Public shaming of drug addicts - Do you think its a deterant to drug use?

[Angel4Truth]

Compassion for a homeless person, food and shelter, not handing them a bottle or providing a safe place for them to drink and drug.

In fact most programs wont allow someone a bed or shelter when they have been drinking, why? To protect others there, from harm.

So why is it really "safe" to allow someone a place where they can cause harm to themselves and others? Does reviving them if they OD, stop them from hurting someone there or other drug users?

waiting for the response to this one...

 

[Angel4Truth]

Coroner: New Orleans Drug Overdose Deaths Doubled in 2016
The New Orleans coroner says that overdose deaths in the city doubled last year.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Overdose deaths in New Orleans doubled last year, according to the city's coroner, who described it a "public health crisis" and called for more addiction treatment.

Dr. Jeffrey Rouse said in a news release Monday that 211 people died of accidental drug-related deaths in 2016 as compared to 92 the previous year.

Rouse said it's likely the first time overdose deaths have surpassed homicides in the city's history. There were 175 homicides in the city last year.

"New Orleans is in the midst of an accelerating public health crisis of drug-related deaths, driven chiefly but not exclusively by the ongoing national opiate epidemic. Medically, expanding access to all levels of addiction treatment is the solution, before persons end up in my office," Rouse said.

He also called for expanded drug diversion programs and drug courts "that prioritize treatment rather than punishment for users."

Some other findings of the report:

— Most people who died of a drug overdose had multiple drugs in their system. But, opiates were found in nearly 80 percent of the overdose cases.

— There was also a threefold increase in the frequency of fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid.

— Men accounted for 80 percent of the drug-related deaths.

The city's medical director, Dr. Joseph Kanter, said the city's EMS started seeing a spike in overdoses in January of last year. As part of efforts to combat the problem, he said naloxone — a drug used to counter overdoses — can now be purchased in pharmacies across the city and state.

The city is also advocating for more drug treatment, and Kanter said over the past year local clinics have received $3.4 million in federal grants to expand treatment for opioid addiction.

He also called on people who have unused opioid prescription bottles at home to dispose of them, adding that Louisiana has a higher than average number of painkiller prescriptions written every year.

"More than one bottle per resident statewide of prescription painkillers are written every year in Louisiana," he said.

 

[Angel4Truth]

Across Ohio, children are calling 911 to report overdoses

DAYTON

A sobbing 9-year-old called 911 Sunday with a horrific report: “My grandmas are on the ground.”

The Dayton girl’s call is the latest episode of children begging Ohio dispatchers for help following an apparent overdose — a tragic, reoccurring phenomenon as the heroin and opioid crisis grips the state and the nation. In March alone, children in Centerville, Cincinnati and Cleveland dialed similar calls — at times with fatal news for authorities.

This time, the young girl handled the dispatcher’s questions between sobs as Dayton police and emergency crews headed to the 900 block of Shroyer Road. Though upset, the girl clearly described the scene.

“I was at my grandmas’ house with my two younger sisters, and I don’t know what happened,” she said, noting her sisters ages 2 years and 2 months were also in the apartment of her grandmother and a live-in girlfriend.

MORE: 9-year-old dials 911 after babysitter, girlfriend overdose

“I just heard them falling down, and the next thing I know, I’m panicking because they’re on the ground,” she said.

Leslie Harbarger, 45, and Angela Benda, 47, were found unresponsive by authorities. One was halfway in the living room near the children. The other was in an area near the kitchen and bathroom.

Police first found the children, though.

“We were greeted at the door by two small children with tears running down their faces,” wrote the reporting Dayton police officer in the incident report.

“Ok, sweetheart, you can tell them that we’re here,” a first responder told the child still on the line with dispatch.

The women were taken to Miami Valley Hospital for treatment, cited for endangering children and issued a summons to appear in court. Montgomery County Children Services was notified about the incident.

MORE: Children find Centerville pilot, wife dead in apparent overdose

Benda reported she ingested one heroin cap, police said. Harbarger denied taking heroin, though the report said she “was known to abuse her prescribed medications.”

The unresponsive women were revived with narcan — a total 28 milligrams, cleaning out the fire crews on scene, according to police.

“It should be noted that fire crews used every dose of narcan they were carrying, and I had to give two doses of my issued narcan,” the reporting officer wrote.

