The opioid epidemic isn't hitting LA as hard as the rest of the country. Why?

[destroycreate]

Isn't heroin still a huge problem among the homeless in LA though? Seems to the case in SF/Seattle. I dodge used syringes seemingly daily.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Not enough white folks.

Headline: "Why doesn't Topeka have more crack deaths?"

Random person: " Not enough black folks."

Hmmmm

[CaliNative]

No need for opioids in big active cities like L.A. with lots of distractions and things to do. Rural areas can be boring. So some rural folk unfortunately see opioids as something to do to avoid boredom. Is this plausible?

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I really think doctors here like to over-prescribe things; that's what our healthcare industry has become in the US, I think.

Why do you think that might be? Doctors don't make any money by writing you a prescription.

Answer: It's because they think you might want the medicine. Nobody's going to force you to take it or even force you to fill a prescription. People have different pain tolerances and there's no way for the doctor to know yours until it's tested. In general, opiates are warranted for short term, high intensity pain episodes but if you don't need them, don't take them. It's better than wishing you had something for relief at 3 AM and not having anything.

Two weeks ago I spent 4 days in the hospital with an amazingly dramatic hand infection. In the end I had to have my index finger cut open for the infection to drain out (and when they do that, they don't sew it back together--it's left to gradually heal itself). I can't take Tylenol or drugs like Ibuprofen; at home I usually take aspirin for most headaches and such. For this situation I accepted--asked for--the opiates 3 times but that's all because I got a certain satisfaction "toughing it out". We are all different.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

No need for opioids in big active cities like L.A. with lots of distractions and things to do. Rural areas can be boring. So some rural folk unfortunately see opioids as something to do to avoid boredom. Is this plausible?

Kids--teens--might experiment with opiates out of boredom but I doubt most adults do. Here's a fact: Blue collar, working class jobs like coal mining or farming are hard work with high injury rates. People who do this kind of work end up with sore joints, bad backs, broken bones and all sorts of problems. In other words, they have a lot of PAIN for which they want relief and they usually can get someone to prescribe an opiate which may be the only thing that really does provide relief.

City jobs--desk jobs--aren't physically punishing in the same way. The most painful thing about them may be a headache or a heart attack or a car accident driving to work.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

If it were about ethnic diversity, then you'd expect it to be similarly low in other diverse cities like NYC, though.

Unless the specific groups involved are more specific to LA vs the rest of the country.

NYC probably does have a similarly low rate.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

No need for opioids in big active cities like L.A. with lots of distractions and things to do. Rural areas can be boring. So some rural folk unfortunately see opioids as something to do to avoid boredom. Is this plausible?

This and LA's love of weed, yes. The other reasons listed so far don't make sense.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

Isn't heroin still a huge problem among the homeless in LA though? Seems to the case in SF/Seattle. I dodge used syringes seemingly daily.

Yes. Most homeless are addicts.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Not enough white folks.

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

b i n g o

Here are some actual stats:
42,000 deaths from opioid over-doses represents 66% of all drug overdoses in 2016

From 2015 to 2016 % increase in opioid deaths.
56.1% increase in Blacks [that was the biggest increase seen in any racial or ethnic group].
36.4% increase with Asians and Pacific Islanders
32.6% increase with Hispanics
25.9% increase with Whites
14.9% among Native American Indians

Texas had the lowest age adjusted opioid death rate at 4.9/100,000 compared to
Washington D.C. with a rate of 30/100,000

200% increase in the death rate amongst hispanics/latinos from synthetic opioids

[LA21st]

Texas doesn't have alot of white folks.

[pizzaguy]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

Here are some actual stats:
42,000 deaths from opioid over-doses represents 66% of all drug overdoses in 2016

From 2015 to 2016 % increase in opioid deaths.
56.1% increase in Blacks [that was the biggest increase seen in any racial or ethnic group].
36.4% increase with Asians and Pacific Islanders
32.6% increase with Hispanics
25.9% increase with Whites
14.9% among Native American Indians

Texas had the lowest age adjusted opioid death rate at 4.9/100,000 compared to
Washington D.C. with a rate of 30/100,000

200% increase in the death rate amongst hispanics/latinos from synthetic opioids

Using percentage increase is misleading. Opioid use may be on the rise in minority communities but 90% of opioid addicts are still white.

