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veggie

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA]
#7589757 - 11/02/07 10:50 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses November 2, 2007 - New York Times
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts officials will soon begin giving heroin addicts kits that include medication to treat overdoses.
Each kit contains two doses of the medication Narcan, which is squirted up the nose of someone who has overdosed. A single dose of the drug, known generically as naloxone, costs about $20.
The program, to begin in December and inspired by distributions in Boston, Chicago and New York, does not have the support of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and some advocates in the field, including former heroin users.
Some paramedics and the White House office question whether it is safe for one addict to administer medical treatment to another. Others said the distribution of Narcan encouraged continued heroin use and delayed entry into treatment.
But supporters say the kits will help treat overdoses quickly.
“It’s a remarkably safe drug,” said Dr. Peter Moyer, medical director for Boston’s fire, police, and emergency medical services.
Heroin and other opiates killed 544 people in Massachusetts in 2005, more than double the number killed by firearms.
Strong demand and low prices make heroin a popular street drug in New England. At $5 or $6 for a small bag, heroin can cost less than a six-pack of beer.
“It’s the perfect storm in all the wrong directions,” said Kevin Norton, president of CAB Health and Recovery Services, which will work with the state to provide the kits. “We talk about availability, price and potency of the drug.”
The state estimates that the kit campaign, which is being treated as a test run, will cost less than $50,000 and enroll 450 users.
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Flipz
Universal Cynic


Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 188
Loc: Midwest
Last seen: 16 years, 2 months
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: veggie]
#7589976 - 11/03/07 12:40 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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5 or 6$ a bag? shit, good thing I dident live there when I was an addict, I probably would have never ran out of money and got sober.
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Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. -Buddha
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides


Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: Flipz]
#7589988 - 11/03/07 12:46 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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It's probably pretty cheap now, thanks to Afghanistan.
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Visionary Tools



Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 7,953
Last seen: 1 year, 7 months
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: Le_Canard]
#7590180 - 11/03/07 04:19 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Hey hey hey! The Afghani farmers would never have been able to make so much without the dedicated work of our heros in the UK and US liberating them from their government and lives.
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robd007
young hippie

Registered: 07/08/07
Posts: 9
Loc: Long Island
Last seen: 16 years, 19 days
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: Visionary Tools]
#7590194 - 11/03/07 04:48 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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yea 8 bucks a bag...until u need multiple bundles to get you through the day without getting sick...tolerance builds quickly.
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Riboflavin



Registered: 03/05/05
Posts: 1,388
Loc: Midwestish
Last seen: 3 months, 9 days
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: veggie]
#7590531 - 11/03/07 09:41 AM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Others said the distribution of Narcan encouraged continued heroin use and delayed entry into treatment
To even think of denying someone a potentially lifesaving drug. Some people need to be slapped.
-------------------- All that groks is God.
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evolprim
human



Registered: 05/07/06
Posts: 1,226
Last seen: 8 years, 2 months
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: Riboflavin]
#7591955 - 11/03/07 06:05 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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lol, that is just ridiclous.
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GGreatOne234
Stranger
Registered: 12/23/99
Posts: 8,946
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: veggie]
#7592586 - 11/03/07 09:10 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
which is squirted up the nose of someone who has overdosed
That seems a lot better than compared to the scene in Pulp Fiction, slamming a big needle into the heart.:)
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Visionary Tools



Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 7,953
Last seen: 1 year, 7 months
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: GGreatOne234]
#7592744 - 11/03/07 09:58 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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I keep looking over this. And I keep thinking of giving junkies kids trained in first aid and overdose aid.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: Visionary Tools]
#7593028 - 11/03/07 11:18 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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so I forget what drug narcan is... but I'm sure its scheduled. How are they complying w/ the controlled substance act? Who's prescribing these?
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 21,287
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
Last seen: 5 months, 23 days
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: johnm214]
#7594889 - 11/04/07 02:58 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Narcan is not scheduled.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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beneath
One Way Street


Registered: 10/30/07
Posts: 1,239
Loc: The un-united kingdom
Last seen: 11 years, 7 months
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Re: Kits to Fight Heroin Overdoses [MA] [Re: Riboflavin]
#7595064 - 11/04/07 03:50 PM (16 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Riboflavin said:
Quote:
Others said the distribution of Narcan encouraged continued heroin use and delayed entry into treatment
To even think of denying someone a potentially lifesaving drug. Some people need to be slapped.
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