Overdose Deaths From Heroin Galvanizing Leaders in Maryland and Virginia

Washington Post
Feb. 23, 2015

Welp, another old friend just died a day ago from what appears to be a heroin overdose. I know four people so far who have died in the last few years, two used to be close friends. Another friend of mine who ran in those circles says he knows 10 who have died in the last year. After the government made Oxycontin harder to use (the pills are now uncrushable and laced with garbage), people switched to using heroin, which could be bought for something like 1/8th the price, and now they're dropping like flies. As this article notes, the deaths year over year are going up around %50, if this was Ebola killing people there would be widespread panic, because it's government prohibition killing people it barely hits the radar. Of course, the government's reaction is mostly more prohibition, as well as a few band-aids to treat the problem their prohibition has created, but there's no calls to end the war on drugs so people can get safer drugs from pharmaceutical companies in regulated doses, which mind you when it comes to opiates, they're used in our nation's hospitals in massive amounts every day entirely legally. - Chris, InfoLibPolitical leaders in Annapolis and Richmond are searching for ways to combat a wave of heroin overdoses that is killing dozens of their constituents each month — in inner-city neighborhoods, suburbs and rural enclaves.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has declared reducing heroin use a priority and put his lieutenant governor in charge of finding solutions. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) introduced a package of heroin-related bills in the past week that would, among other provisions, increase criminal penalties for drug dealers who supply lethal doses and reduce penalties for drug users who seek help for friends who have overdosed.

[...]Overdose deaths from heroin spiked from 247 in 2011 to 392 in 2012, a nearly 60 percent increase. The number climbed to 464 in 2013, and there were 296 overdose deaths in the first six months of 2014.

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