FIGHT TERRORISM, AVOID ALL HARD DRUGS.
DRUGS ARE NOT THE ANSWER!
(Aug. 9th, 2023) NOTE: there has been a U. S. war on drugs since around 1900, and drug war deaths at the moment are beyond belief horrible.
Why more dangerous and less dangerous drugs should both be decriminalized: getting help for overdose victims. How can first responders and the general public provide needed help for overdose victims if they are unaware the victim is under the influence of a particular narcotic? Draconian and strict penalties tends to create a secretive situation wherein drug users do not openly reveal to anyone that they are using a particular illegal and dangerous drug, resulting in a much greater chance for fatal outcomes. If society is to reduce overdose deaths, decriminalization or even legality for opiates and other hard drugs is necessary. Narcan is useless if the public is not informed to use it if someone has overdosed on an opiate.
But what if the victim has overdosed on a legal barbiturate or other type of narcotic? Secretive habits can increase the dangers for everyone.
And let's be aware that there are drug threats out there other than opiates.
There was no fentanyl problem when Brian Epstein died of an overdose of legal barbiturates in 1967. Marilyn Monroe and Jimmi Hendrix also both died of legal barbiturate overdose.
Amy Winehouse died from overdose of alcohol!
Here's another angle: we don't really need external artificial drugs: your body's internal morphine system: click here. Note that the endorphin system was not even discovered by modern science until 1973; yet, we have plenty of evidence well before 1973 that some people didn't really need opiates or other hard drugs such as barbiturates to fight pain.
My mom told me that when I was five years old (that drugs are not really necessary to fight pain), when I found the fiction book in our house with the scary fictitious images of an English opium eater. The Beatles in advocating for legal pot in 1967 implied that opiates, barbiturates, and other hard drugs were dangerous. High School comrades told me that opiates, barbiturates, and hard drugs were dangerous in 1971. Dutch people lectured me about how "hard drugs" (such as, especially, opiates) were really dangerous starting in 1988 when I first visited Holland in order to use marijuana. I had already visited Holland before 1988 to attend a world peace conference in 1985, not to use marijuana.
Note that trained medical professionals have been prescribing opiates for thousands and thousands of years, so the era of knowing for sure that opiates aren't really necessary has essentially just occurred (1973). But when the Beatles called for pot legalization in 1967, six years before the discovery of the endorphin system, they were already speaking of the dangers of "hard drugs" such as barbiturates, Heroin and other opiates, and favored marijuana instead. (Fentanyl was not a threat in 1967.)
(early 1990's: my broken leg) I never asked for any morphine or opiates. But apparently morphine and other pain killers are legal in the USA, if you feel you need them. Circumstances taught me that it's probably not necessary for me to use opium.After I fractured my right leg, someone had called 911. The first responders arrived eventually, and had asked me if I wanted some "pain killer", and I responded, "Why not?" They never mentioned opiates.
I was lying on the ground and had just been waiting for the first responders to arrive. Although both lower leg bones were broken, I was lucky that the fracture was not a compound fracture, so there was no bleeding. Due to traffic congestion, it had taken about 20 - 30 minutes for the paramedics to arrive, so I had plenty of time to evaluate and think about the amount of pain I was experiencing.
This was my first and only fracture accident, and I was probably in a state of shock already (before the jab of morphine, aka "pain killer") which is similar to the effect of drugs. I felt dizzy before getting the jab, and found it hilarious how my foot was pointing in the wrong direction. It was funny to look at it.
Frankly, after receiving the injection of "pain killer" about 30 minutes after the accident, I finally noticed about a five to ten percent reduction in the pain, so the effect from "pain killer" was disappointingly minimal for me. I waited 30 minutes for virtually nothing. Pot has a huge effect on me, but opium would be a total waste of money.
I did not yet know that I had received a shot of morphine until the bill arrived about two months later: $15.00. (Those who are experts on the price of morphine can probably guess what year the accident occurred.)
Note that my tolerance to opioids was probably minimum since I had never chosen to use any opioids in my entire life. Therefore, I was probably already receiving effectively the maximum safe dosage. Any more would probably have killed me (I received one injection of morphine, whatever the standard dose is).
The first responders called for an ambulance, so again we waited. I did not ask for nor receive any more pain killer for the next few days spent in the hospital. I didn't need it, since I was already under the influence of pain killer. My endorphin system worked pretty well during the ordeal, and I never asked for any more pain killer or sleeping pills, as I was able to sleep without any difficulty. I suppose the physical damage to my leg created severe fatigue.
I learned for myself that external pain killers are probably going to be a waste of time and money, and have very little effect. Morphine is legal in situations like this one. (OR morphine was legal in situations like that one.)
I find it odd that anyone would ask for something that really doesn't work very well compared to the human body's built in endorphin system. On the other hand, my injuries had been minor compared to what could've occurred.
Perhaps in the West, our doctors, nurses, first responders, and so forth "believe" too much in pain killers that really don't work very well.
The Chinese are right: PAIN KILLERS ARE USUALLY A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.
FACT: the Chinese communist revolution was primarily a war against opium and "the West". Mao had all the opium sellers shot by firing squad. This is common knowledge. Or maybe it's a lie. I don't know. I never lived in China. But I know they tried to eradicate opium in China under the communists.
The opium wars. I am referring here to the extreme humiliation of the Chinese by the British in relation to the opium wars, that created mass addiction to opium in China. The opium generally came from British controlled India. Some still see the Communist Revolution in China as still being a response to the British opium wars, that severely humiliated China, and may still humiliate them.It's very ironic that the British had just abolished chattel slavery about the time that they enslaved the Chinese to opium.
So slavery to opium never really ended in the British Empire.
NOTE: if the war on opium in China was never really won, then the Communist Revolution there was a complete FAILURE, and the British are still controlling the minds of the Chinese by making them addicted to opium.
NOTE: this means that Hong Kong is both a symbol of British opium, and of Western control and domination of China.
However, at the dentist, I will probably always ask for anaesthesia.
I have always been afraid of opium. But what about all the other potentially fatal drugs out there?
NOTE: as a young person below the age of 6 years old, I once found a scary book in our house with drawings of an opium addict using some form of opium, which terrorized me at the time. I was told that the book was titled, "Confessions of an English Opium Eater", but I couldn't read yet. I could only see the drawings.
I never read much more than one or two paragraphs of the book, so I can't give you a book review.
However, don't make the deadly mistake of worrying about opiates while ignoring all the other potentially fatal drugs out there. There's a lot more of them that can kill in addition to opiates. The DEA has the list of all of them, I'm sure.
A licensed pharmacist once told me there were over 2,000 controlled substances which are legal in the USA, but I don't know how many of them can be fatal, perhaps all 2000 or so?
QUESTION: why did the first responders not mention that they were about to give me a shot of morphine? They said "pain killer" instead. They were obviously ashamed of even mentioning "opium" by name!No one said the word "opium", even at the hospital!
THIS IS A SIGN OF MENTAL INSTABILITY, to be so ashamed of themselves as they work.
