Prescription Drug Use Is Killing More People Than Heroin

[Bfgrn]

Nothing new there.

More people die of prescribed drugs than every died from non-prescrption drugs.

That's been true for at least the last four decades that I know of.

ZERO people died from Marijuana, incidently.

ZERO!

Amy Whinehouse was probably the least surprising personality to pass from drug abuse.

Whitney was in the top 5.

Which brings us to the dumbest comment of the day:

Tony Bennett:
"First it was Michael Jackson, then there was Amy Winehouse, and now the magnificent Whitney Houston. I'd like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get on government to legalize drugs.
“Tony Bennett Calls For Legalization Of Drugs Just Hours After Whitney Died | PerezHilton.com

Tony is right.

Ten years ago, Portugal became the first Western nation to pass full-scale, nationwide decriminalization. That law, passed Oct. 1, 2000, abolished criminal sanctions for all narcotics — not just marijuana but also "hard drugs" like heroin and cocaine.

This applies only to drugs for personal use; drug trafficking remains a criminal offense. There is now a decade's worth of empirical data on what actually happens — and does not happen — when criminal sanctions against drug possession are lifted.

By any metric, Portugal's drug-decriminalization scheme has been a resounding success.

Individuals caught with drugs in Portugal are no longer arrested or treated as criminals. Instead, they are sent to a tribunal of health professionals, where they are offered the opportunity, but are not compelled, to seek government-provided treatment.

For those found to be addicts, tribunals have the power to impose noncriminal sanctions. But in practice, the overriding goal is to direct people to treatment.

By any metric, Portugal's drug-decriminalization scheme has been a resounding success. Drug usage in many categories has decreased in absolute terms, including for key demographic groups, like 15-to-19-year-olds. Where usage rates have increased, the increases have been modest — far less than in most other European Union nations, which continue to use a criminalization approach.

Portugal, whose drug problems were among the worst in Europe, now has the lowest usage rate for marijuana and one of the lowest for cocaine. Drug-related pathologies, including HIV transmission, hepatitis transmission and drug-related deaths, have declined significantly.

Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.

The Cato paper reports that between 2001 and 2006 in Portugal, rates of lifetime use of any illegal drug among seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%; drug use in older teens also declined. Lifetime heroin use among 16-to-18-year-olds fell from 2.5% to 1.8% (although there was a slight increase in marijuana use in that age group). New HIV infections in drug users fell by 17% between 1999 and 2003, and deaths related to heroin and similar drugs were cut by more than half. In addition, the number of people on methadone and buprenorphine treatment for drug addiction rose to 14,877 from 6,040, after decriminalization, and money saved on enforcement allowed for increased funding of drug-free treatment as well.

Read more: Decriminalizing Drugs in Portugal a Success, Says Report - TIME

 

[Katzndogz]

Prescription drug use kills no one. It's prescription drug abuse. It's not the doctor who overprescribes medication, it's the addict that shops three or four doctors to get several prescriptions.

Drug addicts tend to be democrats and liberals. They should have unrestricted access to any kind of medication or drug they wish.

 

[Bfgrn]

Prescription drug use kills no one. It's prescription drug abuse. It's not the doctor who overprescribes medication, it's the addict that shops three or four doctors to get several prescriptions.

Drug addicts tend to be democrats and liberals. They should have unrestricted access to any kind of medication or drug they wish.

You're a fucking asshole. Drug addiction is neither liberal or conservative. But what we do about it differs. Liberals believe in rehabilitation and helping people. Conservatives believe in punishing people and incarceration.

 

[Katzndogz]

Prescription drug use kills no one. It's prescription drug abuse. It's not the doctor who overprescribes medication, it's the addict that shops three or four doctors to get several prescriptions.

Drug addicts tend to be democrats and liberals. They should have unrestricted access to any kind of medication or drug they wish.

You're a fucking asshole. Drug addiction is neither liberal or conservative. But what we do about it differs. Liberals believe in rehabilitation and helping people. Conservatives believe in punishing people and incarceration.

