[jdc]

> Why is it that instead of acknowledging the rather uncomfortable root cause of those deaths, we just default to the so much simpler scapegoat, pills (the active ingredient in which has been with us in one form or another since 5000 BC), and pretend everything else is just rainbows and unicorns?

Okay, I'll take mushrooms, which have actually been with us since then, and you take synthetic intravenous opioids and we'll see who fares better.

[refurb]

Opioids (opium) have been around as long as mushrooms. Just because they are synthetic variations doesn't mean they are that different.

[jdc]

Alright, go ahead and get on a regular IV fentanyl regime and let me know how that goes for you.

[snovv_crash]

It has nothing to do with the synthetic, people destroy themselves on straight-from-the-poppy-plant heroin as well.

[honkdaddy]

I think you're underestimating how destructive fentanyl is compared to almost any other opioid.

[WarOnPrivacy]

What does fentanyl have to do with people who were cut off, people who - for years/decades - responsibly used Rx opiods to manage chronic debilitating pain?

Unless you're talking about people in pain who were forced to the street, after Dr's were (en masse) hazed into stopping pain treatment. In that case, I get your point.

[jdc]

I'm glad you asked! I've invoked it as a rhetorical device to highlight how different each opiate is from the next.

I'd like to less misery caused by heavy-handed drug policy — and it seems to me that decriminalization (and perhaps even legalization) is the way forward.

[refurb]

Generally I’ve heard fentanyl is a poor substitute for heroin.

[inter_netuser]

My comment was specifically about people that need them prescribed. For pain relief, injuries, chronic pain, and so on. Opioids are very effective and are vilified for no good reason, along with a few other classes of substances.

Not as in substitution therapy, like methadone. I do hope that mushrooms help people come off of long-term substitution.