Comments

1
Already read it :p
2
I already have a cup of tea: (*)(*)
3
Weak article in the parts about setting up the dealer, much better when focused on Ann losing a grasp on who she was before heroin and the impact on her two young kids.
4
"If you think this guy is a nice guy, you need to re-evaluate your idea of the quality of a good person"

I like this comment from the narc. I'm sure the narc is smugly certain that she is a 'nice person' and would be simply astonished that anyone could hold the opinion that actually there is absolutely nothing nice about being a narc. In fact if you are a willful implementer of the drug crusade you are at least as not nice as the drug dealer.

Depressing that probably few readers would glean from this article what it really illustrates: the absolute utter insanity of the idiotic drug war. Would millions of people who picked up an Oxycodone habit wind up heroin junkies if strenuous efforts weren't made to make prescription painkillers as difficult and expensive to obtain as possible? Would criminals be taking over the streets of a town like Hazelton if the junkies could get their fix, or at least a methadone prescription, at a facility set up for that purpose?
5
It's amazing how many terrible decisions Ann made in such a short amount of time. I can imagine bad fortune making me penniless, homeless, unloved, seriously ill, but not the heroin addict(s) from the linked article. Is that drug so powerful, that after one use it sucks every ounce of reason out of you? I am such a rational person that it's like reading about an alien species. Is there such a thing as a recreational heroin user, or is Ann's fate the fate of all users?
6
@5 It's actually a relatively small percentage of people that get hooked on heroin like Ann did. Somewhere around 25% of users. Most people use recreationally and never shoot up.
7
@6

1 in 4. Why do I not find that reassuring? Why can I not bring myself to think "Well, that's not bad, it's 'only' 1 in 4"?
8
This article, like almost all about drug use, illustrates a worst-case scenario and makes it seem like the norm. In my quite vast experience, the fate of drug addicts has mostly to do with their social class: people with established families and educations find their way out of drugs simply because they have options, and dreams, and addiction is ultimately extremely boring. People with few options and resources end up in downward spirals made ever worse by an unforgiving legal system and judgmental aid agencies.

A small percentage of people are betrayed by their biology no matter how many options they have, and have extreme difficulty escaping addiction; these people need more help rather than condemnation. Most people continue to maintain emotional ties and morals through even the worst throws of addiction. They still usually don't quit the first time they try, but will quit on the third or fourth attempt. This is one of the problems with statistics, the high rate of relapse is deceptive.

9
Ms Tarrant,

My nephew, from a good and supportive family and with options and every reason for hope, died from this vile drug. He went through treatment at least three times, obviously to no avail. A friends son has been through treatment 4 times and seems to be doing well. After stealing from his family to buy his heroin, being unable to hold a job or keep friends, and generally making recovery of trust and hope an uphill climb for himself. Also from a n upper middle class family and with all the options that make heroin addiction so very easy.

I'm glad your vast experience shows heroin use to be benign and the prosecution of the worthless trash that sell the stuff a waste of time. Now tell my brother all that bs, see how he responds. Tell my friends hoping this time, maybe, their precious son will pull out of it but aware that he might very well not. But don't tell me, because I don't believe errant nonsense.

I'll stipulate that treatment should trump prosecution for addicts, if the addict chooses it. And shame doesn't help either. For my nephew part of the problem was that he already felt helpless and worthless because he couldn't win his battle with addiction. Additional guilt from us would not only not have helped, it would have made it harder for him to fight.

But selling that soul destroying drug should carry the death penalty, administered by the family and friends of the addicts these scumbag dealers prey on.
10
@9 - Maybe your nephew went down that road because he saw the hate that existed already within his family. You are, after all, full of it.
11
@9: I'm right with you on most of that. The dangers of drugs like cocaine, heroin, and opium shouldn't be minimized.
But seriously, you want to execute drug dealers? Shit man, you're just nuts. Throw the sods in prison, give them more severe sentences if their dealing involved violence, but it's a waste of time and resources to make possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute a capital crime.
12
@10

What the hell is wrong with you? Personally, I'd want to know a hell of a lot more before making the assumptions you do, asshole.

My nephew made a stupid mistake. We all do and we all will. With heroin there is all too often no return from that mistake. I, hate filled as I am, tried within all I knew to help my nephew. My brother and I researched heroin addiction in a vain bid to help him. I'd get calls from him at all hours when the need hit, trying to talk him down, because I told him to call. He lived with us for a while, because we hoped not being around his junkie contacts would help in his recovery. He was a good, caring smart kid I miss 2 years after his death. I still wonder what we night have done to help him so that we might be watching him start a career or meeting his fiance or just becoming the good man he looked like he was going to be.
13
@11

That was, of course, hyperbolic. I don't support the death penalty ever, for a number of reasons. And of course giving the right to exact punishment to the victims is at odds with every principle of law as we understand it.
14
@10: That was a bit uncalled for. Just because Seattleblues is a vitriolic liar who states his own opinions as fact and then runs away when his arguments are refuted doesn't mean that you should mock his tragically deceased nephew.

@13: So do you usually say "things should be like this" when you don't mean it? For God's sake, please mean what you say. There's enough bullshitting and doublespeak in this world already.

You know, Seattleblues, there's another conservative Seattleite I know over the internet. He's a former Marine, a father, and a Christian. He used to be the leader of my SWTOR guild.
He shares a lot of opinions with you on topics like The Gay and abortions and social welfare. But you know what? He's a good guy at heart, he doesn't go around calling gay people mean things just for being gay, and he recognizes that his opinions are just that--opinions--and doesn't insist that everyone who disagrees with him on an issue is sick or stupid. You'd do well to recognize that you aren't the ultimate authority on things.
15
@7 That's why I said "relatively small percentage." It's not a sure thing you will get addicted, most people don't. A lot of people do, but most people do not. I am someone who had to be on morphine and fentanyl for seven years for a really bad pain syndrome called RSD, and now even dilaudid doesn't kill pain for me or make me blotto and I get really bad migraines which puts me in a tough spot. I never use anything besides pot recreationally and never will because I know how bad withdrawal can be, I don't trust drug dealers, and it's just not worth it. I've known and know people that use hard drugs recreationally, but I've also known people that got addicted and lost everything. It's the luck of the draw and brain chemistry, really.
16
@9 I don't know chief, you think the drug war is helping addicts? I'm going to assume based on your enthusiasm for draconian penalties for dealers you are all for that. Not out of character for a freedom lover such as yourself who paradoxically happens to also be an authoritarian, like most right-wing freedom lovers in this land.

Give the junkies what they need and provide them with an exit door that is open whenever they are ready to exit.

Very likely the drug war bears indirect or direct responsibility for your nephew's death. Most overdoses are due to the impossibility of judging purity levels in street drugs.
17
Before we go executing or flogging dealers or whatever, let's also remember that many/most of the users like Ann in the article are also dealing to support their habit.

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