There is no such thing as rehabilitation. Accept it. We have not recognized drug use as the benefit it is. Leglize it all, unrestricted, free if at all possible and let the self-extinction trend continue. We see the deaths of celebrities but do not see the deaths of thousands of others who remain nameless and faceless. Not only do users die, they die young. One of my Chinese friends told me that they are for complete legalization "for you, not for us".

By all means, let's help users even more. Help them become users, remain users and die early.

 

[Peach]

Nothing new there.

More people die of prescribed drugs than every died from non-prescrption drugs.

That's been true for at least the last four decades that I know of.

ZERO people died from Marijuana, incidently.

ZERO!

Amy Whinehouse was probably the least surprising personality to pass from drug abuse.

Whitney was in the top 5.

Which brings us to the dumbest comment of the day:

Tony Bennett:
"First it was Michael Jackson, then there was Amy Winehouse, and now the magnificent Whitney Houston. I'd like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get on government to legalize drugs.
“Tony Bennett Calls For Legalization Of Drugs Just Hours After Whitney Died | PerezHilton.com

That statement was rather useless; Bennett may not be the best person to speak out against drug abuse. Prescription drugs are so regulated in Florida, some cannot get needed medication. All physicians keep logs of amounts and individuals prescribed.

 

[Peach]

Prescription drug use kills no one. It's prescription drug abuse. It's not the doctor who overprescribes medication, it's the addict that shops three or four doctors to get several prescriptions.

Drug addicts tend to be democrats and liberals. They should have unrestricted access to any kind of medication or drug they wish.

You're a fucking asshole. Drug addiction is neither liberal or conservative. But what we do about it differs. Liberals believe in rehabilitation and helping people. Conservatives believe in punishing people and incarceration.

There is no such thing as rehabilitation. Accept it. We have not recognized drug use as the benefit it is. Leglize it all, unrestricted, free if at all possible and let the self-extinction trend continue. We see the deaths of celebrities but do not see the deaths of thousands of others who remain nameless and faceless. Not only do users die, they die young. One of my Chinese friends told me that they are for complete legalization "for you, not for us".

By all means, let's help users even more. Help them become users, remain users and die early.

Drug addicts tend to be democrats and liberals.
***************************************
Rush Buttpimple turned doctor shopping into an art before he was caught. Prescription drug abuse is seen in all racial, political, gender and income groups, at least in the area in which I live.

 

[Katzndogz]

Portugal should be the model for liberals to follow.

Bailed-out Portugal's Jobless Rate Hits New Record - ABC News
Weak Educational System Hobbles Portugal - WSJ.com

Oh, wait, Portugal IS the model for liberals! High drug use, chronic joblessness and an almost total illiteracy.

There is no way to fight this. Take the position of the Chinese. Legalized drugs "for you not us".

 

[hortysir]

We need to make those drugs harder to get for those who really need them.

And easier for everyone that doesn't need them

 

[munnu444]

Niggas bleed *SAD*

 

[Bfgrn]

Portugal should be the model for liberals to follow.

Bailed-out Portugal's Jobless Rate Hits New Record - ABC News
Weak Educational System Hobbles Portugal - WSJ.com

Oh, wait, Portugal IS the model for liberals! High drug use, chronic joblessness and an almost total illiteracy.

There is no way to fight this. Take the position of the Chinese. Legalized drugs "for you not us".

Portugal's decriminalizing policy has worked by any measure.

Here are some FACTS for your fucked up little pea...

• It cost taxpayers upward of $30,000 per inmate per year to incarcerate them.
  
  
• Portugal is a conservative country.

Portugal, whose drug problems were among the worst in Europe, now has the lowest usage rate for marijuana and one of the lowest for cocaine. Drug-related pathologies, including HIV transmission, hepatitis transmission and drug-related deaths, have declined significantly.

Beyond the data, Portugal's success with decriminalization is illustrated by the absence of political agitation for a return to criminalization. As one might expect for a socially conservative and predominantly Roman Catholic country, the decriminalization proposal sparked intense controversy a decade ago.
Cato Institute

 

[Cecilie1200]

Prescription Drug Use Is Killing More People Than Heroin

Looking back it becomes apparent that more of the famous have died from legal drugs than illegal drugs.