Headlines of children calling authorities on their overdosed caretakers splash newspapers and TV screens across Ohio this month.

MORE: Centerville pilot’s likely overdose raises national safety questions

In Centerville, two of four children aged 9-13 called police on March 16 to report their parents were unresponsive. The Montgomery County Coroner’s office suspects Brian and Courtney Halye overdosed on fentanyl.

“They were very cold,” a 13-year-old boy told the dispatcher while his sisters sobbed in the background. A call from his sister echoed the horror that unfolded in their suburban cul-de-sac home.

In Cincinnati this month, WLWT-TV reported another 9-year-old girl told dispatchers she was “scared” when her parents passed out following a heroin overdose while driving.

“They won’t wake up,” the child said.

Before that, a child in Parma, near Cleveland, called 911 when a parent overdosed, Cleveland.com reported March 3. The outlet reported it was the third such incident involving guardians passing out with children in the car that week.

 

[Angel4Truth]

Video of woman's drug overdose goes viral; now she's speaking out

It’s not an easy video to watch, a young woman falling unconscious in her car after overdosing on drugs. It was especially hard for Katrina Henry, the woman who was captured in the viral video — and now she’s speaking out about it.

More than 750,000 people have watched video of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, woman’s overdose since it was posted on Tuesday by a man who said he wanted to show the reality of the opioid epidemic.(warning, very graphic video and language)


“It makes me sick,” Katrina Henry told CBS affiliate WDJT in Milwaukee. Distressed by what it showed, she said, “That’s not me. I would never do something like that.” But in the grip of her addiction, she did.

Jon Adams said he started recording after someone called 911 to get the woman help.

“People need to see. They need to see what happens,” Adams said in the video.

As the drugs overwhelmed her, Henry lost control and crashed into a parked car, unconscious behind the wheel. Luckily, no one was hurt, but Henry knows it could have been much, much worse.

“I can’t bring myself to think about it,” Katrina told WDJT. “I do, and I hate myself so much.”

In the video, three paramedics surrounded Henry as she was lying lifeless on the pavement. After giving her several doses of Narcan, also known as naloxone, a prescription medicine that blocks the effects of opioids and reverses an overdose, Henry was revived.

“She almost killed herself,” said Adams, as paramedics picked Henry up and carried her to a nearby ambulance.

Though it’s difficult to watch, Henry says the video forces her to finally admit that she’s an addict.

“I was acting like I could live two different lives and you can’t. I can’t,” said Katrina, adding that she wants professional help to get clean. “I actually want it this time.”

She hopes the viral video will motivate others struggling with addiction to get clean.

“Admit it and go get help,” Henry advises fellow addicts. “You don’t have to be ashamed of yourself.”

Henry will start outpatient treatment for drugs on Monday. She’s waiting for a bed to open at an inpatient rehabilitation center to help follow through on her promise to turn her life around.

Heres one who actually admits that being "outed" and "shamed" for it, it forced her to deal with it.

 

[glorydaz]

What horrors these children have to go through. I'm at a loss for words when I read this stuff.


May the Lord come soon!

 

[Angel4Truth]

Clark County drug overdose deaths reach record number

SPRINGFIELD —

Clark County saw a record number of accidental drug overdose deaths last year, which local leaders said was caused by the opioid epidemic that’s spread across the country.

The majority of the 79 drug deaths in Clark County last year involved heroin and illicit fentanyl, Clark County Coroner Dr. Richard Marsh said. Many of the deaths involve multiple drugs, including cocaine and other designer fentanyls, which he said is 50 times more powerful than heroin.

MORE: Clark County to charge addicts who OD and don’t seek treatment

“I honestly don’t know what the solution is,” Marsh said.

Several approaches to curb the epidemic exist, he said, including getting more people into treatment.

“I get the sense that a lot of people think they can tough it out themselves,” Marsh said. “The problem is addiction is a disease. Once you get hooked, it’s changed your brain. People do get detox, but we all think we can tough it out and you can’t. It takes help. It’s going to overpower you.”

About half of the people who died of drug overdoses last year were between the ages of 45 and 64, records show. Nearly 89 percent of the people who died were white.

Through February, another 32 deaths this year are suspected drug overdoses. Twelve of those drug deaths have been confirmed, while the rest are awaiting toxicology reports.

