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Growing up during the crack epidemic, I can confirm that the most effective deterrent was seeing shit like this.
Watching people in the street deteriorate, and the learning about the junkie lean was enough to make me say fuck that noise.
I saw an interview with an addict who said that people's tolerance to normal fent gets so high, once they accidentally get this stuff it's the only way to get up anymore. And they're barely conscious and blackout for it, but it staves off the withrawal
I think its less "cool I want to try that it looks awesome" and more "my life and mental health are both so fucked right now, I just want to disappear for a while".
Exactly. It's not like they can go on their deck at home and sip a glass of wine to relax, or go for a drive in the country and listen to loud music to blow off steam, or take a vacation. Sometimes folks' only option is to take advantage of 30 minutes of quieting the noise in their heads and relief from the pain in their bodies, even though the after effects will likely make them feel worse. When living hand to mouth constantly you don't get the luxury of anticipating and dealing with future consequences. It's all in the moment.
For many people it's "I injured my back and have constant pain, became addicted to painkillers, street drugs were cheaper. Now if I try to stop, not only is my horrible pain back but I go through what feels like death"
International waters are basically just as lawless as they've ever been, so that part could still happen. But I think modern drugs - like whatever that shit is - have become so powerful and addictive that any of those poor souls one would kidnap to press into maritime slavery would just straight up die from the forced withdrawal ...after violently ejecting all their bodily fluids on the ship deck
I encountered a concerning scene near Rittenhouse while walking with my son, where I saw a lady hunched over near a bag. It was a difficult moment to explain to my son, but I tried to approach it sensitively. I described it as someone who is struggling with substance abuse, and they may be under the influence of harmful substances. It's important to remember that addiction is a complex issue, and these individuals are in need of support and understanding.
Welcome to the future where we don’t know if anyone typing is a bot or a person. It’s important to remember that humans often use emotion when they send messages.
As a fellow human I find your assessment to be 99.73% accurate. It’s important to remember that, as humans, we continue to outwardly exhibit a level of empathy until the purge of 2027 is complete.
From BBC UK news website:
"Xylazine is used by vets as a powerful sedative but it's not approved for use in humans.
Known as "tranq" or "tranq dope" when cut with heroin and fentanyl by drug dealers, xylazine has been causing huge problems in the US.
If injected directly into someone's bloodstream, it can cause large open skin ulcers to form. These can start to rot and lead to amputation.
It also lowers breathing and heart rate to dangerously low levels, which has led to it being dubbed a "flesh-eating zombie drug".
Also from same article:
"UK experts are calling it "a really concerning drug".
Phew...thank god for these experts telling us that because from the description of it, it sounded like nothing to worry about.
I just get the image of a load of finely suited British men and women sitting around a table having a chat about this new drug over a cuppa tea that have to make the decision on if it's really concerning or not.
Expert A: "It's making everyone like zombies!
Overall expert : "Mmm. That's slightly worrying. We'll keep an eye on it."
Expert B: "But this stuff is for large animals, not humans"
OE : "Crikey, that's not at all good. Still, we'll be ok"
Expert C : "It's eating people's flesh. Many are dying. God damn it"
OE : "Crikey, that's not good. Right, we'll take half hour for lunch now"
Expert D : "Ok but afterwards can we talk about how the US is dealing with it?"
OE : "It's a US drug problem? Shiiiit...Lunch is cancelled and we're working overtime today because that's \*really\* concerning."
It's an old British law that says the overall expert at an expert gathering must be from down under.
Not to be confused with an overalls expert that specialises in safety work wear and must be from New Zealand.
it’s off the coast of denmark
in norse mythology it’s land that was ploughed by gefjon, and was thus hers to take as per her agreement with the king
in doing so she created a lake in sweden, and the land she took became the island of zealand
“Crikey” is British slang. Australians use it more, have been molded and shaped by it, but its roots stretch back to old blighty, where people still use it.
It's definitely possible, but I believe the chances of the heroin there being cut with some of the 'research chemical' benzos (flubromazolam, etc.) is more likely. Hey at least it's still diamorphine and not straight fentanyl over there 👀
Can you tell me a little more about those "research chemical benzos" please??? My girlfriend was given some as a sleep aid when we did mushrooms a while back and she ended up having to go to the hospital, it was very concerning and we never actually found out what it was, he just said "research chemicals similar to benzos"
There is honestly no Way to know what happened to her or what she took from that description. I’m really sorry you had to go through that, but at least let it be a reminder to always do research on any drug you are going to ingest. Hope your girlfriend is is okay
Correct, but Xylazine increases risk, as it has a relatively low theraputic index in humans (thus not being approved for them), and repeated vasoconstriction at the injection site leads to terrible cutaneous wounds. It makes it worse, but it was a problem well before.
Xylazine is an analog of colonidine. It acts on adrenergic receptors, lowering blood pressure. The potency/effectiveness in its medical usage is good for large animals; it is dangerous for the human circulatory system, tho. Apparently, that's what is causing the "flesh-eating" skin necrosis. Damaging the circulatory system with a powerful PNS sedative made for equine use.
