their program"
Oxycodone will not be converted to heroin. It's as illogical as trying to convert psyilocybin to mescaline. It's not a good basis to start from and when you convert from thebaine, papervine or codeine you have already gone in opposite directions trying to convert them to a different strong opioid (dilaudid opana oxycontin fentanyl etc.)
All powerful opiates have the exact same addiction potential. This obviously does not apply to hydrocodone, codeine (and its alternatives), tramadol etc. As far as morphine, oxycodone, diamorphine(heroin), oxymorphone, hydromorphone, methadone, etc. are concerned it all comes down to an individuals preference of drug. Each has it's different lenghts/side effects but one has never been the easiest to beat except to the individual who prefers to kick that opioid, or desire that opioid as the primary opioid of choice. So yes heroin is "basically" oxycodone, but that's like calling psilocybin "basically" mescaline. Similar, but definitely NOT the same.
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saxx
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: ToiletDuk]
#14678604 - 06/27/11 06:49 AM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
ToiletDuk said:
Quote:
withoutawire said:
So the heroin epidemic begins by cracking down on opioid produced by businesses/American economy, the exact dosage is known, and can avoid IV.
20... or 30 years until we adopt EU's policy of helping drug addicts instead of criminalizing them?
Seriously. I mean street heroin is much more dangerous than pharmies. You don't know what it's been cut with or its strength when you get it. At least with pharms, you get a pure, consistent product.
I've heard tell that most street H isn't even mostly H, more like black shit cut with fent analogues
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sucking dick for drink tickets
at the free bar at my cousin's bat mitzvah
zappateer said:
I'm not wasting time at school. I'm gaining hella knowledge and life experience, not trying to use my degree for financial gain.
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Diacetylmentlegen
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: saxx]
#14678762 - 06/27/11 08:46 AM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
saxx said:
I've heard tell that most street H isn't even mostly H, more like black shit cut with fent analogues
Exactly, I mean it's a bit rich to have people talk about "the dangers of heroin" or what have you when they're referring to some random black substance sold by randomers in back alleys. Of course... of course... the PRACTICALITY of the matter is that heroin use is almost always going to equal use of dodgy contaminated mank sold by some guy who's quality control doesn't include his products being anything near the right colour, but the clear implication is that somehow morphine diacetate is going to make you crazy or harm you.
Not to mention how they choose to use an old-timey Bayer brand name instead of something more neutral just because it sounds sexy and dangerous.
I will never understand how people can claim to have such strong opinions about things that they haven't even done 10 minutes of Googling to research either. I mean, it's ok if you're 5 years old or you live in the 60s, but at this stage in history it's a bit inexcusable to be ignorant.
Anyway, of course painkillers could be a gateway to heroin. Given that e.g. codeine metabolizes into morphine and so does "The Horse". Bloody obvious.
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"When I recall it and when I recall various other symptoms... I think the simplest explanation is... that I had these experiences, that they were real... and that they took place outside time." - Christopher Mayhew
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Odd_Nonposter
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: sporophight]
#14678997 - 06/27/11 10:37 AM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
sporophight said:
Quote:
Odd_Nonposter said:
The truth is heroin is little more than a natural form of oxycodone.
That doesn't sound correct to me. someone correct me if i'm wrong.
Yeah, that statement is little more than journalistic BS. Neither oxycodone nor diacetylmorphine can be considered natural, as neither occur without human intervention. The statement should be amended to "Oxycodone is little more than a legal form of heroin."
But the analogy still has some use, even if it is factually incorrect. A lot of people make a false dichotomy when it comes to drugs. When people are given drugs by a guy in a white coat with a piece of paper, suddenly, it's no longer an evil "drug" they're getting, but healing, magical, benevolent "medicine." People believe that drugs are safer, less addictive, and less "evil" when they're prescribed by a doctor as opposed to being bought from a gang member on the street. And they're partially right. You know exactly what you're getting when you buy prescription drugs and you can be assured that they're pure.
But that's all they're right about. For the most part, an opiate is an opiate, whether it 's oxy, codeine, heroin, fentanyl, or poppy tea. Aside from potency and duration, they're pretty much the same. Maybe the buzz is a little bit different. I wouldn't know. I've never abused opiates and plan not to.
Anyway, if it helps people realize that street drugs and prescriptions are alike, then that's great. The statement is wrong, and for us drug nerds, that annoys us. It's still a lie for the public, but at least it's a useful one. It goes back to "scare 'em straight with lies," like "ecstasy eats holes in your brain," but I see a bit less harm in it.
Edit: Maybe some deranged hippy will read that and think heroin is better than oxycodone because it's "natural."