So much talent wasted by the use of sedatives and various other types of prescription drugs.

Marilyn Monroe, Billy Holiday, Anna Nichol Smith, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, etc. all died from prescription drugs.


Links

18 Celebrities Who Died from Prescription Drugs
List of drug-related deaths - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, yeah. They're a lot easier and cheaper to come by, AND you're less likely to get arrested for possession.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Nothing new there.

More people die of prescribed drugs than every died from non-prescrption drugs.

That's been true for at least the last four decades that I know of.

ZERO people died from Marijuana, incidently.

ZERO!

Amy Whinehouse was probably the least surprising personality to pass from drug abuse.

Whitney was in the top 5.

As if we would ever know if anyone died from marijuana use, considering that they'd be lumped into "Smoking-Related Deaths" and blamed on tobacco.

 

[Cecilie1200]

PHARMAGEDDON

Pharmageddon has been defined as, "the prospect of a world in which medicines and medicine produce more ill-health than health, and when medical progress does more harm than good".



~S~

That brings to mind;

He who increases knowledge, increases sorrow.

Is that the flip side of "Ignorance is bliss"?

 

[Katzndogz]

Portugal should be the model for liberals to follow.

Bailed-out Portugal's Jobless Rate Hits New Record - ABC News
Weak Educational System Hobbles Portugal - WSJ.com

Oh, wait, Portugal IS the model for liberals! High drug use, chronic joblessness and an almost total illiteracy.

There is no way to fight this. Take the position of the Chinese. Legalized drugs "for you not us".

Portugal's decriminalizing policy has worked by any measure.

Here are some FACTS for your fucked up little pea...

• It cost taxpayers upward of $30,000 per inmate per year to incarcerate them.
  
  
• Portugal is a conservative country.

Portugal, whose drug problems were among the worst in Europe, now has the lowest usage rate for marijuana and one of the lowest for cocaine. Drug-related pathologies, including HIV transmission, hepatitis transmission and drug-related deaths, have declined significantly.

Beyond the data, Portugal's success with decriminalization is illustrated by the absence of political agitation for a return to criminalization. As one might expect for a socially conservative and predominantly Roman Catholic country, the decriminalization proposal sparked intense controversy a decade ago.
Cato Institute

I am ABSOLUTELY for full drug legalization, totally free.

There are two benefits of legalized drugs that are undeniable, they die, and they die young. Well Whitney Houston was 48, so that's kind of old, but mostly they don't make it to 30. Heath Ledger, James Belushi, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Kurt Kobain. We know about them, but every day addicts are taking hot shots. If we can double or triple the doses these addicts take, we'll be that much ahead. Give them all they can handle and then some.

Not to mention what the cartels would do when their lucrative practices dry up.

I don't much blame Portugal, they have to take drugs, there's no work and they can't even sit down to read a book. All they have is drugs to alleviate their otherwise miserable existences.

 

[Defiant1]

The herd does need thinning from time to time.

 

[Bfgrn]

Portugal should be the model for liberals to follow.

Bailed-out Portugal's Jobless Rate Hits New Record - ABC News
Weak Educational System Hobbles Portugal - WSJ.com

Oh, wait, Portugal IS the model for liberals! High drug use, chronic joblessness and an almost total illiteracy.

There is no way to fight this. Take the position of the Chinese. Legalized drugs "for you not us".

Portugal's decriminalizing policy has worked by any measure.

Here are some FACTS for your fucked up little pea...

• It cost taxpayers upward of $30,000 per inmate per year to incarcerate them.
  
  
• Portugal is a conservative country.

Portugal, whose drug problems were among the worst in Europe, now has the lowest usage rate for marijuana and one of the lowest for cocaine. Drug-related pathologies, including HIV transmission, hepatitis transmission and drug-related deaths, have declined significantly.

Beyond the data, Portugal's success with decriminalization is illustrated by the absence of political agitation for a return to criminalization. As one might expect for a socially conservative and predominantly Roman Catholic country, the decriminalization proposal sparked intense controversy a decade ago.
Cato Institute

I am ABSOLUTELY for full drug legalization, totally free.

