fatslob-:O said:
sundin13 said:
You really aren't responding to what I am saying about geographical trends. When you look at the data, countries with a high prevalence of the death penalty don't really show any outstanding trends making it impossible to determine without in-depth statistical calculations whether or not there is any effect at all. The countries you are listing don't show any outstanding characteristics, and many of them are symbolic application states (like the USA) where executions for drug crimes either don't happen or are incredibly rare, making them poor poster-boys for your argument.
As for prescriptions, again, just look at your data. About 90% of the use of opioids comes from prescription drugs in the USA. Actually, I'm not going to argue this point. Read your own sources:
"The opioid epidemic has its roots in the explosive growth of prescription painkillers."
"Unfortunately, as the supply of painkillers has dropped, many addicts have turned instead to heroin (see chart), which is cheap and plentiful. "
It is exactly as I said. People get hooked by prescription drugs and when they are unable to continue their prescription or find prescriptions, they turn to heroin (or other street opioids). Prescription drugs funnel addicts to street drugs (as I said earlier).
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Which means that prescription opioids STOPPED being a problem ...
Just because you pointed out that the users made a switch to a substitute doesn't mean that the last drug they used is still a CURRENT problem ...
Pointing to prescription drugs is just a scapegoat when it's just a TOOL administered by doctors at their own discretion ...
Those addicted seeking out other forms of opioids is a problem ...
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No it doesn't. It means that prescription drugs are fueling demand. Obviously, that is a problem (and the 5+% of the population who are using them for non medical purposes are a little bit of an issue). If you reduce the prescribing of opioids, you reduce the demand for heroin. What aren't you understanding about that?
It gets kind of ridiculous for you to be saying "opioids are a huge problem in America, but 90% of addicts using Prescription opioids are irrelevant"... Doesn't that kind of invalidate your point that abuse rights in the USA are so high? If prescription opioids aren't a problem, then the abuse rate for the USA is still above average, but not by much.