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Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
-Commissioner Pravin Lal, "U.N. Declaration of Rights"
Edited by Odd_Nonposter (06/27/11 10:40 AM)
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TTT
Cultivate the inside
Registered: 08/07/06
Posts: 4,340
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: mikehauncho]
#14679287 - 06/27/11 12:16 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
mikehauncho said:
Quote:
sporophight said:
Quote:
Odd_Nonposter said:
The truth is heroin is little more than a natural form of oxycodone.
That doesn't sound correct to me. someone correct me if i'm wrong.
You are correct, its bad reporting. i think they meant that Oxycodone and be easily (for some chemists) converted to heroin... There is currently not a natural biological pathway that creates heroin (natural form) that we know of, but who knows maybe they'll engineer fungi to make heroin and we'll have natural heroin...
Dude, heroin is natural. Its refined from poppy pods, wtf. 
Oxycodone does not break down into morphine which is basically what heroin is. Morphine refined to pass the blood brain barrier faster.
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Humility
Working on it
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: TTT]
#14679551 - 06/27/11 01:26 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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The way I understand it, heroin would be neither natural nor synthetic but exists as a result of both worlds. It's not an extract like mescaline where you are simply defatting and binding already present chemicals to a molecule that will form a food-safe precipitate.
Rather, heroin, cocaine, meth, LSD etc. require numerous steps, only the firsts of which would be directly related to a "natural"/botanic substance. More synthetic than natural imo.
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Darwin23
INFJ
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: TTT]
#14680080 - 06/27/11 03:34 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
TTT said:
Dude, heroin is natural. Its refined from poppy pods, wtf.
It's about as natural as LSD. No plant naturally produces heroin. To make heroin poppy growers have to extract the morphine from the opium. Then they must react the morphine with something to add the acetyl groups. Heroin is diacetyl morphine.
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5-HT2A
Registered: 01/30/10
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: Darwin23]
#14680910 - 06/27/11 06:04 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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LOL what a dumb little fuck this author is.
First off, it implies heroin is worse than pills, which is not necessarily the case. It is not necessarily harder to quit. The entire article is essentially based on the false premises that heroin is especially evil and that humans are sinful, irrational, irresponsible child-like beings that need to be guided from above by totalitarian folks who are less capable of empathy than the general population.
Second, he uses the time honored and failed technique of personifying drugs. Drugs don't do anything, they don't kill or poison or anything else. They are molecules that sit in one place until a human being puts them in his body.
Similarly, pills did not "introduce" anyone to anything. And if that were true, addiction is the last thing I would be talking about. Rather, my first point would be to spread the word that I have pills that can talk. Profits from those suckers would put any drug dealer to shame.
Third, heroin is NOT a natural form of oxycodone. In fact, both are synthetic and are distinct substances. They are similar in strength and other qualities but an addict will tend to pick heroin for its superior ability to produce feelings of pleasure.
Fourth, there is no way in hell that every person under 30 who is abusing heroin started on pills. This guy thinks his personal inquiry is = to a scientific analysis.
Fifth, 85% of the country's Oxycontin is probably dispensed in Florida at least partially because it has the highest percentage of old people in the country.
CNN is a propaganda outlet intent on ruining the minds of anyone who is unfortunate enough to become addicted to its instant gratification, animal instinct satisfying philosophy. In that respect, CNN and all of its highly-centralized media buddies are little more than various forms of the most socially destructive drug in the history of the world, television.
Stick that in your veins Mariana van Zeller.
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Remix
grammer natze
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: 5-HT2A]
#14681525 - 06/27/11 08:07 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Drugs can make people do other drugs?
No! Please!? Say it's not true!
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LSDylan
Stoner
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: Remix]
#14682137 - 06/27/11 09:50 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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I have a friend who was always a pretty smart guy. He started popping dilaudid during our freshmen year of high school. By the end of our junior year he had started injecting heroin and stopped coming to school.
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   Rave | Drugs
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saxx
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: LSDylan] 1
#14682147 - 06/27/11 09:52 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
djr2150 said:
I have a friend who was always a pretty smart guy. He started popping dilaudid during our freshmen year of high school. By the end of our junior year he had started injecting heroin and stopped coming to school.
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sucking dick for drink tickets
at the free bar at my cousin's bat mitzvah
zappateer said:
I'm not wasting time at school. I'm gaining hella knowledge and life experience, not trying to use my degree for financial gain.
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DrMambo
hamburger time
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Re: Painkillers are a gateway to heroin [Re: saxx]
#14682360 - 06/27/11 10:24 PM (1 year, 10 months ago) |
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HOW IS THIS NEWS!?
strong prescription opiates make people crave more opiates
no-fucking-way
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"Yeah, he's a professor...... OF BEING A DOG!"
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