'That Fentanyl – That's Death': A Story of Recovery in Baltimore

Re:'That Fentanyl – That's Death': A Story of Recovery in Ba... by askvictor on Thursday August 03, 2017 @11:15PM (#14926073)

There are other countries that have stupidly harsh penalties for drug dealing and use (e.g. Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines). Hasn't really done much there. Only works in Singapore because it's already a police state. So perhaps you can solve the drug problem with police if you're already in a police state, but that doesn't strike me as a sensible approach.

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Re:'That Fentanyl – That's Death': A Story of Recovery in Ba... by fentanoel on Thursday August 03, 2017 @11:28PM (#14926119)

I don't think you have any idea what you are talking about.

I am an American who has lived in Thailand for several years.

The US has a huge drug problem and SE Asia doesn't even come close. The local population does not abuse drugs at all. Nearly all of the drug trade caters to American/European tourists. Which is incidentally why the punishment is so harsh, they do not tolerate foreigners poisoning their society.

Enforcement works.

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Re:'That Fentanyl – That's Death': A Story of Recovery in Ba... by ponyfleisch on Friday August 04, 2017 @02:38AM (#14926793)

In SEA, you are just much better shielded from these issues. Drugs (and alcoholism for that matter) are absolutely issues in thai society.

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Re:'That Fentanyl – That's Death': A Story of Recovery in Ba... by api on Friday August 04, 2017 @12:27AM (#14926308)

There's another possibility. Is there a cultural difference at work here? Does Asian culture have more respect for authority and less patience for things like drug abuse?

I feel like if crazy penalties like that were levied in America we would take it as a challenge. We have a long history of that.

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Re:'That Fentanyl – That's Death': A Story of Recovery in Ba... by true_religion on Friday August 04, 2017 @03:26AM (#14926997)

I have my doubts about culture being something that can effectively fend off chemical dependence.

If anything, stigmatizing a situation only drives it underground where it isn't talked about, and essentially flourishes in the darkness.

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Re:'That Fentanyl – That's Death': A Story of Recovery in Ba... by true_religion on Friday August 04, 2017 @03:24AM (#14926988)

If the drug trade caters to foreigners, then isn't it plausible that locals are selling to foreigners?

In this case, how would foreigners be responsible for "poisoning their society"?

To me this sounds a lot like what you here in the West concerning drugs... America claims its' foreign traders with "terrorist connections" who do drug sales (e.g. all the talk about Colombian drug cartels, or Mexican drug wars).

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