you're right, all tackling drug supply has done is...*looks up what happened* shift commonly used opioids from laudanum/opium, to heroin, to fentanyl, to carfentanil, whilst also *subsidising* boundlessly violent transnational criminal organisations and fucking up Central Americahttps://twitter.com/KeithNHumphreys/status/1043161484035993600 …
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("used appropriately" includes "not using with alcohol or benzodiazepines", and the overwhelming majority of "opioid deaths" in US involved benzos and/or EtOH as well)
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(US prescribing practices are bad, lots of doctors/surgeons like to prescribe them as a way to fob off patients or avoid repeat/complicated visits or w/e, but the flip to "opioids are now hard to get even for patients who legit need them and use them without incident" is bad too)
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The most important thing that you can get from reading handbooks on healthcare economics is that people often don't care about effective and "good" healthcare and medicine. Neither usual consumer nor doctors.
End of conversation
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I think if I had to condense it to one tweet, here's a hard fact. Opioid withdrawal isn't life-threatening. It isn't even particularly unpleasant, it basically feels like flu. There is no reason a regular human cannot just sit through opioid withdrawal with a cup of tea.
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To compare, alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal are medical emergencies and easily lead to death. And at least in the US, there are lots of doctors that prescribe benzodiazepines for long-term management of anxiety, which is incredibly irresponsible and often makes it worse
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Most of the stereotypical horrible symptoms of opioid withdrawal is just chronic pain returning in full force after months or years of not feeling it. Imagine how a herniated disc must feel if it suddenly snaps back into existence.
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Honestly no explanation needed. If I have 2 people whom I know to be more knowledgeable than me here telling me I'm wrong, I don't have the background or evidence to contradict and won't until I personally do my own research.
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Tbh trust you and
@alt_kia's combined knowledge more than I trust an old memory of an interaction with a friend who's a medical professional. Prior to this I had no contra-indicators to demonstrate that common rhetoric on opioids was wrong, so I appreciate the input.
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