RELATED: Demand for, debate over Narcan soars in Springfield

Springfield and Clark County EMS crews have responded to more than 325 overdoses this year as of March 6, according to Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson. One weekend in January, more than 50 overdoses were reported at the Springfield Regional Medical Center.

Nearly 500 people have died of drug overdoses in Clark County since 1998, according to coroner’s office records. More than half of those people — 265 — have died in the past five years, the result of the opioid epidemic, Marsh said.

Clark County saw about 36 drug overdose deaths per year between 2011 and 2014, but that number more than doubled with 73 in 2015.

The record number last year isn’t surprising based on a large spike of 11 overdose deaths in December, Clark County Health Commissioner Charles Patterson said.

DETAILS: Overdose epidemic spreads, strains Springfield first responder

Any effort to make additional recovery services available is a good thing, he said, including cutting down on the waiting list time for people who are seeking immediate help.

“The more open spots we can provide for folks who want to seek treatment, we need to continue to push on that,” he said.

The county must also continue prevention efforts, Patterson said.

“It’s obviously the No. 1 thing, but we do have folks who are addicted and we need to make those services available as easily to enter and as wide stretch as we can,” he said.


He also supports Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson’s new effort to charge people who haven’t sought treatment within 30 days after an overdose as part of the new Good Samaritan law in Ohio.

“Sometimes it takes a court mandate for that treatment to occur,” Patterson said. “We’re not about putting people in jail, but if there’s a way we can get people to wake up by forcing them to go and still get a good result, that’s awesome. What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working.”

 

[Angel4Truth]

What horrors these children have to go through. I'm at a loss for words when I read this stuff.


May the Lord come soon!

I know, its horrible. Revelation 9:21 and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their sexual immorality nor of their thefts.

In the greek, the word translated as sorceries there, is literally "drugs/drug use" makes perfect sense today along with the other particular sins of the day, abortion, drugs, homosexuality/transgenderism and rampant thefts (looting etc..)

Come Lord Jesus.

 

[Angel4Truth]

WV drug OD deaths soared above 840 in 2016

More than 840 West Virginians fatally overdosed on drugs last year — a record number — and additional deaths are expected to be added to the total in the coming weeks.

Fatal overdoses related to fentanyl, an opioid that’s 100 times stronger than prescription morphine, have fueled the increase.

West Virginia already has the highest drug overdose death rate in the nation.

At last count, 844 people had died of drug overdoses in West Virginia in 2016, according to data released Wednesday. That’s up from 731 drug deaths, the previous all-time high, the year before.

The drug overdose death toll has climbed 46 percent in just four years.

“This shows the magnitude of the problem,” said Delegate Matt Rohrbach, R-Cabell, whose county has been hit especially hard by drug overdoses. “We have a real crisis.”

Fentanyl-related overdose deaths alone jumped to 324 last year, compared to 180 in 2015 and 58 in 2014. Cabell County led the state, with 73 fentanyl-related deaths last year. Kanawha County followed, with 46 fentanyl overdose deaths, and Berkeley County had 43 fatalities.

Hospitals use fentanyl to sedate patients before surgery. Doctors also prescribe the drug to alleviate severe pain.

But the fentanyl that’s killing people in West Virginia and numerous other states comes in a powder form — or compressed into pills in underground labs.

Fentanyl depresses a person’s respiratory system. Drug traffickers often mix fentanyl with heroin.

Fatal overdoses caused by heroin also are increasing in West Virginia — from 201 in 2015 to 236 last year. Cabell County had the most heroin-related overdose deaths, with 54. Kanawha County had 36 and Berkeley County reported 34.

The West Virginia Health Statistics Center compiles the state’s overdose data from death certificates certified by the chief medical examiner. The overwhelming majority of overdose deaths involve combinations of multiple drugs.

In Washington, D.C., earlier this week, members of a congressional panel investigating fentanyl questioned federal law enforcement and health officials about the link between prescription painkillers and heroin and fentanyl.

In some states, as many as two of three people who fatally overdosed on fentanyl had been prescribed prescription opioids, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, within the previous three months, said Dr. Debra Houry, a director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Many of the people who have overdosed on fentanyl had an opioid prescription at the time of their death,” Houry told members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations. “So I believe all of these — fentanyl, heroin, prescription opioid deaths — are linked.”

