[stronglikedan]

> Regulating human consumption of anything that grows from the ground is absolutely ridiculous.

As always, it depends. While I agree wrt marijuana, everyone would be an opiate addict if poppy wasn't regulated - it's just that good.

[hrimfaxi]

> While I agree wrt marijuana, everyone would be an opiate addict if poppy wasn't regulated - it's just that good.

That doesn't match my experience at all.

[computerphage]

It didn't used to be regulated. How do you explain the fact that not everyone used to be an opiate addict?

[HaloZero]

Because we regulated it when it got bad. Other countries have had opioid epidemics and they’ve had to intervene. China is a very famous example because the British didn’t like the crackdown as it affected other trade

[MSFT_Edging]

We regulated it as a means to police certain communities.

Hell, Billie holiday suffered from addiction but that bastard Harry Anslinger ordered doctors to not treat her and not provide her with methadone. She died with police stationed at her hospital room door. The FBI also harassed her over songs about lynching.

Nixon is literally on tape saying to go after weed and heroin more harshly as an excuse to arrest more anti-war protesters and civil rights protestors.

I'd argue "cracking down" has done little for controlling drug abuse and has primarily been a method for selective policing. Particularly in the states.

[computerphage]

But how do you explain the fact that, before it got bad, it wasn't /already/ bad. You've gotta have some model for why there was a change if the rate wasn't previously at 100% and the claim is that the number "should be 100% unless it was regulated"

[MSFT_Edging]

We'd probably be better off if people were grinding and smoking poppy seeds. Even Heroin.

We as a society somehow keep making the whole opiate addiction thing worse with increasingly stronger versions. I've read that Heroin overall was a much more enjoyable drug, and harder to OD on. Then Opioids became big, the sackler family got rich, and now you just have a super cheap, super strong drug that isn't even enjoyable. Fentanyl just knocks you out and makes overdosing easier.

I do wonder what a safety minded policy around opioids could look like, as they're not exactly a new problem in the scheme of human history.

[whalesalad]

if opium was treated like every other plant we wouldn't have the fentanyl crisis. opium has been used for millennia.

[manugo4]

History disagrees

[joquarky]

This smells like psychological projection.