Norway to test free heroin for drug addicts
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Oslo (AFP) - Norway, which has one of the highest deadly drug overdose rates in Europe, will test prescribing free heroin to the most serious addicts to improve their living conditions, the government said on Friday.
The Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social Affairs has been tasked with proposing an experimental project to identify patients likely to benefit from the programme, to examine the implementation method, and to calculate the costs.
"We hope that this will provide a solution that will give... a better quality of life to some addicts who are today out of our reach and whom current programmes do not help enough," Health Minister Bente Hoie wrote on Facebook.
Norway has one of the highest overdose mortality rates in Europe, with 81 deaths per million in 2015 after Estonia (132 deaths per million) and Sweden (88 deaths per million), according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
Already adopted or tested in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark, medical heroin therapy is controversial, but supporters argue that in addition to improving the quality of life of addicts and lowering overdose mortality, it reduces crime and the costs associated with it.
The first treatments under the project will begin in 2020 at the earliest, the health ministry said in a statement.
The initiative could benefit up to 400 drug addicts, according to the daily Aftenposten.
Tags
Who is online
90 visitors
I really didn't know "Deadly" was a "Living" condition.
"We hope that this will provide a solution that will give... a better quality of life to some addicts who are today out of our reach and whom current programmes do not help enough,"
So let me get this straight.....These folks were getting high, and had a bad living condition, so the government is going to "Give" them a better high, and their "Living" condition will get better ?
I suppose......Free....Frees druggies up to be able buy "Other" things....while staying high ?
California provides "safe houses" for shooting dope, I am sure this is not far behind.
Spare me your CA hating dribble. The state does not provide safe houses for doping. Most of these "safe" houses are abandoned buildings or homes and not a state sanctioned dope house. Many cities are now raising these homes in the name of public safety.
I think they should try using cannabis to treat the heroin addiction
It's certainly safer because you cannot overdose on it.
Some places are starting to see benefits of exactly what your advocating for.
However in many places and clinics opioid use and marijuana use are still seen as being a huge NO NO and is not allowed. Patents are made to choose one or the other and will not even get their pain medications if they test positive for MMJ.
The stigma remains.
plus: Medical marijuana has not yet been effectively integrated into the medical field. Not even close.
As I've never been an illegal drug user, I don't know much about these drugs, but isn't Methadone used int he trreatment for heroin users?
Yes it is.
I dont know much about them either. I didn't use opioids, however I am good friends with a man who has muscular dystrophy and he was addicted to prescription opioids .. bad.. He is now off the prescription pain pills and hey started him on methadone (which is not the same as METH) but he was having heart problems from it and they are switching him over to a different medication hoping he gets the good effects but not so many bad side effects.
This guy was using MMJ to cut back on how much opioids he needed to take but when his doctor found out he threatened to make the man go cold turkey unless he tested clean the next time.
Shortly thereafter my friend checked himself into a rehab clinic to get clean now he can use methadone and MMJ and until his heart pressure stated going nuts (common with methadone use) he was doing OK.
I hope his new medication works well for him because he was becoming a basket case on the opiods and I'd hate to see him return to that.
He was and is doing much better on the methadone and MMJ than he was on the opioid roller coaster so, I certainly hope he can keep it up, for his own sake.
give them as much as they want as many times as they want
This sounds like an idea I had 30 years ago during the Crack Epidemic. "Crack Farms" where Crackheads could go an live and smoke all the free crack they wanted as long as they stayed on the farm. Sure it would cost money to run the Farm but Crack is only expensive because it's illegal, the government could make legal Crack for 20 bucks a pound. Just imagine how much a Crackhead has to steal everyday to feed their habit that wouldn't get stolen if they were on the Farm. A couple added benefits are that the Dealers, Importers, and Gangs would go out of business and the rate of "New Addicts" would plummet. Drug Addiction is a Disease and it may be that the only way to win the War on Drugs is by Quarantining the People who have the Disease.
LOL Good idea, crackheads would probably be happy to grow their own poppies and make their own crack if left alone to do so.
resulting in a self sufficient unit till the death.
I thought crack was made from cocaine.....ie...the coca leaf. Poppies produce opium/heroine/morphine
LOL I do believe you are correct, I guess I'm not as hip as I thought.
Or too burnt.
The good news? Grow the cocoa and use it for chocolate.....and hot coccoa.......
Coca not cocoa
Great. Would could go wrong?
