Worth noting the fact that 40% of the overdose deaths were due to alcohol, also.

Too right.

I think that discourse on substance abuse and addiction is far too concerned with the substances themselves rather than on the reasons as to why people so readily build a lifestyle around the consumption of these substances.

I tend to agree with Bruce Richardson on this – he attributes addiction as much to “cultural dislocation”, the breakdown of normal social norms and institutions, as to the properties of the substances. Good reading if you have the time and the interest:

http://globalizationofaddiction.ca/articles-speeches/rat-park/148-addiction-the-view-from-rat-park.html

Thanks Niall I’ll take a look.

The Methland piece is a good read as well, taking in methamphetamine, the rise of industrial scale agribusiness, the fall of small farming, and America’s decline:

http://globalizationofaddiction.ca/articles-speeches/248-a-train-trip-through-methland.html

I think what he says about addiction in colonised people’s is particularly interesting, and relevant.

The Methland piece is a good read as well, taking in methamphetamine, the rise of industrial scale agribusiness, the fall of small farming, and America’s decline:

http://globalizationofaddiction.ca/articles-speeches/248-a-train-trip-through-methland.html

Interesting read. Thanks Niall.
Tallies pretty much with my own personal observations of the ‘home grown’ culture that has evolved in the States and Canada over the last few years. Declining employment in the ‘rust belt’ and the collapse of traditional agricultural practises has caused diversification into alternative ‘cash crop’ enterprises. Sunday Morning Coming Down’ country!
I lived and worked in Vancouver and travelled into many of the areas mentioned in the article and saw at first hand the despondency and despair – it’s everywhere. Canada is different and does not seem to suffer from the post ‘once great nation malaise’ but in Vancouver the grow houses were everywhere.

Alcohol’s twice as likely to be involved in a poisoning death, though – zero tolerance there as well?

That reply isn’t even in parallel to what I said Niall, there’s a few hundred thousand people who drink with only a very small percent actually dying from alcohol poisoning, where as there is a much smaller number of heroin users but that contribute to the other 60% of deaths out of the 640 reported. I felt like stating heroin is far more destructive to the individual going on numbers and I believe it to be far more of a rot to society than any other drug.
I can say I’ve been ‘abusing’ the drug alcohol every weekend for 15 years, not to get drunk but to have a few social ones (3-4)and enjoy myself, I live a healthy life, keep a job and a home. How many can you say that to for heroin users? Most end up homeless broke and the next fix becomes the most important part of their day.
So zero tolerance for alcohol dealing/distribution seems absurd. Where cracking down heavily on drug gangs and dealers of this filth seems less nonsensical.

Your link to “A train trip through methland “and the Rat Park were an interesting read. thanks.

Not trying to be smart, Damhsa – heroin accounts for around 20% of overdose/poisoning deaths, it’s clearly disproportionate to the amount of users – maybe 15-20 thousand.

I wonder how many of these deaths owed to either a particularly pure batch or a batch contaminated or cut with toxins?

My point is that virtually all psychotropic drugs are harmful and potentially addictive in their own way. I used to be of the view that heroin is different and more dangerous than the rest. But, as my view of addiction has changed from the classic “you try it a few times and you get hooked, simple as”, to something a bit more nuanced, focused on the addict rather than the substance. Seems to me that very many, but by no means all, heroin users were homeless and broke in the first place.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the same considerations apply as with any drug:

A regulated market, with quality control and monitoring, is better than the chaos we have now. The criminal justice system isn’t capable of dealing with addiction, it should be dealt with as a public health issue.

I really don’t see that a decriminalisation or legalisation of all drugs, including heroin, will lead to an army of addicts emerging or a wave of overdoses, I think that we would be better able to address the problems caused by drug addiction by bringing it out in the open.

0

Why 2 reds its the truth not one death from marijuana not bloody one !!!!…

I wouldn’t be against legalising cannabis but don’t be fooled into thinking that it has no side effects. it is still a drug, like alcohol, and can cause serious mental problems.

I think one of the problems has been that the “war on drugs” model has been forced on the rest of the world by the US, which assumes some pretty fundamental points on the nature of addiction and suitable counter measures. Any research that comes up with findings that don’t fit the assumptions is ignored, and funding withdrawn, like Rat Park, above.

I’m hoping that one of the effects of America’s waning global influence will be a more honest approach to these issues.