I’d prefer the invisible handjob of Adam Smith.
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We go through life suffering from a chronic opiate deficiency. But this is curable!
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I’m not sure how the reasons of its recreational users break down; but on the medical side it’s usually “because pain just laughs at at most of the non-scary anesthetics”.
We’ve made unfortunately poor progress on that front.
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This isn’t so much a virtue for the end user; but being a synthetic might also be a plus in terms of supply chain. The lives of drug-production-peasants are generally not considered to be a pastoral idyll. Pharmaceutical chemistry, while not something to leave to just anyone, is a much more comfortable job.
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As a kid in a small South Dakota town, I loved reading old “boys chemistry” books from the turn of the century – around 1900 +/- 20 years.
They were weirdly fun, even if much of the things referenced as being easy to pick up at the local chemist’s were not, especially in small-town South Dakota cc 1980.
I still remember the amusing anecdote from the author of carrying sodium in his pocket, and throwing it at a puddle of water in front a a befuddled policeman.
The mirth!
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Check out “The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments” from 1960.
We had quite more freedom Back Then…
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Hey! Get off my lawn!
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And just the usual reminder to everyone that it’s not drugs that kill people, it’s the war on drugs. If recreational users and addicts as well as “legit” users had legal access to good, clean, unadulterated, measured servings of their drug of choice, all the assorted constellation of problems with opiates would be far lower.
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I liked the books from the 60s and 70s because of all the beakers and flasks with ridiculous candy-colored liquids and dry-ice smoke.
But the ooooooold books had roto-gravure prints and whatnot. Awesome stuff!
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I’m not sure whether Fusion’s decision to not title the piece ‘Wichita’s Walter White’ was a good one. I’m torn.
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I used to think that, and there are many cases where it’s still true, but I am no longer so sure in all cases.
Anesthesiologists have exactly the [quote=“stinkinbadgers, post:48, topic:73092”]
access to good, clean, unadulterated, measured servings
[/quote]
that you assume would solve the problem, along with an exceptional level of detailed knowledge of the drug. Anesthesiologists also seem to have a disproportionately high rate of ODs on fentanyl, perhaps due to dose escalation. American Society of Anesthesiologists ‘Untimely Death of an Anesthesia Provider’
Human beings aren’t all dispassionate rational actors. We’re passionate self-aware biochemical kludges, and we’re full of hardware and software bugs.
My intuition is that increased availability of heroin would probably cause less harm than increased availability of fentanyl. Please note, I’m not advocating prohibition here (and also note that prohibition would actually be markedly different than what we now have w.r.t. fentanyl.) I’m expressing skepticism that wider availability - even in well-marked and measured doses - would actually solve any problems or reduce deaths and harm.
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I’m likewise conflicted. On the one hand, I find it very difficult to believe that most anaesthesia drugs —with their narrow therapeutic index as described in that article— can be used safely rather than administered, titrated to effect and monitored.
But on the other, I used to live and work in a city with a big heroin problem. There most of the fatal and near-miss overdoses seemed to occur when a new shipment came through and the street drug was less cut. Scarcity led the addicts to increase the dose for effect, then when they got more real diamorphine (rather than the shit it was cut with) the respiratory depressant side effects predominated … 
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Because if you are suffering from incurable cancer nothing else takes the edge of the pain quite so effectively. As a slow release patch it makes a wonderful difference. It turns a disaster into something, if not easily bearable, at least bearable enough so that you can manage and perhaps enjoy what life you have.
At least that is what my only data point seems to show.
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Thank you.
There is some availability Silk Road style, but the problem is quality assurance.
For which we also need a robust framework for unilateral opt-outs. Because that’s a good way to force the desired social change.
Without noncompliance with the imposed rules, there would be no improvements. Some well-known examples are in minority rights. Or PGP, which rendered the 90’s Crypto Wars moot. Or Napster that forced the $1-a-pop DRM-free music. Or Bittorrent that forced the movie industry to not delay the foreign releases. Or homegrown weed that is now driving the legalization efforts.
You won’t change anything by being obedient.
How can you prevent that without also preventing instant-arbitrary-meds devices?
Similar class of question: how can you prevent making guns on a desktop CNC mill without preventing making everything else?
Or how can you get a generic computer to execute only the legal, society-approved software and show only the legal, society-approved media?
The deep web found a solution: Energy Control is a drug checking service in Spain, accepting anonymous payment and communication without disclosure of RL identities. Medium has a nice article and I think this was covered here on BB.
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I know about that one and it is Very Good that it exists.
However, there are the disadvantages inherent to a third-party service - more logistics and the associated risks of getting caught shipping a controlled material, cost, time.
We need more such ops, though. At least as a stopgap solution until we have our own pocket labs.
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I should have added “without worrying about a bunch of armed thugs kicking my door down and imprisoning me” though that kind of goes without saying, when we’re talking wistfully about living in a civilized society.
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Best of luck, truly.
Oh, man. I can’t imagine. I had debilitating pain, and opiates, visit me for just a few weeks while healed from injuries in a motorcycle wreck. Having a Woo trip when you’re off the clock and relaxing can be fun, but 24/7 when you have to get things done is awful. Sitting on the phone with the insurance company to try to keep my coverage while completed looped was extra special. Feels.
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