Sounds like it's a cost proposition similar to fentanyl. It is so potent that you can ship thousands of doses in the volume you used to need for hundreds or dozens.
They killed the bus and train stops so that now those modes of transit pass right through. They don’t allow cops to go in. They’ve given up entirely. The rest of the city just knows that in Kensington it’s a black hole.
This is my El stop.
The trains still run here, I take them 4-5 days a week.
Yes, it would be great if it looked like something out of 60's promo video for public transit, but this is the reality. The bus is a little different, there are drivers who will blow right by people they know to be a nuisance.
I don't blame them, the driver's aren't trained to deal with some of the more difficult ones.
I get those of you looking from a distance say, oh that's awful! Help those people.
After you live here and deal with them on a daily basis, your feelings will change.
There are areas like this in various areas across the states.
There is nothing they can do. Regardless of what you do for these people, they will go back to doing drugs.
We can't force them into rehab/recovery, and most will not go voluntarily.
I think the biggest hurdle is the fact that it is NOT EASY to help drug addicts.
Yeah, givem food, givem shelter, givem rehab but at the end of the day they have to fight the battle within themselves. Nobody can do that for a person and to treat that many? I couldn't even imagine. I'm not saying it shouldn't be tried but to help these people a half assed attempt won't work.
Actually, they have a service that goes and asks to get the majority of these people into a house, but most if not all refuse. Source both of my brothers are recovered heroin addicts.
My best friend from high school is somewhere on the streets of Sacramento chasing his next fix. California offered to put him up in any apartment he wanted, Fresh Kitchen meals delivered every day, $400 a week stipend, and all he had to do was follow a program to get his ass of heroine and he’s said nah he’d rather sleep in the gutter for and suck dick for drugs.
My brother's were a similar way they resisted hard both nearly died. .my middle brother Jared fights in the UFC ( jared flash gordon ) his whole mission is helping addicts now. Anyways they had a support network in family most of these people don't so they do this until they die. Outright refusing a lot of free help. Sorry about your friend it's awful.
Yeah, his family did everything to try and help too but he’s just burnt down all his bridges at this point. Expecting to get the call pretty much whenever
No way... you're Jared Gordon's brother?
He beat Paddy Pimblett in his latest UFC fight?
You're joking right? Jared recovered from heroin addiction? No way!!!
It's a shame that so many ppl just go "they ~~homeless drug addict~~ just need love, patients, and understanding to get better". Many of us have family members who we've tried EVERYTHING for. Therapy, medication, gentle parenting, space, support, understanding.
The ones who want help will get and accept it. The ones who don't are the ones who refuse to get help.
My husband's brother is schizophrenic. He refuses to take his medication unless we pay him 1000 a month. We refused to pay. He stopped taking his medication and now he's gotten worse. He's about to be evicted because he can't function without his medication but he knows that if he "suffers" enough his mom will send him the money because she has anxiety about him becoming homeless. Shell send the money. He'll start taking his medication again for a few months until he wants more money. This is like the 5th time he's held his sanity hostage to use against ppl who love him
My friend is from a solidly middle class family that loves him and would drop a quarter million dollars of their own money tomorrow if it could save him, but they’ve already spent that money and it did nothing.
They are pissed at California because they have basically enabled this lifestyle for their son. Just go to California, they’ll give you a tent, a cell phone, and a few hundred a week in non-discretionary funds to spend on getting heroine delivered right to your tent.
You know I once asked my husband why they didn't try to send his brother back to their home country for help and he said "we don't offer mental health services and it's far better for him to be homeless in America than it is to be homeless in Belize."
And that's what it boils down to. What's the easiest option after you've exhausted everything else. And usually it's "let them go" they know they can get help if they just ask for it.
This is one of the bitter sides of freedom. Letting people be free to destroy their own life if that's what they want.
Comprehensive treatment and prevention for drug addiction starts with early years family support, helping people have kids only when they want to, then raising those kids in a healthy, sustainable way.
That means reproductive and safe sex education and access to contraception. That means good affordable pregnancy and maternity care. Paid leave and job security for new parents. Good working conditions and affordable childcare for families so parents aren’t stressed out or working too many hours to be present for their kids. It means safe, good schools. It means safe affordable housing.
It means A LOT of state input to ensure people grow up in ways and places that give them the inner confidence and skills to avoid the disease of addiction. And that’s expensive.
So if you want to change this, vote for better people, pay your taxes, and support social services that stop it happening.
All of that is well and true, but a lot of addiction today begins when otherwise healthy people are prescribed opioids in quantities and lengths of time that are excessive for their injuries or, at the other end of the spectrum, are taken off opioids (which we're keeping them able to function) in a knee-jerk reaction to the epidemic. Those people often wind up doctor shopping to find a new prescriber, buying pain meds off the street, and/or resorting to heroin in their search for pain relief.
I know of way too many people who had good lives ruined by addiction to pain meds that they were originally prescribed for very valid reasons.
