Local Heroin Epidemics

[lungs]

Anybody else seen a rising amount of Heroin addiction in your locales?

I'm not one that has been sheltered from drugs. I've done a lot of them, been around them, the whole nine yards. Heroin is one I've never done and will never do. I had an acquaintance OD and die my freshman year in college, but it more or less seemed like an isolated incident. There was what was called "China White" going around where people wouldn't call it heroin, but I looked it up to figure out what exactly it was going around and sure enough the guy I knew turned up dead a few weeks later.

Anyway, it just seems like an epidemic now in Wisconsin, specifically the Madison area. Seems like every day some heroin addict is passing out on the highways and plowing into other cars/people and today there was a report of a chaperone on a school field trip ODing in a bathroom (link (http://www.channel3000.com/news/29460075/detail.html).

Personal opinion, but I think a lot of this gets started by doctor's being overly happy to prescribe opiates. A few years back when I got kicked in the kneecap by a cow, the doctor gave me a one month supply of Vicodin for an injury where I was maybe sore for a day. Despite my past drug usage, I know the dangers of opiates and didn't allow myself to use much of the prescription at all (is ibuprofen so bad?).

An employee that quit a few months back aroused my suspicions due to his regressing as a worker and when we went out to clean his house he rented from us, we found his needle stash. That explained a lot to me.

Just wondering if this is a localized thing? I know heroin has been around, but it just seems like in the past two years the amount of ODs and OD deaths and accidents has just been completely out of control.

[Scoobz0202]

I live in a smaller town in Ohio and its really bad here. A new drug bust is regularly on the front page of the paper :(

[Scoobz0202]

dola -

We had a group of high school students get arrested a week or so ago for dealing heroin. I'm fairly certain this is a nationwide trend.

Alongside heroin we have morphine and meth, too.

[Ksyrup]

Meth is apparently huge here. I hear about meth busts every other night, it seems.

[Easy Mac]

What the hell is up with bath salts. My wife and her friend were talking about bath salts like I should know what they're about? I thought it was slang for something dumb, but no, it's literally bath salts.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Anyway, it just seems like an epidemic now in Wisconsin, specifically the Madison area. Seems like every day some heroin addict is passing out on the highways and plowing into other cars/people and today there was a report of a chaperone on a school field trip ODing in a bathroom (link (http://www.channel3000.com/news/29460075/detail.html).

One of my best friends is the current (and only) medical examiner in Dane County (where Madison is located). No wonder he's been so damned busy this year. I will have to ask them if there has been a spike in Herion-related deaths in that county and the surrounding counties he does autopsies for.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

What the hell is up with bath salts. My wife and her friend were talking about bath salts like I should know what they're about? I thought it was slang for something dumb, but no, it's literally bath salts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/us/17salts.html?pagewanted=all

[lungs]

One of my best friends is the current (and only) medical examiner in Dane County (where Madison is located). No wonder he's been so damned busy this year. I will have to ask them if there has been a spike in Herion-related deaths in that county and the surrounding counties he does autopsies for.

I can't find the stats offhand but I know 2010 doubled the record amount of heroin OD deaths in Dane County, and ODs overall and 2011 will surpass 2010. So yes, it's probably been pretty busy with him. Paramedics have also saved countless lives too. Usually a few every day and it really spikes on weekends.

[Rizon]

We don't have crime here so I don't know.

[Scoobz0202]

A lady I work with had a cousin die from bath salts six months ago (give or take). From her descriptions, it sounded horrific. Closed casket. Self-mutilation. Hotel heard screams. Terrible stuff.

[DanGarion]

They must be the 99%...

[Eaglesfan27]

Since I have been working in an er, I notice a massive drug problem in south jersey.

[lungs]

Since I have been working in an er, I notice a massive drug problem in south jersey.

Any insight on how and when narcotics are prescribed and whether doctors are becoming more stringent in what they prescribe and to who?

Like I said before, walked into an ER with a potentially serious knee injury which turned out to be nothing of consequence and even after having such information, doc prescribed me a good supply of Vicodin when the right thing to do would have probably been tell me to take a few ibuprofen.

[stevew]

We don't have crime here so I don't know.

I think it wa Jeff Ross who said that Al Davis was the first person ever to die of natural causes in Oakland

[Eaglesfan27]

Any insight on how and when narcotics are prescribed and whether doctors are becoming more stringent in what they prescribe and to who?

Like I said before, walked into an ER with a potentially serious knee injury which turned out to be nothing of consequence and even after having such information, doc prescribed me a good supply of Vicodin when the right thing to do would have probably been tell me to take a few ibuprofen.

We just had a meeting and we are going to become much more stringent on narcotic prescriptions at our ER. I think you will see ER's across the country doing similar things.

[tarcone]

Its bad in my area. The county I live in used to be the Meth capital of the USA. But local laws have cut down on the availability of cough meds. So Herion has come back with a vengence.