Oh, addiction is a disease. I know that's the latest term used for addicts, but addiction is the use of substances or doing things that are addictive.
I can tell you, if you never do any heroin, you'll never get that disease. If you don't hang out with other people who do heroin, you'll have a much greater chance of not having a heroin addiction. The fact is people try heroin by smoking it, snorting it or using a needle to ingest it into their bodies. The high, although it is really a low, is what makes people want to do it again. The withdrawal is what usually makes people do it again.
This is the real truth. After the first time of using heroin a person is not a hard cold addict, but they still feel a slight withdrawal for the next day or so. The next time they do heroin, the withdrawal is a little more pronounced. Usually, if continues and done within a short period of days, the withdrawal becomes much more pronounced and if they aren't removed from the source, they will have a much greater chance of becoming a full blown heroin addict.
Some people carry on their lives for quite some time doing heroin and still remain productive, while others are unable to do so. I know people who have done heroin for many years and still have jobs they go to each day and I know people who have overdosed and died as a result of heroin addiction. I know people who are on methadone. Some have it given at the dispensary and some are allowed to carry it with them. Methadone is addictive as well and under professional guidance can help someone who is sincere to get past the withdrawals of heroin and then methadone to become clean of drugs.
Heroin addiction is somewhat like alcoholism. Alcoholism is a disease somewhat the same as heroin is. If you never drink a drop, you won't become a drunk. Now who in their right mind would expect young people coming up today to never touch the bottle? But that is a fact. Different minds work differently, while some can have a few drinks and not have any more for months, others especially if they are in an environment that promotes drinking or using illegal drugs, greatly increase the possibility of becoming a drunk or an addict.
Even after stopping heroin for months or even years, like the alcoholic, the only thing a person, who has crossed the line, needs is one drink or one shot. No one knows where that line is. It's in their mind, I would imagine forever it seems. Making heroin more accessible is not a good plan of action in my opinion. Remember the first beer you had as a teenager the older fellow you knew bought for you?
The best plan, in my opinion, is to remove the addict from the atmosphere and source of the drug for an extended period of time. If that means rehab centers or jail for crimes committed, then it is certainly better than putting someone where they are doomed to live their lives as addicts until death. One of the main problems with jails is drugs are often available and many people will never stop using heroin or any other addictive drugs, no matter how much you try to help them.
They may seem to be cured or appear to have a good chance of never returning to their old habits and/or friends, but they just got out of a drug rehab center. It takes a long time. It takes a busy mind, It takes a determination to never ever go back to addictive drugs, whether it's alcohol or heroin. Not many are that strong. And here's another thing it takes. It takes forgetting the past in a person's daily life. If they are away from those who do the drugs, that's one thing, but it takes thinking they are the person they are today, not the person they were at one time. You can not keep scratching a sore and expect it to heal. That's the way it is with many things we want to change about ourselves and society in general. We must center our attention on today and the future, not the past. We must put our attention on what can be, not what it was.
Maybe there should be different levels these people can go through. Not just one rehab center where everyone goes, but when a person proves they are ready, send them to another rehab center, kind of like graduating to a higher level, and do everything you can to build their self esteem, while teaching them the realities of life, better ways to deal with them and help them realize a brighter future. Other words, point them in the right direction.
And in addition, there should be much more severe punishment for big drug dealers, selling these deadly drugs.
Helping them to learn down deep in their soul, the best high a person can have is absolute control over himself/herself.
Unfortunately many of today's heron addicts didn't know the prescription pain pills their trusting Doctor gave them were setting them up for addiction. Some are just now learning it.
Any substance or even an activity can be addictive. Addicts appear to have a feedback loop that is easily compromised and then they rely on a behavior or for enjoyment in the absence of a healthy activity. That behavior can be work, exercise, sex, or any number of drugs. You can take that activity away and detox them but the abnormal feedback loop still exists and they will go back to the addictive behavior as soon as they can.
We don't know enough about the human brain to effectively treat this situation but we are slowly learning. To blame the addict and say that they are just weak is an intellectual crutch that allows the person to ignore both their lack of compassion and lack of intelligence.
Where can you get free alcohol? Or are they just discriminating among addicts?
Is someone selling adulterated alcohol?
Maybe the ATF will give you a pass on brewing and distilling your own booze if you ask nice. I've made beer and wine and helped make whiskey, so it's not difficult to do.
My town has Art Walk every first Thursday. Art galleries put out wine (cheap) and cheese and crackers. People stroll form gallery to gallery.