tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post6192212191900774492..comments2023-11-03T19:05:08.512+11:00Comments on Harry Clarke: End of heroin & advent of socially-approved big pharma narcotics provisionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-5613955068297483362007-08-25T07:27:00.000+10:002007-08-25T07:27:00.000+10:00Thats ok FXH,where I work has trials for the new a...Thats ok FXH,<BR/><BR/>where I work has trials for the new and novel. I don't need passe stuff. Or am I just an old fogey thinking it is passe -- is it cool again?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-86406908957476968502007-08-24T16:15:00.000+10:002007-08-24T16:15:00.000+10:00conrad if your chasin' then Ringwood Rail Station ...conrad if your chasin' then Ringwood Rail Station or Springy and Dandenong is a good bet, or Russell Street.<BR/><BR/>Or I hear the Economics Dept a LaTrobe is good for a gram or two but on principle they will only sell at an auction with full information on quality available. Cash on the knocker. Nothing on the slate. Dunno about mates rates or insider trading out there tho.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-64250861310821176392007-08-24T13:41:00.000+10:002007-08-24T13:41:00.000+10:00Sorry, I forgot to mention, the other reason I don...Sorry, I forgot to mention, the other reason I don't think pain-killers are displacing Heroin at all is that if it was, we should have seen a drop in the price of Heroin. Not that I''m wandering around Richmond much :) but I don't here any reports of that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-15234136305974618982007-08-24T13:39:00.000+10:002007-08-24T13:39:00.000+10:00Lots of drugs go through big growth phases before ...Lots of drugs go through big growth phases before getting much tighter legislation due to addiction problems. Benzodiazepine's are an obvious example which probably fit a similar category to the newer pain killers. They're basically harmless, have some positive effects, but they're also addictive, so once you stop taking them, you'll have problems. They didn't displace other drugs as far as I'm aware.<BR/><BR/>As for heroin usage -- I think you are just looking at correlation, not causation, in terms of whether the newer painkillers are displacing it. The disappearance of Heroin is surely due to the current situation in Afganistan/Pakistanm where a lot of the supply is being cut-off. Once the US gets booted out of these places, no doubt the Heroin supply will increase again. The situation in Burma may also have calmed down a bit, which is another big supply centre.<BR/><BR/>Because of this, I don't think there's much the police can do about the Heroin problem in Australia without radical changes in legislation. Hence I think your attribution to policing is wrong -- its global policing which is important, not local policing. I doubt, the efficacy of local policing changes much over time, but the price of Heroin changes a lot. <BR/><BR/>You can look at this in recent history (you can find the number of deaths due to OD, which should provide a proxy for overall usage). Off the top of my head, it was big in the 80s, then use dimished a lot (speed replaced it a lot ), but then it was huge in the 90s again (remember the movie trainspotting?), and then it died out again. The next cycle will surely come again next time it becomes really cheap.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-77227092600886893132007-08-24T10:00:00.000+10:002007-08-24T10:00:00.000+10:00harry - I'm not clear about the "sudden explosive ...harry - I'm not clear about the "sudden explosive growth". <BR/><BR/>Is there a graph or table somewhere?<BR/><BR/>Most drug /treatment uptake doesn't follow a smooth line - due to many factors. There is often a slow uptake then a tipping point where usage explodes due to information, inherent (and desirable) conservatism on behalf of prescribers, Meta studies on drug or conditions, rules and regulations,etc etc.<BR/><BR/>I will still take a punt, without any info, that the biggest cohorts its precribed to is over 55 yo and cancer and /or terminal illness. And thatis also where the "dramatic growth" is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-14507643181877823262007-08-24T09:53:00.000+10:002007-08-24T09:53:00.000+10:00The statement means that "they" don't know what th...The statement means that "they" don't know what they are talking about with regard to "use", "abuse", "dependence", of prescribed opiods and that any such "abuse" may well end up delivering harm minimisation strategies.<BR/><BR/>Legitimate concern about Big Pharma profits, gouging and rent seeking should be examined for what they are and not mixed up with the emotional panic surrounding "addiction" "abuse" and heroin.<BR/><BR/>FXHAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-35689946004049258902007-08-24T09:47:00.000+10:002007-08-24T09:47:00.000+10:00I tend to agree with this statement (summary?) fro...I tend to agree with this statement (summary?) from Benedikt Fischer and Jurgen Rehm in Addiction:<BR/><BR/><I>Furthermore, most national systems' drug use monitoring tools—e.g. the Canadian Addiction Survey (CAS)—have not been sensitive to the phenomenon of prescription opioid abuse or its harmful consequences (especially in marginalized user groups, e.g. street drug users): specifically, most even lack the most basic tools to differentiate ‘use’ from ‘abuse’ or ‘dependence’ [25]. It is quite possible that, for some user populations, a shift from heroin to prescription opioid abuse may mean a reduction in key consequential harms (e.g. overdose risk or injecting behaviours)—as suggested by the OPICAN data [10].</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-49719205310670690742007-08-24T09:18:00.000+10:002007-08-24T09:18:00.000+10:00Conrad, Why the sudden dramatic growth in demand f...Conrad, Why the sudden dramatic growth in demand for these painkillers? And why the disappearence of illicit heroin markets?hchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13799594181016858701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22031270.post-40892895014894559902007-08-24T07:52:00.000+10:002007-08-24T07:52:00.000+10:00I think your article is off the mark. There has be...I think your article is off the mark. There has been an addiction problem with legal prescription drugs for basically as long as they have been available -- the fact that there is a new one is no big deal. Its always been a big problem.<BR/><BR/>Also, the idea that the government is stopping the heroin trade is also rather grey -- the supply of heroin has always been cyclical, and no doubt when the US gets kicked out of Iraq/that area in general, the supply will go up again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com