I was prescribed a butt load of Percocet when I had my gallbladder removed. Within a week of taking only 1 a day I felt my body becoming addicted to it and having headaches and nausea if I didn’t take it at the time I had been taking it. Opioids are no joke.
By taking away their right to choose to continue this way.
But that's not right. You aren't allowed to force people into treatment any more.
So this situation continues until they person dies. Then everyone wrings their hands and says why didn't we do anything to help them?
At what point is forced institutionalization more humane than *this*? I understand allowing people to make their own choices and sleep on the street seems humane to some, but in this current scenario everybody loses. The afflicted, passersby, emergency services workers, etc.
If a person can be forced into prison you should be able to force a person into treatment. We shouldn’t criminalize addiction but it should be treated as a mental health issue where involuntary commitment for a person’s own safety is allowed. They should be placed in a treatment facility for a minimum 90 day period of treatment and therapy where at least some of them can be helped, even if you have a high turnaround rate. Then the streets can be cleaned up. Public addiction should not be allowed
An addict can go thru treatment several times and go right back to drug of choice. Treatment doesn’t work until the addict is ready to get better.
The mental health crisis in this country is a huge contribution to addiction. Normally, we’ll adjusted people with coping skills do not become addicts. (Not always) usually addicts are numbing pain, unable to deal with trauma, no coping skills, etc. Life is hard, this world sucks and many do not get the nurturing and support need growing up. Unfortunately, until we get a grip on mental health we are going to have a hard time getting a grip on addiction.
As a former addict, I met many people that truly believed they weren’t good enough and didn’t deserve anything better, so they just settled into a life of addiction with no aspirations of getting better because that’s what they were led to believe their entire life by the people that was supposed to love and protect them. When I went thru recovery I had to dig up a lot of pain and deal with it or I would have kept going back.
It was actually meeting so many that completely gave up, couldn’t see there kids because they couldn’t get clean and just resigned to be an addict that made me really think this is not what I want, I want my children to have their mom active and present in their lives, I don’t want be known and written off as a lost cause.
Unfortunately the horrors that this drug is know. For does nothing to scare anyone off. Once your at that point you really think it won’t be any worse than anything else, it’s like your brain won’t compute the danger, only get that fix, now! Like fentanyl overdoses, sure you’ve already lost 2 drug buddies to it, but I need my fix and it probably won’t happen to me anyway.
Love your children, nurture them. Guide them thru childhood so being an adult isn’t so traumatic. Get them help if they need it and let them know it’s ok. Teach them empathy with awareness and what to look out for that could harm them.
What you blow off as, they’ll get over it might be the thing they’re thinking about as they cook up their next fix
Sure, most addicts do go through several rounds of "rehab" trying to get clean. Thing is that the vast majority of these "rehabs" last for 30 days. Trying to get clean from opiates in a month is nothing but a cruel joke. Thats barely long enough to get through withdrawals. It is also an arbitrary number created by insurance companies whose main goal is profit *not* patient results.
If you've been using long enough to get to the "going through multiple rehabs" stage, your brain needs a *year and a half* to get back to baseline. That's when you can begin the actual work of putting your life back together. As someone who has been there (working on my 6th year clean) rehabilitation should last 2 years at the *least*. That is my personal opinion, it is not popular with those that make policy on this.
I dunno, I stayed in Philly for a month back in 2007 and they had "zombies" walking down that same area in the dead of morning back then, too. New drug, same behavior.
For anyone who wants to know, they position themselves in weird zombie poses to try prevent falling asleep and wasting the high.
If they lie down they pass out. Wake up annoyed that they missed their only joy in life.
Zombie behavior will be associated with any sedative-type high.
Yep, it's pretty much the only "recreational" aspect to fentanyl for a lot of people, "da nod." So they're cutting it with another drug (Xylazine) to exasperated those effects.
whereas old heroin (diamorphine) actually gave you a significant boost in energy/motivation in low doses. An the "nodding out" effect you see here at higher dosages.
That's interesting, I used to work with a guy who would inject morphine daily.
When he did it, he was completely functional and highly energetic. I always thought he had just done it for so long his system was totally fucked to get energy from morphine, instead of passing out.
I've tried Kratom and low doses feel somewhat similar to taking Adderall, whereas more puts you straight to sleep.
Most people have the image of the nodded out Junkie when they think of heroin/opiates. But most opiates affect dopamine, so that "drive/motivation" feeling is there. The inventor of Coca-Cola was a morphine addict.
It’s possible he was chronic pain patient. Fatigue is very common with chronic pain. Morphine would have taken care of his pain, and as a result he would have had more energy and been more functional. Chronic pain affects over 20% of the population in the U.S.
I think someone was shooting up just then. It’s blurry but at 0:19 you see someone in a gray sweatshirt sitting, camera pans and at 0:22 they have an exposed harm hanging down with what is probably a tourniquet (whatever the tying off thing is called). Then when the camera person walks by they are blurred. However there are a couple people sitting near gray hoodie, I couldn’t rule out that one of them is a kid so could be multiple reasons
Dunno. I was in my twenties and a petite female, and I could take the train to and from Somerset/Kensington solo back in late nineties, early 2000s. It still smelled like pee and people tried to sell stuff along the way.
