Fatal drug overdoses increased 38 percent in Virginia between 2015 and 2016, an alarming jump that state health officials attribute to abuse of synthetic opioids, heroin and prescription fentanyl.
A new report from the state medical examiner found an even bigger increase — 175 percent — in deaths from several varieties of fentanyl, a pain medication significantly more potent than morphine.
At least 1,420 people died in Virginia last year of drug overdoses, the fourth year that drugs have outpaced motor vehicle accidents and gun-related incidents as the leading cause of unnatural death in the state. The state Health Department warned that the figure may be understating the reality, because the cause of death has not yet been certified for 60 cases from 2016.
Virginia is not alone in this crisis; in 2014, more than 28,000 people died of opioid overdoses across the country. Heroin deaths have tripled since 2010, with 10,500 deaths in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This year, the Virginia General Assembly passed bills that legalize needle-exchange programs, because intravenous drug users are fueling a rise in hepatitis C and HIV infections; introduce initiatives to increase access to naloxone; change opioid prescription policies; and provide services to infants exposed to opioids in utero.
opiate use is the most degenerate drug out there. WORSE THAN ANY OTHER DRUG opiate abusers need the gas chamber
Easton Price
And they're all dumbass rural whites!
Feels good man.
Gabriel Perry
MDMA and cocaine are the only Sup Forums approved drugs
Jaxon Price
>archive.is/ksuSJ This crisis is not restricted to rural Virginia, where some who injured themselves doing heavy physical labor took prescription opioids for pain and became addicted. In urban areas of the state, fentanyl knockoffs and heroin are the major problem, both health officials said.
Elijah Roberts
its because your doctors prescribe pills like candy. all so they can get their monthly paycheck from the pharma companies
Levi Perry
Good, those are my favorite.
Nolan Cox
3 people I knew from high school have died from that.
Juan Reyes
The boomers don't care... they see it as the less millennials relevant, the better the boomer's next 20 years of their end life will be.
You are all experiencing generational warfare.
As much as people might think it's "just" class warfare, it isn't. I don't know too many generation x people are treat millennials as awful as the boomers do.
Logan Diaz
What state do you live in?
Logan Collins
>How can we deal with the Opiate epidemic? Kratom. it's legal and should be distributed in hospitals. I take it, as a recreation drug, and it is safe as coffee. Many heroin addicts already take it when they're trying to quit. It's a non-addictive substance, I've quit it twice now to cleanse my system for 2 weeks and have never had withdrawal symptoms
Joseph Phillips
This white privilege sure looks good.
Eli Walker
>feeling sympathy for addicts
Nope, not even for a second. I don't want it to be stopped, I want the weak willed fuckheads addicted to this shit to just OD and die. I've never seen one of these fucks come off the drug without having their family pour shitloads of money into their parasitic leech asses, give them a place to stay, feed them, and then have the ungrateful shits turn around and steal something from them to hock it for some more dope money like some useless nigger.
Fuck them, and fuck any addict. And that includes the weak willed fucks who can't keep their lips off a bottle too.
John Rivera
What about kids who get hooked on pills? If your attitude is just let them die how does that stop kids whose brains haven't finished developing yet from dying needlessly from fooling around with drugs?
We know addiction is triggered by over expression of genes in response to exposure to dopaminergic substances now.
Brayden Ortiz
>whose brains haven't finished developing yet
think of the children.
well no. any 12 year old who is in a decent family and is not clinically retarded knows that drugs are not for kids. I did. and like lots of idiots I went through that phase from about 17-20 WHEN MY BRAIN WAS DEVELOPED but I thought doing dangerous drugs was fun.
I survived. If I had died then tough luck. The whole "children" aspect of drug abuse is just plain bullshit. 12 year old heroin addicts are from such a fucked up place that they are lost already, drugs or not.
Nicholas Cook
Brains do not finish developing until the late 20s.
Jose Powell
what about DMT?
Nolan Ross
give me a fucking break. how old are you? Are you 20+ and still think your brain is not capable of making a decision about something like heroin? Do you still try to fly off the roof with a bath towel for a superman cape?
Dominic Green
It often starts a bit more gradually user. People try a pain pill given to them by a doctor or at a party, like the feel, repeat till their brain and body is hooked and they need something cheaper and stronger to keep the buzz. It isn't like most people start off shooting heroin. The advanced decision-making parts of our brains are not fully formed until our late 20s.
Its easy to think, oh I need these pills because I just had surgery or I have a back injury and it goes from there.
John Cruz
Apparently you can't read. ZERO SYMPATHY, NONE. That includes "muh sweet children." Garbage parents raising trash kids who will amount to nothing of any value.
I'll just say this: If I could avoid drugs and alcohol while growing up; any kid can.
Samuel Brown
Did you ever have a surgery or injury severe enough to require opiate medication? Just because your life circumstances are different than others doesn't somehow make you morally superior.
Connor Ward
>How can we deal with the Opiate epidemic? We raise wages and salaries. CEOs, executives and shareholders learn to live on less.
Julian White
Fuck off with your holier than thou shit. You want moral superiority here? You got it. Take it. You're talking to someone who gives zero fucks about any addict regardless of the circumstances.
You think every addict is some poor helpless child who got addicted to pain meds because they got ran over by a bus? Why not say this, "Did you ever give into peer pressure at school when Tyrone lil'nigger was lookin' cool and you weren't?" I'll tell you why, because it's not the best case scenario for you to play up the victim card and push your narrative.
ZERO sympathy. Even to the kids who got fucking smeared into the pavement by a truck.
Jaxson White
I don't get why Sup Forums thinks being so autistic you lack empathy is somehow a positive trait.
Xavier Baker
...
Kevin Russell
>like the feel, repeat
This is the start of the rot. Taking the drug for something other than its intended purpose.
Don't do it. That's it. Just don't do it.
Carson Butler
Assume they take it for a month as prescribed and by then their body is habituated to it. Many doctors are poorly trained on addiction and patients are often afraid to be open with their doctors about how they have become dependent on a drug.
You do get that our bodies can signal us to ingest drugs as powerfully as they tell us to drink water or eat food, right?
Jordan Kelly
i had reconstructive surgery on my shoulder long ago and i was given maybe a months worth of oxycontin , after that i was given percocets for 2-3 months. i was naive and didnt really understand what i was getting into as i had never been addicted to pills before. when i stopped using them i was so angry and i couldnt shit for literally about 2 weeks. dealing with that was probably much worse than the pain i had from surgery.
Joseph Martin
>How can we deal with the Opiate epidemic?
Get rid of the DEA and decriminalize all drugs.
It's a pretty big redpill that a lot of Sup Forums refuses to swallow, but that's the only way you're going to end the epidemic. Prohibition policy is what drives all this shit, it creates cartels and drives crime and overdosing.
Anthony Hill
Get big pharma and the average AMA trained doctor out of the pain management business. Stop making medicinal plants like cannabis and poppies illegal. Problem solved.
