Holder: Heroin An 'Urgent Public Health Crisis'

[FrodosPet]

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/politics/article/Holder-Heroin-an-urgent-public-health-crisis-5302794.php

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder is calling the increase in heroin-related deaths an "urgent public health crisis" and says first responders should carry with them drugs to reverse the effects of an overdose.

In a video message being released Monday by the Justice Department, Holder says addiction to opiates and heroin is affecting Americans in all states and from "every background and walk of life."

The attorney general says the number of heroin overdose deaths rose by 45 percent from 2006 to 2010. He says federal law enforcement is working to address the problem but more work is needed on education, prevention and treatment.

Perhaps if heroin was legalized and sold at less than half of black market prices in carefully controlled doses, with the use monitored by health professionals at modern, clean, secure heroin dens, there would be fewer deaths and less crime by people needing the money to score?

I've even started working on a commercial:

"Forget the hillbilly heroin, folks! At 'Happy Harry's House Of Horse', we've got the THE REAL DEAL!!! From 'Black Tar' to 'China White', we've got your stash without grabbing all your cash! Remember, 'Happy's House Of Horse' on Route 7, right between 'Hobby Lobby' and 'The Olive Garden'."

[Romulox]

1. In other words, with the impending legalization of pot, Holder's group of skull-crackers needs work.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Yep, there's a "Crisis", alright!

That $$$$$60 Billion Dollar a year gravy train aint gonna justify itself, you know!

[tridim]

2. Sorry, your commercial sucks.

Opiates kill, they aren't a joke.

[FrodosPet]

4. Not according to post 3

They seem to imply that there is not a 45% increase in heroin deaths.

And other people have stated in the past that heroin is harmless provided the dose was controlled and the cut clean and safe and people knew what they were given.

Which is it?

[tridim]

6. Heroin is not harmless. WTF?

Oxycontin is the "clean" version and it killed my friend dead as dead.

[FrodosPet]

7. Truth is...I agree with you

Unfortunately, there ARE people pushing the idea that drugs like heroin and meth could be harmlessly legalized, that ALL the harm comes from the legal status and not any biological or psychological effect.

[tridim]

8. IMO the people who argue that meth and heroin are harmless..

are most likely users.

I've heard it all before from people who are now dead.

Decrim, yes. Legalization, no.

[oshma]

11. I once parked myself in the apartment of a friend who was crashing from a meth run

It was his last one--he went to rehab the day he came to after screaming in his sleep for days.

Anyone who tries to whitewash opiates is a fool, a liar, or both.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. I don't think harmlessly legalized, but I do think a public health/harm reduction approach

would be better than throwing people in prison for using forbidden substances.

[el_bryanto]

3. So did the number of heroin overdose deaths rise by 45% from 2006 to 2010?

Or did he make that up? Because that seems like a pretty big jump to me.

Bryant

[reddread]

5. supply side economics

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-spoils-of-war-afghanistan-s-multibillion-dollar-heroin-trade/91

[cali]

9. well, probably not

by now, as everyone has probably heard, VT is in the grips of this epidemic and it's been claimed that its the heroin center of the country- which turns out to be... not true. and you know that old saw about lies and statistics. Oh, and governor Shumlin has been angling for some big grants from SAMSA and other agencies. After his speech, he got millions from the feds- not that that's a bad thing at all.

<snip>

While the measures of opiate addiction and drug-related crime cited by Shumlin and his supporters are going up, other key indicators have remained unchanged — or even fallen — in recent years. Consider:

• A 2013 Vermont Department of Health report found the number of people hospitalized for opiate overdoses in the preceding 10 years has remained “consistent.”

• The number of opiate-related deaths in Vermont has not changed significantly since 2006, and actually dropped 8 percent from 2011 to 2013. The Department of Health said it could discern “no specific trend” in opiate deaths in the past decade. (In 2013, as Shumlin noted, the number of heroin deaths nearly doubled, from nine to 17. Deaths from prescription opiates fell from 46 to 39.)

• Shumlin correctly stated that the number of Vermonters in treatment for opiate addiction has surged nearly 800 percent since 2000. However, health experts say that figure likely overstates the increase in new addictions; at least some of the jump can be traced to existing addicts claiming a greatly expanded array of treatment slots.

• While Shumlin accented the growing problem of heroin, he also suggested that prescription drug abuse was part of the “rising tide.” However, 2013 Vermont Health Department surveys of adults, high school students and middle school students have shown that the misuse of prescription drugs, most of which are opiates, has not increased since 2007.

• Overall property crimes, which include larceny, burglary and vehicle theft — the category of crime that law enforcement officials typically identify as being committed by addicts seeking money to buy drugs — have steadily declined in Vermont since 2008, according to federal statistics.

The Shumlin administration referred most questions to Health Commissioner Harry Chen. While acknowledging figures that seem to contradict the assertion of a “rising tide,” Chen said his boss was right to draw attention to opiate addiction and those who cannot access treatment. “The case can be made very easily that it’s a huge problem in Vermont,” Chen said. “Most Vermonters agree that this requires focus and attention, and I applaud the governor.”

More here:

http://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/diagnosing-the-drug-deal-did-shumlin-overstate-the-case-for-vermonts-opiate-crisis/Content?oid=2296185

[hack89]

10. There has been a huge spike in heroin deaths in the NE due to fentanyl laced heroin

185 heroin deaths in MA, 45 in RI, 22 in PA - all in the past 4 months

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/185-dead-heroin-overdose-mass-cops-article-1.1701795

http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20140117-overdose-deaths-in-r.i.-spike-to-22-in-13-days.ece

[Holly_Hobby]

14. I think our interference in Afghanistan *might* have something to do with it n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

15. Oh, sure. Like Vietnam had anything to do with it in the late 60s early 70s.

Crazy Talk, that is!

...

[Holly_Hobby]

16. Yeah! We need a War on Drugs! That'll work fer shure! n/t

[Spirochete]

17. So is poisoning rivers

but I don't remember him climbing up on a soapbox over that...

[dilby]

18. Don't they already have something already you are suggesting?

I could be wrong but I think they are called methadone clinics.