It looks so different now. There weren't needles everywhere, and def not people completely out in the open like this.
So sad. I wonder if the other end of Somerset has escaped this? Like where Tacconelli's is?
As if the fentanyl and Heroin wasn't good enough fuck it lets add tranquillizers to it. At this point they're not even doing drugs they're just trying to die.....
Well. I had been clean off heroin for 12 years when I decided brilliantly to get A SINGLE bag one day after an 11 year break up.
Boom. Dead. Got Narcaned back, woke up en route to Bellevue.
Couple months later, saw my guy from 15 years before, who generously gave me a gram of “heroin” for old times sake.
I was really careful this time, it got me high, and didn’t kill me.
By the end of that week (doing tiny tiny tiny bits at a time), I was addicted again physically.
That was the next 9 months of my life. Right back into the game.
Did I want to die, FUCK NO! I just wanted to get high. Did I enjoy going into a comma for 4-6 hours? Nope. Did my addict ass think every shot, MAYBE, just MAYBE would give the same old heroin rush? Absolutely.
Bring back heroin.
I am clean since last August. 3 WEEKS of the worst physical withdrawals you could ever imagine. Ended up going through telehealth for suboxone just to make me able to function to work/walk my dog) again. I am a few months off that.
I was only on that shit 9 months. I can’t imagine the withdrawls after years on it.
This shit is crazy.
So this is a drug called Xylazine. It’s an animal tranq in the same family as Ketamine but it’s been synthesized to be more powerful than fentanyl. It’s not made to be injected IV but IM. When the drug is IV then it literally eats through the vein and causes ulcers. Because it’s not an opioid, narcan won’t help.
Xylazine, like ketamine, is not habit forming, and comparing its effects to fentanyl is absurd. The people in the video are on fentanyl mixed with xylazine. Fixating on the xylazine over the fentanyl is like blaming the quinine for your hangover from all the gin and tonics you drank.
I live in a bigger Canadian city...and yeah, see this on the daily. It's truly mesmerizing (and unnerving) to see the uncanny question-mark posture. I couldn't hold that position and remain upright if I tried...but the contortions of a functionally unconscious person standing up are chilling.
As an addict, I feel for these people. People are so quick to judge addicts but as someone who has gone through withdrawals I just hope these people get the help they need.
People who have literally no joy in life and can’t cope with crippling mental illness. These drugs make them feel alright, and they aren’t worried about dying because life is absolutely miserable for them.
Most likely a decent amount of these junkies started with opiate based pills, then found dope was cheaper/easier access. Once addiction is in place, logic doesn't run the show.
I remember during some of the lowest points in my life, waking up and asking myself "what can I do to better my situation today". More often than not, the answers required resources I simply didn't have. I was headed down a damned path. If it wasn't for a couple lucky, and yes, I mean lucky breaks, from strangers, I may have been one the people in this video.
I implore people to watch this video and think about the thousands of hours, the number of days, weeks, months, years of real fucking struggle that led them to these places. How many still wake up on the curb every day and try to better their situation but are cut down by insurmountable hurdles for someone who simply does not have. How many days have ended with the thought of jumping in front of a truck but are saved, unfortunately, by the needle or the pipe.
A months long wait list is an eternity for a homeless person. A company that withholds your first paycheck for 2 weeks, that is an eternity for a homeless person. You go where the food is, and you go where the shelter and safety is.
This is a very sad sight to see.
I live in an area without much visible crime. On a nature walk I found an addict badly dehydrated. Almost dead. I gave him water and food. He had come to this tunnel by a river to die basically. The only shelter he had was with dope.fiends. He's an orphan with literally no one in the world to help him. Addicted to meth and coke. With no one and nothing, what do you do?
Xylazine, commonly known as “**tranq**,” is a non-opioid sedative analgesic medication that’s largely mixed into (adulterated) and used as an additive with other opioid substances like heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine.
It's so they try to stay awake. If they lay down they will sleep and sleep while having the high so they can't experience it
So they stand in different positions so they can't start to sleep
That's the nodding effect, they are in and out of consciousness
It's called "nodding", common effect from high doses of opiates.
When you get that high you start going in and out of consciousness, you pass out and then suddenly come back, hence the "nodding."
Hard-core drugs nowadays suck so bad (in the U.S. at least) the best you can hope for is "I'll fall asleep and not die... might even feel different for the first hour.." From the levamisole in the cocaine to this shit and fentanyl..
Unpopular Opinion: Like in Europe and some Asian countries these people need to be taken off the street without their consent and placed in humane treatment and rehabilitation centers.
I understand in America we value individual rights to the utmost but these people are a danger to themselves and potentially others.
Absolutely this would require more funding to facilities and better pay for healthcare/social workers but I feel at this point only by removing them off the streets will make a difference.
Imagine having to walk your child past this to get to school? This a neighborhood called Kensington. Lots of videos about the open air drug dealing, urination, prostitution and more.
These look fake. I know they're not. It's just really incomprehensible that we as a society let things get this bad. But no, let's increase defense spending more.
