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A comment on The Horrifying Epidemic of Teen-Age Fentanyl Deaths in a Texas County. Parent comment

Re:The Horrifying Epidemic of Teen-Age Fentanyl Deaths in a ... by CPLX on Thursday March 30, 2023 @09:22AM (#35372287)
While I completely agree with you on the causes of social malaise, and the importance of it, I'm not sure "we know exactly what to do" is really an accurate statement.

Opioid addiction has been a spectacularly difficult nut to crack as long as there have been opioids, and highly related issues like alcoholism likewise.

There's a lot of inputs to addiction. You rightly point out the input of economic dignity, which probably is top of the list from a policy standpoint. And on a public policy basis there's also culture, media, simple availability of the drug, availability of interventions, and many other inputs.

But the largest input to addiction is family structure and dynamics, and it's not even kind of close.

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Re:The Horrifying Epidemic of Teen-Age Fentanyl Deaths in a ... by scottLobster on Thursday March 30, 2023 @09:30AM (#35372392)
True enough, where I was coming from with that is we haven't even tried the obvious stuff. Sure they'd only be partial solutions, but right now we're like an obese person who eats 100 oreos a day but wants to lose weight. The first steps at least are blindingly obvious.
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Re:The Horrifying Epidemic of Teen-Age Fentanyl Deaths in a ... by SyzygistSix on Thursday March 30, 2023 @10:20AM (#35373091)
Opiate addiction is not nearly as big a problem as overdoses though.

It isn't the end of the world if someone becomes addicted to opiates. There are pathways to recovery and one can live a relatively normal life while addicted. What makes it exceptionally harmful is the amount of fentanyl in street drugs, the legal ramifications of use, and the lack of realistic treatment.

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Re:The Horrifying Epidemic of Teen-Age Fentanyl Deaths in a ... by seandoe on Thursday March 30, 2023 @10:57AM (#35373615)
That's an interesting take. Kinda like drunk driving is not nearly as big a problem as drunk crashing.
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Re:The Horrifying Epidemic of Teen-Age Fentanyl Deaths in a ... by ElevenLathe on Thursday March 30, 2023 @12:28PM (#35375279)
As a thought experiment, what would be wrong with drunk driving if it we could always prevent drunk crashing? It feels wrong, but I guess we should in theory be fine with it.
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