Also during the hearing, Republicans and Democrats on the congressional panel repeatedly cited a Charleston Gazette-Mail series that found wholesale drug distributors shipped 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to West Virginia over six years, a period when more than 1,700 state residents fatally overdosed on those same powerful painkillers.

“This is shocking,” said Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. “It would appear addiction to pain pills, that once you have oxycodone and hydrocodone that takes over someone’s life, it will lead the user to seek more powerful opiates such as heroin or counterfeit pills, both of which may be adulterated with fentanyl.”

Federal lawmakers also asked about a pharmacy in Kermit, a town with just under 400 people in Southern West Virginia The newspaper’s series spotlighted the pharmacy, which ordered nearly 9 million hydrocodone pills in just two years.

“Massive amounts,” said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., the subcommittee’s chairman. “You’re seeing these targeted areas where the amounts of prescriptions is way, way out of control. It’s way out of control, and these deaths are occurring.”

Louis Milione, assistant administrator with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, told the panel he was aware of the Gazette-Mail’s reporting on the Sav-Rite Pharmacy in Kermit.

“That’s happened in many locations across the country,” Milione said. “We have an obligation across the whole supply chain — from the manufacturers and distributors ... ”

“What’s happening with the wholesalers?” Castor asked.

“The wholesalers have to uphold their regulatory obligations,” Milione said. “We’ve taken action against two of the big three — McKesson and Cardinal Health.”

McKesson paid a $150 million fine to settle a federal investigation, while Cardinal Health agreed to a $44 million settlement.

“Our hope is, with their compliance systems, like any good corporate citizen, they would uphold those obligations,” Milione said. “But it’s not just the wholesalers. We have to go all the way down the supply chain to maintain this closed system of distribution.”

 

[ok doser]

and canada's pushing ahead with justin trudeau's campaign promise for national legalization of marijuana - projected to go live by may 2018

 

[rexlunae]

Saved from death caused by sin. Doesn't matter what you would say. God is the one in charge.

Death isn't caused by sin.

 

[rexlunae]

waiting for the response to this one...

I'm not sure what you're referring to as "most programs". Specifically, which programs? Most...safe drug use room? Most homeless shelters? What are you referring to?

I don't know all the details about how these facilities protect their patrons, but the whole point is to create a safe environment in a supervised space, which would necessarily require mitigating their potential to do harm to themselves and others while there.

 

[JudgeRightly]

Death isn't caused by sin.

Death is the result of sin. Sin doesn't always cause death, for example death by disease or old age. However, because of the Fall of mankind in the Garden, death and disease are the natural consequence for it.

 

[JudgeRightly]

I'm not sure what you're referring to as "most programs". Specifically, which programs? Most...safe drug use room? Most homeless shelters? What are you referring to?

I don't know all the details about how these facilities protect their patrons, but the whole point is to create a safe environment in a supervised space, which would necessarily require mitigating their potential to do harm to themselves and others while there.

Those who do the drugs are harming themselves already, let alone setting themselves up to be taken advantage of.

 

[rexlunae]

Those who do the drugs are harming themselves already, let alone setting themselves up to be taken advantage of.

Right...so the question is, what is the best way to help them and to protect the rest of society from them.

 

[JudgeRightly]

Right...so the question is, what is the best way to help them and to protect the rest of society from them.

The best way to help them is to restigmatize the behavior, followed by recriminalizing it.

 

[rexlunae]

The best way to help them is to restigmatize the behavior, followed by recriminalizing it.

That hasn't worked so far.

 

[JudgeRightly]

That hasn't worked so far.

That's because there's very few people who are trying to restigmatize the behavior. Of all the people you know, what percentage of them are saying that recreational drug use is wrong, that it's extremely harmful? I would imagine that percentage is not very high. What about those in your community? It also doesn't help that it's being legalized because the stigma is gone because of people who advocate the recreational usage of drugs. In essence, there are more people saying it's ok to use drugs than there are people saying it's not ok.

Just to give you an idea of how powerful a stigma can be... Back a few centuries ago, it was very common for men to have facial hair, until one year when the religious authorities said that it was no longer acceptable to have facial hair anymore. Can you guess what happened? No one shaved, and if they did, it was during revivals, and then a few weeks later, they'd have the hair on their faces again. It wasn't until much later that all of a sudden no one had facial hair anymore. Can you guess the reason?

