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    LOREM IPSUMHillary Crosley Coker
    1/04/16 7:41pm

    I know that in my neck of the woods, some of the heroin overdoses are happening because the heroin has been cut with fentanyl, making it stronger than the users are expecting. So what is it that makes this Hollywood so lethal, then? Is it cut with a stronger drug like fentanyl?

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      friendlyfeministharpyLOREM IPSUM
      1/04/16 7:47pm

      That hot batch with fentanyl has done real damage to NH.

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      dave_geekLOREM IPSUM
      1/04/16 7:47pm

      From past overdose epidemics I’ve seen it’s either cut with something like fentanyl or it’s the opposite and the heroin is really freaking pure so people wind up with more heroin in their usual dose size. In the past it was usually the purity issue as dealers would try to attract customers with how pure their heroin was. Lately it seems to be fentanyl, certainly that’s the case out here on the West Coast.

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    fennelbreathHillary Crosley Coker
    1/04/16 7:53pm

    I grew up in this area and never noticed much evidence of a heroin problem (and this area’s poverty and crime problems are very, very obvious). Am I oblivious or is the drug culture further underground than I’ve ever seen?

    Granted, I don’t live there anymore, but 90% of my friends and family do and I go back a lot.

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      barnaclesfennelbreath
      1/04/16 7:59pm

      I currently live in MA and it is becoming a bigger and bigger problem, especially recently.

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      fennelbreathbarnacles
      1/04/16 8:00pm

      What part, if you don’t mind me asking? I grew up in Western MA and get crazy homesick.

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    PoodletimeHillary Crosley Coker
    1/04/16 7:52pm

    As a resident of MA, the thing that irks me the most is the backlash on ordinary pain patients of the heroin/opioid epidemic. It’s become outrageously difficult to get even 10 percocet, from doctors you know, who know you and why you need them, because they are afraid of getting a visit from the DEA. It’s time to legalize these kinds of drugs, so that buyers know what they are getting ( I was in a marijuana dispensary in CO recently, and it was amazing how much the sales reps knew about each strain, and the symptoms it was suited for, or the high you could get from it.) Imagine that you could buy heroin legally, knowing exactly how potent it was, and could adjust your dose based on how much you had taken recently and what was more likely to be well-tolerated. How much safer would that be? Not to mention that it would take the pressure off of pain patients like me, and off my doctors, too. Plus, it would make it easier for drug treatment programs to use medications to wean people off heroin when they are ready. Legalize it!

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      TravelgrrlPoodletime
      1/04/16 7:58pm

      Am I wrong, or wouldn’t heroin users need larger and larger amounts (or stronger doses) to get high over time?

      As they stepped up the doses, would there be a subsequent amount of overdoses due to that? Or have I just watched Trainspotting too many times?

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      DavidBowieIsMyPowerAnimalPoodletime
      1/04/16 8:02pm

      This!

      My mom had a massive reconstructed surgery and was given bullshit pain medicine. A 67 year old woman, with a history of big surgeries and chronic d generative disease, and the doctor won’t give her necessary medicine for decent pain control bc teenage junkies are causing trouble down the road. Jesus.

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    randilynisFINDILYNHillary Crosley Coker
    1/04/16 7:34pm

    One of the craziest little “factoids” that I’ve picked up (probably watching Drugs, Inc.) is that lethal brands of heroin wind up becoming insanely in demand. Once the word is out that it’s caused an overdose people search for it.

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      HippieChickrandilynisFINDILYN
      1/04/16 7:37pm

      What the hell?! WHY. I had a friend from HS die of a heroin overdose. shit doesn’t fuck around. it’s terrifying.

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      randilynisFINDILYNHippieChick
      1/04/16 7:39pm

      Because the users assume it’s a better high (higher purity?). I think there’s also a death wish element.

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    DurbanPoison'sHillbillyCatHillary Crosley Coker
    1/04/16 8:10pm

    This is bad. Heroin is everywhere. I am struggling to stay away from it everyday. I have overdosed, once not that long ago, and it has ruined so much of my life, and still I crave it. I wouldn't wish addiction on my worst enemy and my only hope is I gather the strength to stay away from it. I started using when I was very young and extremely naive. I regret it everyday.

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      PoodletimeDurbanPoison'sHillbillyCat
      1/04/16 8:30pm

      Please stay strong. We need you. Blessings on you, internet stranger.

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      accordingtoDurbanPoison'sHillbillyCat
      1/04/16 8:47pm

      Would you be comfortable telling us how you got started? I’m always very curious about that, and how young people can be prevented from starting in the future.

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    peasandriceHillary Crosley Coker
    1/04/16 8:15pm

    I have no background public health issues, but “63 percent increase in opioid-related overdoses from 2012 to 2014” sounds like a major spike. What causes something like this?

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      Poodletimepeasandrice
      1/04/16 8:29pm

      Well, part of that is a misnomer, because most people who are addicted are not misusing commercial opioid preparations, but have moved on to heroin, because it’s cheaper. Part of it is that people’s deaths are being reported more accurately. Part of it, sadly, is also that, as more people try to quit, their risk of dying from an O.D. goes up. If a person has been dried out for more than few days, their tolerance is reduced. If they start shooting up again, they often mistake the dose they need and O.D. at that point. That’s why medication-assisted drug treatment needs to be cheap and routinely available.

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      accordingtoPoodletime
      1/04/16 8:41pm

      I’ve heard that some of the methadone clinics are basically just legal, profit-driven drug dealers with no intention of helping people get sober, just keeping them on the hook with methadone...

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    Selfie-consciousHillary Crosley Coker
    1/04/16 7:46pm

    I have tried a few ‘things’ but heroin has always been on my nope list. Scares the bejeezez out of me.

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      ParkerPosaholicSelfie-conscious
      1/04/16 8:17pm

      Same here. Meth makes the short list as well.

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      FoxyJParkerPosaholic
      1/05/16 5:40am

      PCP completes my Big Three Hell No s

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    ZhiBaChu: Awkward DetectiveHillary Crosley Coker
    1/04/16 7:38pm

    It’s awful, especially on the South Shore and the Cape. I don’t know a single person here who doesn’t know a story about someone effected by the heorin problem. Lost a cousin to an OD. Seen people narcaned. It’s horrific to watch. And it seems like nothing is helping - just rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.

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      kayZhiBaChu: Awkward Detective
      1/04/16 7:43pm

      That is exactly how it feels. I grew up in the GBA and have watched a lot of people I love die.

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      ThisIsAnExParrotZhiBaChu: Awkward Detective
      1/04/16 7:46pm

      Narcan is kind of awesome to watch, though, no? I mean in the true definition of awesome

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    barnaclesHillary Crosley Coker
    1/04/16 7:56pm

    This is a huge problem in MA and it’s actually quite close to home. A former friend of mine somewhat recently “tried” heroin. And it was one of many reasons why I said nope, no thanks, goodbye. She was already a TERRIBLE friend without heroin, and I don't know if she's done anymore since then, but that's one rabbit hole I'm not going down. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but I put me first, and everyone else comes very closely after...

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      jemandthehologramsHillary Crosley Coker
      1/04/16 8:02pm

      One of my staff’s husband just od’d on heroin. It’s fucking awful. I know that saying stay away from it doesn’t really make any difference but please please get help if you need it. This poor woman is destroyed. Don't do that to the ones who love you.

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