it’s incredible that they leapt straight to this without ever eg doing a public awareness campaign about the dangers of mixing depressants https://twitter.com/Asher_Wolf/status/1265822126050705409

if you want to reduce the risks associated with opiate use, the first step is definitely cutting off supply. as we know, the more illegal something is, the safer it is

a lot of chronically ill and disabled people use illegal/illegally acquired drugs because they’re denied legal access to the medication they need, which can lead to them being labelled drug-seeking, and further lock them out of legal access to medication

if you want to put someone on the path to an opiate overdose or a heroin addiction the best way to do that is to make sure they can only access effective pain relief from someone who will also sell them something stronger, unregulated, and possibly tainted with fentanyl

This is not to say drug dealers are to blame either — most dealers are also users and genuinely do their best to ensure client safety, but it’s not always possible for them to be sure what they’re selling

there have been two periods where I was using codeine every day. One was when I had an infected tooth nerve but I couldn’t afford to see a dentist, one was when my job gave me debilitating back pain and I couldn’t afford to quit. If you’re going to ban codeine, ban poverty first

it’s the same with stimulants. there’s a reason truckers are known speed freaks and it’s because they need to drive for thirty hours straight and not die. so much drug use is driven by the demands of *work*

I fucking hate this! I hate the way drug policy is totally callous toward chronically ill and disabled and poor people, insensible to what most people actually have to do to meet their needs

when I say people use drugs to meet their needs I mean it very literally: you need to get out of bed, you need to sleep, you need to go to work and pick up the kids and prepare food. Almost everyone uses drugs. coffee, wine, ice, ibuprofen, codeine, Xanax, heroin: all drugs

if you can treat your pain with ibuprofen, but somebody else needs opiates, it’s not because you’re a better, more in control person. you’re probably just in less pain

I’m so sick of all these theories about why people use opiates that never land on “perhaps they are in pain and treating that pain”