Fashion. The public decided that it was no longer fashionable to have facial hair, and practically overnight everyone started shaving. If you had facial hair, you would be looked down upon.

It's the same with the homosexuality movement today. Homos have created a stigma about not being accepting of them, and look how far they've promoted their perversion. No one wants to oppose them because then they would be looked down upon by society.

 

[ClimateSanity]

Death isn't caused by sin.

Death here is a metaphor even though it is also speaking of literal death. Our happiness and a life God intended for us are harmed by sin. It produces death in our life. Here death means harm spiritually that chips away at our spiritual well being. Unchecked, this death gets worse until every sort of possible moral sickness is produced in you.

Sent from my XT1254 using TheologyOnline mobile app

 

[rexlunae]

That's because there's very few people who are trying to restigmatize the behavior. Of all the people you know, what percentage of them are saying that recreational drug use is wrong, that it's extremely harmful? I would imagine that percentage is not very high. What about those in your community? It also doesn't help that it's being legalized because the stigma is gone because of people who advocate the recreational usage of drugs. In essence, there are more people saying it's ok to use drugs than there are people saying it's not ok.

Just to give you an idea of how powerful a stigma can be... Back a few centuries ago, it was very common for men to have facial hair, until one year when the religious authorities said that it was no longer acceptable to have facial hair anymore. Can you guess what happened? No one shaved, and if they did, it was during revivals, and then a few weeks later, they'd have the hair on their faces again. It wasn't until much later that all of a sudden no one had facial hair anymore.

So, you're saying a ban didn't work...

Can you guess the reason?

Cheaper razors?

Fashion. The public decided that it was no longer fashionable to have facial hair, and practically overnight everyone started shaving. If you had facial hair, you would be looked down upon.

It's the same with the homosexuality movement today. Homos have created a stigma about not being accepting of them, and look how far they've promoted their perversion. No one wants to oppose them because then they would be looked down upon by society.

You make one error twice. The assumption that either sexuality or drug use are just free choices is simply false. You should be asked, back when homosexuality was so strongly criticized, why do you think a sizeable minority was still gay? Similarly, drug addiction frequently begins in legitimate pain management, often with the intent being to use an opioid for a limited time legally and under the supervision of a doctor, to manage pain, and it snowballs into a larger problem. That's how Rush became an addict. Neither one is a free choice, as easily abandoned as one might abandon last year's trend in grooming.

What you're following here is called "strict father morality", the belief that morality is delivered by commandment, and must be obeyed, not reasoned.

 

[Angel4Truth]

Needle vending machines are the future of helping drug users, Las Vegas bets

Most vending machines are full of things — like soda and candy — that can contribute to health problems. But Las Vegas is hoping its new vending machines can help its drug using-population avoid additional ones.

By the end of May, Las Vegas will have debuted three new vending machines that dispense clean needles. They hope to keep drug users who get their fix via syringe from contracting diseases by reusing needles that could carry bloodborne infections. HIV, hepatitis C and other diseases can be transmitted when needles are used repeatedly.

The machines resemble an average vending machine but will instead dispense kits of clean needles and disposal containers for used ones. There will also be wound cleaning and safe sex kits. The machines will be available in three separate organizations that all work with drug users.

“Having access to clean syringes is a harm-reduction approach that’s going to allow people to protect themselves against getting communicable diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C,” Chelsi Cheatom, program manager for Trac-B Exchange, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Trac-B Exchange provides community consulting focused on preventing infectious diseases and safer alternatives to syringe use and disposal.

To gain access to the needle vending machines, users will register to receive a card that will allow them two kits each week.

According to the Harm Reduction Coalition, needle exchange programs lower health care costs. A sterile syringe costs as little as 97 cents and could save between $3,000 and $5,000 per HIV infection prevented. Intravenous drug users have also seen a decrease in hepatitis C infection following the spread of needle exchanges. Treatment for that disease can cost $25,000 to $30,000 per person. Programs that provide sterile needles can also provide other healthcare services and counseling to a population that can be uninsured.

Last year, Congress partially lifted the federal ban on funds for syringe exchange programs. It had orginally been repealed in 2009 after being in place for more than 20 years, but the Republican House put it back in place in 2011. Currently, federal funds can’t be used for needles themselves but can be used for other aspects of needle exchange programs, like staff salaries and counseling services.

Nothing like helping people sin even more while making taxpayors pay for it!