There are two benefits of legalized drugs that are undeniable, they die, and they die young. Well Whitney Houston was 48, so that's kind of old, but mostly they don't make it to 30. Heath Ledger, James Belushi, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Kurt Kobain. We know about them, but every day addicts are taking hot shots. If we can double or triple the doses these addicts take, we'll be that much ahead. Give them all they can handle and then some.

Not to mention what the cartels would do when their lucrative practices dry up.

I don't much blame Portugal, they have to take drugs, there's no work and they can't even sit down to read a book. All they have is drugs to alleviate their otherwise miserable existences.

I would rather help any of the people you name and refer to. You are the human trash, not them. Anyone with that little regard for another human is a danger to society. I am sure you have no children, and if you did, having a scum bag like you for a parent would make them the most likely to do drugs.

Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
Edmund Burke

 

[Cuyo]

Prescription Drug Use Is Killing More People Than Heroin

Looking back it becomes apparent that more of the famous have died from legal drugs than illegal drugs.

So much talent wasted by the use of sedatives and various other types of prescription drugs.

Marilyn Monroe, Billy Holiday, Anna Nichol Smith, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, etc. all died from prescription drugs.


Links

18 Celebrities Who Died from Prescription Drugs
List of drug-related deaths - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Very true. The same thing is oft said about alcoholism and cigarette smoking.

But it's not because these things are more dangerous than heroine, it's just that their use is much more widespread.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Marijuana never killed anyone, just the actions that they or someone with them took after smoking it.........

Any drug that takes over your mind, changes your reactions, and makes you high, can get you killed.

 

[Katzndogz]

Marijuana never killed anyone, just the actions that they or someone with them took after smoking it.........

Any drug that takes over your mind, changes your reactions, and makes you high, can get you killed.

Yeah, last year my step granddaughter was high on marijuana and forgot she had her two year old with her. The toddler was hit by a car in a 7-11 parking lot. The child lived, but her leg was crushed and she will walk with a imp for the rest of her life. But hey, pot never hurt anyone.

I give Whitney Houston's daughter six months.

Bobbi Kristina Brown Found Getting High After Whitney

Whitney Houston’s daughter disappeared for several hours after her mother’s funeral—and was found using drugs, according to two sources close to the family.

 

[Katzndogz]

Portugal's decriminalizing policy has worked by any measure.

Here are some FACTS for your fucked up little pea...

• It cost taxpayers upward of $30,000 per inmate per year to incarcerate them.
  
  
• Portugal is a conservative country.

Portugal, whose drug problems were among the worst in Europe, now has the lowest usage rate for marijuana and one of the lowest for cocaine. Drug-related pathologies, including HIV transmission, hepatitis transmission and drug-related deaths, have declined significantly.

Beyond the data, Portugal's success with decriminalization is illustrated by the absence of political agitation for a return to criminalization. As one might expect for a socially conservative and predominantly Roman Catholic country, the decriminalization proposal sparked intense controversy a decade ago.
Cato Institute

I am ABSOLUTELY for full drug legalization, totally free.

There are two benefits of legalized drugs that are undeniable, they die, and they die young. Well Whitney Houston was 48, so that's kind of old, but mostly they don't make it to 30. Heath Ledger, James Belushi, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Kurt Kobain. We know about them, but every day addicts are taking hot shots. If we can double or triple the doses these addicts take, we'll be that much ahead. Give them all they can handle and then some.

Not to mention what the cartels would do when their lucrative practices dry up.

I don't much blame Portugal, they have to take drugs, there's no work and they can't even sit down to read a book. All they have is drugs to alleviate their otherwise miserable existences.

I would rather help any of the people you name and refer to. You are the human trash, not them. Anyone with that little regard for another human is a danger to society. I am sure you have no children, and if you did, having a scum bag like you for a parent would make them the most likely to do drugs.

Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
Edmund Burke

Only a totally worthless and cruel parent would teach a child not to take drugs. Only a parent totally scum would teach a child that drugs are harmful. Oh GOODY. I'm sure my son is scarred for life that I did not pass on an appropriate drug addiction to him.

Let's give Whitney Houston a posthumous mother of the year award.