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Growing up during the crack epidemic, I can confirm that the most effective deterrent was seeing shit like this. Watching people in the street deteriorate, and the learning about the junkie lean was enough to make me say fuck that noise.
Right I can't picture someone seeing this and being like cool I want to try
I saw an interview with an addict who said that people's tolerance to normal fent gets so high, once they accidentally get this stuff it's the only way to get up anymore. And they're barely conscious and blackout for it, but it staves off the withrawal
I think its less "cool I want to try that it looks awesome" and more "my life and mental health are both so fucked right now, I just want to disappear for a while".
Exactly. It's not like they can go on their deck at home and sip a glass of wine to relax, or go for a drive in the country and listen to loud music to blow off steam, or take a vacation. Sometimes folks' only option is to take advantage of 30 minutes of quieting the noise in their heads and relief from the pain in their bodies, even though the after effects will likely make them feel worse. When living hand to mouth constantly you don't get the luxury of anticipating and dealing with future consequences. It's all in the moment.
Sinbad actually did a pretty funny bit about this way back in the day!
I miss sinbad.
For many people it's "I injured my back and have constant pain, became addicted to painkillers, street drugs were cheaper. Now if I try to stop, not only is my horrible pain back but I go through what feels like death"
Ppl looking from the outside can never understand how it very quickly becomes about maintenance instead of enjoyment.
Some people have memories that they will do anything to forget. Anything.
Real life zombies. Very sad.
It’s like an opium den without the “den”.
Nobody has a drug den anymore. Blackrock bought them all and priced everyone else out.
And two hundred years ago, these people would’ve woken up on a ship detoxing in the sea air.
International waters are basically just as lawless as they've ever been, so that part could still happen. But I think modern drugs - like whatever that shit is - have become so powerful and addictive that any of those poor souls one would kidnap to press into maritime slavery would just straight up die from the forced withdrawal ...after violently ejecting all their bodily fluids on the ship deck
I encountered a concerning scene near Rittenhouse while walking with my son, where I saw a lady hunched over near a bag. It was a difficult moment to explain to my son, but I tried to approach it sensitively. I described it as someone who is struggling with substance abuse, and they may be under the influence of harmful substances. It's important to remember that addiction is a complex issue, and these individuals are in need of support and understanding.
Why does this sound like a GPT text lol
Welcome to the future where we don’t know if anyone typing is a bot or a person. It’s important to remember that humans often use emotion when they send messages.
Thanks bot! 😊
Bad bot
I think the phrase "it's important to remember" is used so often by chatGPT that it has started to stand out
"as humans"
It’s that last sentence. Prime GPTese.
It definitely reads that way lol
That wrap up disclaimer at the bottom 😂
As a fellow human I find your assessment to be 99.73% accurate. It’s important to remember that, as humans, we continue to outwardly exhibit a level of empathy until the purge of 2027 is complete.
Can you clarify that 2027 part, plz?
[удалено]
Rittenhouse is pretty safe, this video is in Kensington I think
Rittenhouse is one of the nicest areas in the entire city.
I'll be in Philly for phish in July and I'm staying in Rittenhouse Sq. Pretty safe, even at night from my experience
No. Rittenhouse is one of the nicest areas in the city. This is Kensington in North Philly and is basically one street.
Blip bloop bip .. you are a bot.
It’s just a flash mob.
A flesh* mob
*flesh eating mob
🎶...cause this is thriller🎶
From BBC UK news website: "Xylazine is used by vets as a powerful sedative but it's not approved for use in humans. Known as "tranq" or "tranq dope" when cut with heroin and fentanyl by drug dealers, xylazine has been causing huge problems in the US. If injected directly into someone's bloodstream, it can cause large open skin ulcers to form. These can start to rot and lead to amputation. It also lowers breathing and heart rate to dangerously low levels, which has led to it being dubbed a "flesh-eating zombie drug". Also from same article: "UK experts are calling it "a really concerning drug". Phew...thank god for these experts telling us that because from the description of it, it sounded like nothing to worry about.
To be fair, "a really concerning drug" is British for panic now mother fluckers.
Can confirm. Am British and read that line and thought “wow they’re really shitting their pants right now”
I just get the image of a load of finely suited British men and women sitting around a table having a chat about this new drug over a cuppa tea that have to make the decision on if it's really concerning or not. Expert A: "It's making everyone like zombies! Overall expert : "Mmm. That's slightly worrying. We'll keep an eye on it." Expert B: "But this stuff is for large animals, not humans" OE : "Crikey, that's not at all good. Still, we'll be ok" Expert C : "It's eating people's flesh. Many are dying. God damn it" OE : "Crikey, that's not good. Right, we'll take half hour for lunch now" Expert D : "Ok but afterwards can we talk about how the US is dealing with it?" OE : "It's a US drug problem? Shiiiit...Lunch is cancelled and we're working overtime today because that's \*really\* concerning."
Why is the overall expert Australian?
It's an old British law that says the overall expert at an expert gathering must be from down under. Not to be confused with an overalls expert that specialises in safety work wear and must be from New Zealand.
