[md224]

Really curious how previous societies dealt with opioid misuse when opium and related products (e.g. laudanum) were far less regulated. I’m just confused why a substance that’s been a cornerstone of medicine for centuries (millennia?) is causing so many problems now. Is it less about the drug itself and more about the state of society? The cultural or legal context?

[BigJono]

How many opiate addicts does the average person know today (sans internet access)? I know for me it's 0, and I don't exactly run in the most wholesome friend groups.

My guess is it's always been a problem to the same extent, but the extent is exaggerated today, due to increased visibility (internet and media), and fairly recent (since the start of the war on drugs in the U.S.) incentives for bad news to spread.

[YouKnowBetter]

I knew quite a few pretty well, called them friends: they're all dead but one.

Some of them kept it well hidden, till the HIV struck (far less an issue now), or they O.D.ed. I guess you might know one or two but maybe not as friends, but as familiar faces or friends of friends.

As to the size of the problem, I can not tell if it's the same or larger or less, since my observations are based on my age group (old) and survivor bias. I have seen two towns suffer under the epedemic it was in Europe in the 80's and 90's. These same towns now do not display the same issues with the 13 to 30 year old zombies.

The issues I read about in the US seem rather distant to me here in Europe.

[toomanybeersies]

Opiate addiction isn't related to how wholesome your friends are.

I also don't run in the most wholesome group of friends (at least by traditional standards) and also don't know any opoid users.

However, every time I walk to the supermarket I walk past a park where there's about half a dozen heroin addicts shooting up. They just do it in plain sight. There's also needle deposit boxes in all the public toilets and alleyways. Just the other day I saw a dead addict being wheeled into an ambulance.

Opiate abuse isn't related to how wholesome you are. There are plenty of god-fearing addicts.

Overdose death rates have increased massively over the past 20 years (https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/o...)

It's definitely a growing problem. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are making it even worse.

[notjtrig]

In a Massachusetts suburb it's pretty rare to find some who doesn't know an opiate addict. Some of my neighbors, family, co-workers, classmates and friends have been addicted. Most towns have a Suboxone/Methadone clinic.

[mirimir]

A close friend has used oxycodone for back pain, for many years. But this is under a doctor's care. So are they an addict? I don't know. It has been years since they went without it, however.

[pascoej]

Growing up in pretty typical Suburbia, USA, probably more than I can fit on my hands.

[tdurden]

interesting anecdote

[CitizenKane]

From what I'm aware, there are variety of reasons. In China opium use was common for a long time. However, smoked opium is less potent then consuming it in other fashions and generally speaking it was less available and more expensive.

[mirimir]

Sure, but eating the ash, which contains much of the opium, is pretty common.