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[–] placoid 0 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago 

This map shows the U.S. death rate from drug overdose in 1999. By 2015, the map looked like this.

And this overlapping map of unemployment tells us why. There is no opioid crisis, unhappy people are doing unhappy things. They can ban the pharmaceutical opioids entirely, they'll simply be replaced by black market alternatives. 20k doses of carfentanil can be smuggled in a single grain of rice, there's no stopping this. Prohibition always leads to more concentrated drugs with less purity and wider availability.

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[–] absurdlyobfuscated 0 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago 

Interestingly, Texas doesn't seem to have been affected nearly as much as New Mexico despite having similar unemployment. That would indicate that they're doing something different to combat the problem, or other states are doing something to exacerbate it. I'm really curious what those factors are.

I think you're mostly right, but from what I understand a significant part of the problem is that doctors are too quick to prescribe opioids, which can get a lot of people hooked. When they run out it's basically impossible to get more legally, so they go to the black market alternative or just start on heroin. The prescription is the gateway that leads many people down that path, so without it you're reduced to typical motivating factors like unhappiness and poverty. Normal people generally don't go to extremes with things like hard drugs, you need a catalyst. That's an oxy prescription written to treat an injury for a lot of people, influenced by over-zealousness from doctors and drug companies.

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[–] hypercat 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

Most doctors are SUPER strict about prescribing low nonrefillable amounts. I work in this field and they are even telling dentists to give over the counter for surgeries. It's fentanyl. From China.

Also coke, LSD, MDA, MDMA, and other such drugs have become VERY available.

The drug market is getting flooded, shit is cheap as fuck, and little consequences. Who stands to gain? Certainly not doctors, they don't get paid per pill.

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[–] placoid 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

Prescriptions play a role, but I think the correlation is coincidental. I see the overdoses as suicidal behavior, everyone knows the risk of an OD by now. Brookings has another interesting map they term deaths of despair.

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[–] theProphetsofCarnage 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Maybe a correlation to the amount of naturally occurring lithium present in the tap water of some Texas cities; El Paso comes to mind.