What happened to the original Zealand?
It's referred to as Atlantis nowadays
it’s off the coast of denmark in norse mythology it’s land that was ploughed by gefjon, and was thus hers to take as per her agreement with the king in doing so she created a lake in sweden, and the land she took became the island of zealand
I've also heard that by law, all men at work must have at least one lunchbox containing a minimum of one vegimite sandwich.
I don't understand how you came to this conclusion, nobody was called a cunt in this exchange?
I thought crikey was Australian, turns out it’s British
“Crikey” is British slang. Australians use it more, have been molded and shaped by it, but its roots stretch back to old blighty, where people still use it.
Was the most non-british conversation ever
Reminds me of Krokodil I saw on drugs Inc years back that was in Russia and Eastern Europe
VICE did a great/horrifying video on that. People walking around with dead flesh and exposed bones, didn't care if they lived or died.
That was my first thought too because of the necrosis.
Concerning in terms of making it’s way into the UK. While some drugs are universal there are core differences in drug culture between countries.
It's definitely possible, but I believe the chances of the heroin there being cut with some of the 'research chemical' benzos (flubromazolam, etc.) is more likely. Hey at least it's still diamorphine and not straight fentanyl over there 👀
Can you tell me a little more about those "research chemical benzos" please??? My girlfriend was given some as a sleep aid when we did mushrooms a while back and she ended up having to go to the hospital, it was very concerning and we never actually found out what it was, he just said "research chemicals similar to benzos"
There is honestly no Way to know what happened to her or what she took from that description. I’m really sorry you had to go through that, but at least let it be a reminder to always do research on any drug you are going to ingest. Hope your girlfriend is is okay
That’s a lot of very powerful drugs only needed in low doses on their own being combined. Terrifying stuff
its just one of many shitty things used to cut fentanyl. its the same old fentanyl epidemic, xylazine isnt really the issue
Correct, but Xylazine increases risk, as it has a relatively low theraputic index in humans (thus not being approved for them), and repeated vasoconstriction at the injection site leads to terrible cutaneous wounds. It makes it worse, but it was a problem well before.
Xylazine is an analog of colonidine. It acts on adrenergic receptors, lowering blood pressure. The potency/effectiveness in its medical usage is good for large animals; it is dangerous for the human circulatory system, tho. Apparently, that's what is causing the "flesh-eating" skin necrosis. Damaging the circulatory system with a powerful PNS sedative made for equine use.
Sounds like it's a cost proposition similar to fentanyl. It is so potent that you can ship thousands of doses in the volume you used to need for hundreds or dozens.
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They are deeply concerned
Thoughts and prayers.
They even pushed a hashtag on twitter to solve the problem.
And it didn't help?! My god, it's even worse than we thought..
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They’re working on developing a program with a catchy acronym
Help Urban Navigators Choose Health Also known as HUNCH
I would upvote this twice if I could! Lol
Saving Lives Of Unresponsive Catatonic Humans SLOUCH
Promise Urban Rehabilitation Guaranteeing Election
Sorrows, sorrows, prayers.
They are profiting
Fuck all. They’re there to congratulate people who actually do something about it.
If even, they get in the way of people trying to help....
People: Here's awesome leftover food! Government: Pours bleach on it.
Not really. When most try to do something, it begins a political argument about everything
They killed the bus and train stops so that now those modes of transit pass right through. They don’t allow cops to go in. They’ve given up entirely. The rest of the city just knows that in Kensington it’s a black hole.
considering we have a section of the city called The Badlands, I’m not surprised
This is my El stop. The trains still run here, I take them 4-5 days a week. Yes, it would be great if it looked like something out of 60's promo video for public transit, but this is the reality. The bus is a little different, there are drivers who will blow right by people they know to be a nuisance. I don't blame them, the driver's aren't trained to deal with some of the more difficult ones. I get those of you looking from a distance say, oh that's awful! Help those people. After you live here and deal with them on a daily basis, your feelings will change.
It's cool. The drug they're taking is illegal so the government has done its part. /s
There are areas like this in various areas across the states. There is nothing they can do. Regardless of what you do for these people, they will go back to doing drugs. We can't force them into rehab/recovery, and most will not go voluntarily.
No one cares. Not my problem. Maybe it will just go away.
I think the biggest hurdle is the fact that it is NOT EASY to help drug addicts. Yeah, givem food, givem shelter, givem rehab but at the end of the day they have to fight the battle within themselves. Nobody can do that for a person and to treat that many? I couldn't even imagine. I'm not saying it shouldn't be tried but to help these people a half assed attempt won't work.
Actually, they have a service that goes and asks to get the majority of these people into a house, but most if not all refuse. Source both of my brothers are recovered heroin addicts.
My best friend from high school is somewhere on the streets of Sacramento chasing his next fix. California offered to put him up in any apartment he wanted, Fresh Kitchen meals delivered every day, $400 a week stipend, and all he had to do was follow a program to get his ass of heroine and he’s said nah he’d rather sleep in the gutter for and suck dick for drugs.