It's a moral failing of the culture, tbh. Stop blaming doctors and the politicians and start looking in the mirror.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

No need for opioids in big active cities like L.A. with lots of distractions and things to do. Rural areas can be boring. So some rural folk unfortunately see opioids as something to do to avoid boredom. Is this plausible?

Anecdotally, yes.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

Using percentage increase is misleading. Opioid use may be on the rise in minority communities but 90% of opioid addicts are still white.

It's a moral failing of the culture, tbh. Stop blaming doctors and the politicians and start looking in the mirror.

I am certain you would blame moral failings on crack usage among urban blacks, right?

What a statement to make. Drug addiction has plenty of blame, but to put that all on the user is pretty weak.

[Sun Belt]

More stats from the U.S. in 2016:

11.5 million people misused their prescription.
2.1 million people with some level of opioid abuse problem.
950,000 heroin users
170,000 used heroin for the first time.
17,000 deaths from prescribed opioid medication.
15,500 deaths from heroin
19,500 deaths from synthetic heroin.
116 deaths per day.

$504,000,000,000 in economic loss.

https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/sites/de...nfographic.pdf


The opioid prescriptions per 100,000 people differs greatly from state to state. Alabama is about 3X that of Hawaii. I don't think anybody wants to inject a needle into their body, but do so because they get hooked on legal opioids from being over prescribed. Some have the money, access and professional management to continue to abuse pills and prolong their abuse [think Michael Jackson] and those that don't turn to cheap street heroin or other synthetics and over-dose at a rather young age.

[Via Chicago]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

they never did. i had all 4 of them preemptively pulled when i was 17 because all 4 were growing sideways in my gums and beginning to impact my molars.

FTR, dry socket is an entire order of magnitude more painful than just having a tooth pulled. only about 5% of people who get a tooth pulled get dry socket, and unfortunately i was one of those unlucky SOB's.

thank fuck i was given some pain pills or i might have tried to remove my lower jaw with a sawzall. that's how much it hurt.

i mean, i had dry socket when i got my wisdom teeth removed too. i went back in and they put the clove oil in there (a several thousand year old natural remedy) and it pretty much instantly solved it.

i also had maxiofacial surgery where i had my lower jaw intentionally broken in two places, and then reset into place and wired shut for a month. i had some morphine the first 24 hours after surgery, but after that it was liquid tylenol.

i do think opiods have a place and can give people back a sense of normalcy who otherwise deal with lifelong chronic pain. but i mean, i went into the ER several years back because i thought i had broken my wrists after falling off my bike. turned out it was just a bad muscle strain, but they gave me a prescription for Tramadol. and im here to tell you....i liked the stuff. it made me feel relaxed, clear-headed, freely talkative without typical social inhibitions, open to new ideas, and interested in other people. it didnt feel like a "high"...it felt like an anti-depressant. as if a cloud had just subtly lifted. as if "why have i not always felt like this? this is clearly the way you should feel all the time...have i just had untreated depression? this stuff makes life enjoyable and natural and easy going in a way ive never felt before. this makes life feel like the way it was intended to feel". of course, thats what opiates do. and then you take one extra, and then thats when its got you. its very subtle and VERY easy to grab ahold of you without realizing its happened. when the prescription ran out (and it was only about a weeks supply), i went through mild withdrawls for a couple days, and it definitely could have spiraled out of control had i had a more available supply at the time. i imagine these sorts situations are the way lots of people get hooked.

[LA21st]

I almost got hooked on oxycontin after a surgery. It made me feel great.
I had to will myself to not take it any further .

[pizzaguy]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

I am certain you would blame moral failings on crack usage among urban blacks, right?

What a statement to make. Drug addiction has plenty of blame, but to put that all on the user is pretty weak.

Black people have been systematically fucked with for 400 years. I don’t blame them for getting high.

What’s whitey’s excuse? Too many immigants making Bubba sad?

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by LA21st

I almost got hooked on oxycontin after a surgery. It made me feel great.
I had to will myself to not take it any further .

That is what's scary. You have no intention of abusing an opioid for pleasure but you were prescribed this stuff from a doctor for recovery from a surgery. Many people don't recognize that they're getting hooked before it's too late.

[Eightball]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Oh and we have the best weed, its legal and everyone smokes or eats weed here ha

That and the fact everyone out here does that WG

[dimondpark]

Its not huge in the Bay Area either.