re: how many people do you know who have OD'd on heroin?

(Paramedic here) that stuff works great on opiate overdoses if they have a pulse and are either apneic or bradypneic (not breating or slow, shallow breathing.) I respond to a lot of junkies who are found dead by their fellow users who act in a way to protect themselves. i.e. "I talked to him 10 minutes ago" while the corpse has rigor mortis- that takes a few hours to start. gtfo with that nonsense.

Guy I knew who didn't drink or smoke pot even, got in a bad car wreck in 2004. He would take pain killers. He never got off of them. Before the Hurricane I saw him and he was doing good, I asked him if he was still seeing Roxy every night. (slang to ask if he was taking Roxycontin which was new(er) at the time than Oxycontin. )
He replied "no, I met Patch Addams" and showed me a Fentanyl Patch, on his head under his hat. At the time I found it funny, laughed it off. I didn't think about the addictive part.

Hurricane hit, he went with his girlfriend to a place called Rayne, that I just know is west. He got some Heroin, snorted it and she found him in bed dead and cold the next day. He was a friend when I was younger, but he hung with a Catholic school crowd and me a public school crowd. Was sad to see. Three more of his friends died from OD , and a few people I knew of, but he was the only friend I had that Od'd. His death was made worse, as his Mom waited 14 months to have the funeral.

The heroin epidemic is the fault of the pharmaceutical companies.

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The heroin epidemic is the fault of the pharmaceutical companies.

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Yes, it is to an extent. But with the recent changes to the law by the DEA we are now seeing people dying left and right because they have limited the amount of painkillers doctors can prescribe and the streets have dried up and jackass's are passing off Fent as dope.

People that are in legitimate pain cannot get the relieve they need and junkies are now dropping like flies because dealers are cutting all their shite with Fent. People are even pressing Vicodin and Percoset now for fricks sake.

All the DEA has done is increase the body count associated with opiods. I'm not sure what the solution to the problem is, but I can tell you it's not what the dumbass's at the DEA have done.

My cousin Overdosed the day she got out of jail. She had just served 9months.

My sister OD'd and died May of 2016. She'd been clean for a number of years and I had gotten to reconnect with her. Grateful for the time she got to spend with my family.

none, thankfully

I don't know any users that I'm aware of

I think both of the following can be true:

1) If you know a lot of people ODing or using heroin, you should reevaluate your situation. Maybe it can "happen" to anyone, but it usually doesn't, I suspect. It happens to people who are fricking around in ways they shouldn't be. Doesn't make those who don't better people, it just makes them wiser in one particular area (or wiser at some point).

2) That said, it can and does impact people you won't suspect. I don't think this is the majority or even a big minority, but it's possible and it's likely unwise to think you're insulated from it.

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1) If you know a lot of people ODing or using heroin, you should reevaluate your situation.

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if you mean friends or acquaintances, i agree. these were all people i went to high school with any spoke to just a few times. i found out through facebook.

all of them were huge losers and i wasn't surprised at all.

More than i care to add up, but definitely 1 this week. Her dad was er doc my mom with with for decades. Was arrested for possession of heroin on july first, those charges got dropped before she did.