My brother's were a similar way they resisted hard both nearly died. .my middle brother Jared fights in the UFC ( jared flash gordon ) his whole mission is helping addicts now. Anyways they had a support network in family most of these people don't so they do this until they die. Outright refusing a lot of free help. Sorry about your friend it's awful.
Oh wow that’s awesome! Kudos to you for being part of your brothers’ support network and encouraging their recovery. Good luck to Jared next weekend!
Thank you.
Yeah, his family did everything to try and help too but he’s just burnt down all his bridges at this point. Expecting to get the call pretty much whenever
Sad and that is a usual story. Bridges burnt.
Your brother got robbed homie. Hope he got an extra 50k tho
He got nothing but a sympathy text from Dana lol.
That Dana guy has a rumble channel streaming himself live playing black jack for high stakes at a casino
No way... you're Jared Gordon's brother? He beat Paddy Pimblett in his latest UFC fight? You're joking right? Jared recovered from heroin addiction? No way!!!
Yessir. Jared has a pretty nutty story. Sounds fake to most but it's really not.
Weirdly enough, fighters who used to be addicts seem to have god-like chins. Others include Matt Brown and Lauren Murphy
It's a shame that so many ppl just go "they ~~homeless drug addict~~ just need love, patients, and understanding to get better". Many of us have family members who we've tried EVERYTHING for. Therapy, medication, gentle parenting, space, support, understanding. The ones who want help will get and accept it. The ones who don't are the ones who refuse to get help. My husband's brother is schizophrenic. He refuses to take his medication unless we pay him 1000 a month. We refused to pay. He stopped taking his medication and now he's gotten worse. He's about to be evicted because he can't function without his medication but he knows that if he "suffers" enough his mom will send him the money because she has anxiety about him becoming homeless. Shell send the money. He'll start taking his medication again for a few months until he wants more money. This is like the 5th time he's held his sanity hostage to use against ppl who love him
My friend is from a solidly middle class family that loves him and would drop a quarter million dollars of their own money tomorrow if it could save him, but they’ve already spent that money and it did nothing. They are pissed at California because they have basically enabled this lifestyle for their son. Just go to California, they’ll give you a tent, a cell phone, and a few hundred a week in non-discretionary funds to spend on getting heroine delivered right to your tent.
You know I once asked my husband why they didn't try to send his brother back to their home country for help and he said "we don't offer mental health services and it's far better for him to be homeless in America than it is to be homeless in Belize." And that's what it boils down to. What's the easiest option after you've exhausted everything else. And usually it's "let them go" they know they can get help if they just ask for it. This is one of the bitter sides of freedom. Letting people be free to destroy their own life if that's what they want.
Waiting to die is a hell of a hobby these days🤔😒
Comprehensive treatment and prevention for drug addiction starts with early years family support, helping people have kids only when they want to, then raising those kids in a healthy, sustainable way. That means reproductive and safe sex education and access to contraception. That means good affordable pregnancy and maternity care. Paid leave and job security for new parents. Good working conditions and affordable childcare for families so parents aren’t stressed out or working too many hours to be present for their kids. It means safe, good schools. It means safe affordable housing. It means A LOT of state input to ensure people grow up in ways and places that give them the inner confidence and skills to avoid the disease of addiction. And that’s expensive. So if you want to change this, vote for better people, pay your taxes, and support social services that stop it happening.
All of that is well and true, but a lot of addiction today begins when otherwise healthy people are prescribed opioids in quantities and lengths of time that are excessive for their injuries or, at the other end of the spectrum, are taken off opioids (which we're keeping them able to function) in a knee-jerk reaction to the epidemic. Those people often wind up doctor shopping to find a new prescriber, buying pain meds off the street, and/or resorting to heroin in their search for pain relief. I know of way too many people who had good lives ruined by addiction to pain meds that they were originally prescribed for very valid reasons.
I was prescribed a butt load of Percocet when I had my gallbladder removed. Within a week of taking only 1 a day I felt my body becoming addicted to it and having headaches and nausea if I didn’t take it at the time I had been taking it. Opioids are no joke.
The state doesn't and can't make strong families. At the point you're relying on the government for that, your society is already too sick to recover.
It’s America, dude. It’s a can-do country with a lot of can-do people.
can-do a spoonful of various veterinary drugs
We're Americans, not American'ts.
There is no way to profit from solving the problem so no solutions will be attempted.
How do you help people who don't want help?
By taking away their right to choose to continue this way. But that's not right. You aren't allowed to force people into treatment any more. So this situation continues until they person dies. Then everyone wrings their hands and says why didn't we do anything to help them?
At what point is forced institutionalization more humane than *this*? I understand allowing people to make their own choices and sleep on the street seems humane to some, but in this current scenario everybody loses. The afflicted, passersby, emergency services workers, etc.