[MrBug708]

I think every local area has a county that is known for meth. Out here in LA, we make fun of Riverside County and the "909" for meth, even though San Diego tended to have more meth

[molson]

Maybe it's a decent sign for the economy if heroin is making a comeback.

[lungs]

Maybe it's a decent sign for the economy if heroin is making a comeback.

Pawn shops may be booming....

[lungs]

Also scrap iron and metal salvage.

[Autumn]

And oral surgeons.

[Dallasin2k3]

Any insight on how and when narcotics are prescribed and whether doctors are becoming more stringent in what they prescribe and to who?

Like I said before, walked into an ER with a potentially serious knee injury which turned out to be nothing of consequence and even after having such information, doc prescribed me a good supply of Vicodin when the right thing to do would have probably been tell me to take a few ibuprofen.

As an ER doc, I can count on one hand the number of times I have Rx'd more than 2-3 days worth of an opioid.

I also have seen the other side of the bath salt rage. The most striking thing to me is that the folks coming in with this stuff are strong as all get out. Had a 20 year old girl who weighed about 105 pounds who took, literally, 8 people to hold her down to get her in four point restraints. They become superhuman, and that's after your standard benzo doses...

[stevew]

Who needs heroin when you can huff poop fumes and get high? Paying for drugs is like paying for porn on the internets.

[RomaGoth]

I am possibly the only person on this board whom has never done drugs.

[Danny]

I am possibly the only person on this board whom has never done drugs.

I have not done illegal drugs. I do consume a decent amount of caffeine and occasionally drink.

[DanGarion]

I am possibly the only person on this board whom has never done drugs.

Nope, you aren't.

[britrock88]

I am possibly the only person on this board who[] has never done drugs.

Not quite.

[stevew]

I plan on smoking a whole bunch of weed once I get to a proper place in my career.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I plan on smoking a whole bunch of weed once I get to a proper place in my career.

Don't you know... that's a GATEWAY DRUG!

One puff and you'll wake up with a needle in your arm & Charlie Sheen's cell number tattooed on your abdomen.

It happens to everybody, yet nobody admits it.

Just drink & smoke cigarettes.... they're perfectly safe & don't lead to any other drugs at all.

(This post was in jest. The "gateway" concept is bullshinola. It's a huge leap from a joint to a fix, and it just so happens that those who are open to putting a needle in their vein are probably open to other less insane things.)

[Subby]

Nope, you aren't.
Some people do drugs. Some people eat their weight in fast food. Pick your vice and stfu about it.

[MacroGuru]

Some people do drugs. Some people eat their weight in fast food. Pick your vice and stfu about it.

Wow...:eek:

[gstelmack]

Some people do drugs. Some people eat their weight in fast food. Pick your vice and stfu about it.

People who eat their weight in fast food don't tend to pass out from heroin overdoses while driving and endanger everyone around them (as mentioned above).

[Rizon]

We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

People who eat their weight in fast food don't tend to pass out from heroin overdoses while driving and endanger everyone around them (as mentioned above).

ORLY (http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-07-19/local/17928504_1_drink-and-drive-drivers-study)

Though technically I guess you are right in that eating fast food DOES NOT correlate with passing out from heroin overdoses.

[Danny]

I thought cell phone usage was responsible for like 60%? So, does that mean like 50% of accidents have people using their phone and eating at the same time?

[Rizon]

What is the percentage of people who are eating, using a cell phone and on heron vs people eating/using cell phone vs people on cell phone and heron vs people just eating heron.

[Danny]

20%

[Passacaglia]

The study puts the other culprits in this order: soup, tacos, chili dogs, hamburgers, ribs and wings, fried chicken, jelly doughnuts, soda and chocolate.

I'm not sure if this is in ascending or descending order, but if hamburgers are between soup and ribs, it makes no sense.

[Danny]

Who the hell eats soup while driving

[Danny]

And Ribs? Wings? Really?

[DanGarion]

Some people do drugs. Some people eat their weight in fast food. Pick your vice and stfu about it.

Really... interesting. Glad I don't do either. Unsure why you decided to respond to my post. Since all I did was tell the OP that he isn't the only one that has never done drugs. I didn't judge people that do, nor did I say that I am for or against them. And how or why that relates to fast food I guess I'll never know, since your reply makes absolutely no sense.

[Galaxy]

We just had a meeting and we are going to become much more stringent on narcotic prescriptions at our ER. I think you will see ER's across the country doing similar things.

What kind of measures would you put in place to accomplish that?

[Galaxy]

Who the hell eats soup while driving

This is America. Go visit the Strange News Stories thread and you'll understand.

[stevew]

Who the hell eats soup while driving

Well, it's clearly the best food item at Tim Horton 's. KFC coleslaw is where I draw the line.