There may be something to that, but I am guessing that any form of self-medication is likely to be more destructive than helpful.

Use of pharmaceutical grade psychedelics in a clinical setting might have some benefit.

Let me make that decision myself, thank you very much.

All of these overdoses are, likewise, people making these decisions for themselves.

So are the smoking deaths.

I think it's undisputed that there would be a lot fewer deaths per addict if the heroin available were (1) of a known concentration, (2) not fentanyl, and (3) devoid of other harmful adulterants.

The problem people argue about re: legalizing heroin is that they expect the number of addicts to rise.

That's more than misleading.

Having made poor choices in the past (drugs) they now have the neuro-chemical pathways cut into their ~brians~ brains; literal ruts that signals will prefer to get to the end-state (high/low).

With enough use, heroin doesn't leave a person with choice, but rather impulse.

[edit] lol, brians [/edit]

I've been given the choice (that I don't plan on taking) to drink and smoke myself to death. Eat unhealthy foods. Etc. Etc.

n.b. My brother died of a heroin overdose. He made that decision himself and the existing laws did not help prevent.

Because people addicted to drugs are well-known for making good, long-term decisions.

> Because people are well-known for making good, long-term decisions

FTFY. Since you care so much, please grant me control over your life to approve what you consume.

At least you won't kill yourself with psychodelics and it's something very difficult to get addicted to. I am not convinced they are as safe as often advertised but you won't kill yourself and lasting psychological damage is rare and mostly manageable.

I'm not an expert but, psychedelics wouldn't help treat the withdrawal part of addiction. Increased access to suboxone would be helpful for that.

We need all drugs legalized. Get centers going where safely dosed opiates are available along with social services for the heavier stuff.

And cannabis as an "alternative". And keep kratom legal.

Curious, but isn’t kratom (krokofil) abuse a big issue in Russia (in addition to alcohol)? Or is that issue exaggerated?

I think you're referring to krokodil, poorly made clandestine desomorphine, which is a lot different from kratom.

There was a spate of videos that circulated starting around 2012 and later, as sort of a sequel to the bath salts panic, showing horror stories but seem to have been debunked as a eith a hoax campaign, or rare oddities.

Videos still float around, but they seem to have this voyeristic leer to them (like malign scared-straight after school specials) that genuine footage or journalistic coverage usually doesn't carry.

On top of that, there aren't many people actually owning up to being involved in the footage that does surface, and people who claim to have witnessed instances or met individuals affected by it, only seem to be the kind to tell tall tales.

This leads me to wonder if it was largely a media campaign to get in front of a problem, and head it off, before something like its portrayal emerged.

That’s pretty interesting to see. One could say disinformation campaigns can have a social benefit (if things played out as you speculate).

  One could say [...] benefit?

Hardly. Awareness campaigns litter the history of pop culture, and are usually regarded as a nerdy loser's sexual advances toward a prom queen way out of his league.

But more to the point, people are helped by information, and not perversions thereof.

If it were helpful it would neither be called disinformation nor misinformation. It would just be accurate information, applied in a practical manner.

You mean krokodil? Completely different drug.

Ah ok. Thanks for clarifying.