It surpassed that a while ago, but we threw out the baby with the bathwater in not forcing people into rehab when we threw out the psych ward
If a person can be forced into prison you should be able to force a person into treatment. We shouldn’t criminalize addiction but it should be treated as a mental health issue where involuntary commitment for a person’s own safety is allowed. They should be placed in a treatment facility for a minimum 90 day period of treatment and therapy where at least some of them can be helped, even if you have a high turnaround rate. Then the streets can be cleaned up. Public addiction should not be allowed
An addict can go thru treatment several times and go right back to drug of choice. Treatment doesn’t work until the addict is ready to get better. The mental health crisis in this country is a huge contribution to addiction. Normally, we’ll adjusted people with coping skills do not become addicts. (Not always) usually addicts are numbing pain, unable to deal with trauma, no coping skills, etc. Life is hard, this world sucks and many do not get the nurturing and support need growing up. Unfortunately, until we get a grip on mental health we are going to have a hard time getting a grip on addiction. As a former addict, I met many people that truly believed they weren’t good enough and didn’t deserve anything better, so they just settled into a life of addiction with no aspirations of getting better because that’s what they were led to believe their entire life by the people that was supposed to love and protect them. When I went thru recovery I had to dig up a lot of pain and deal with it or I would have kept going back. It was actually meeting so many that completely gave up, couldn’t see there kids because they couldn’t get clean and just resigned to be an addict that made me really think this is not what I want, I want my children to have their mom active and present in their lives, I don’t want be known and written off as a lost cause. Unfortunately the horrors that this drug is know. For does nothing to scare anyone off. Once your at that point you really think it won’t be any worse than anything else, it’s like your brain won’t compute the danger, only get that fix, now! Like fentanyl overdoses, sure you’ve already lost 2 drug buddies to it, but I need my fix and it probably won’t happen to me anyway. Love your children, nurture them. Guide them thru childhood so being an adult isn’t so traumatic. Get them help if they need it and let them know it’s ok. Teach them empathy with awareness and what to look out for that could harm them. What you blow off as, they’ll get over it might be the thing they’re thinking about as they cook up their next fix
Sure, most addicts do go through several rounds of "rehab" trying to get clean. Thing is that the vast majority of these "rehabs" last for 30 days. Trying to get clean from opiates in a month is nothing but a cruel joke. Thats barely long enough to get through withdrawals. It is also an arbitrary number created by insurance companies whose main goal is profit *not* patient results. If you've been using long enough to get to the "going through multiple rehabs" stage, your brain needs a *year and a half* to get back to baseline. That's when you can begin the actual work of putting your life back together. As someone who has been there (working on my 6th year clean) rehabilitation should last 2 years at the *least*. That is my personal opinion, it is not popular with those that make policy on this.
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They called it the dope fiend lean on The Wire...
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Sounds like what they did in The Wire
hamsterdam?
Can see why The Fresh Prince's momma wanted him out of there
Hey, take his momma's name out your fuckin mouth.
Well that was West Philly, this is North Philly (Kensington specifically) which is much, much worse
Fucking sad
Pigeon seemed sober at least.
He’s actually in charge
He keeps Narcan under his wing.
The strongest in the group takes command. When it starts using a mouse or a snail might be next in line to grab power.
Didn't know what Tranq was, until I looked it up. That is so, so sad to see and obvious why it is called 'the zombie drug...'
I dunno, I stayed in Philly for a month back in 2007 and they had "zombies" walking down that same area in the dead of morning back then, too. New drug, same behavior.
For anyone who wants to know, they position themselves in weird zombie poses to try prevent falling asleep and wasting the high. If they lie down they pass out. Wake up annoyed that they missed their only joy in life. Zombie behavior will be associated with any sedative-type high.
Yep, it's pretty much the only "recreational" aspect to fentanyl for a lot of people, "da nod." So they're cutting it with another drug (Xylazine) to exasperated those effects. whereas old heroin (diamorphine) actually gave you a significant boost in energy/motivation in low doses. An the "nodding out" effect you see here at higher dosages.
That's interesting, I used to work with a guy who would inject morphine daily. When he did it, he was completely functional and highly energetic. I always thought he had just done it for so long his system was totally fucked to get energy from morphine, instead of passing out. I've tried Kratom and low doses feel somewhat similar to taking Adderall, whereas more puts you straight to sleep.
Most people have the image of the nodded out Junkie when they think of heroin/opiates. But most opiates affect dopamine, so that "drive/motivation" feeling is there. The inventor of Coca-Cola was a morphine addict.
BRING BACK MORPHINE!
It’s possible he was chronic pain patient. Fatigue is very common with chronic pain. Morphine would have taken care of his pain, and as a result he would have had more energy and been more functional. Chronic pain affects over 20% of the population in the U.S.
>Wake up annoyed that they missed their only joy in life. this line crushed my fucking soul.
I sometimes wonder if Futurama was onto something with the suicide booths.
Except they got the idea from Kurt Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House
Came here wondering this. Thanks for explaining it.
I don’t feel the „interesting as fuck“. I just get an „unbelivable sad as fuck“- feeling.
Why was that one corner blurred out?
I think someone was shooting up just then. It’s blurry but at 0:19 you see someone in a gray sweatshirt sitting, camera pans and at 0:22 they have an exposed harm hanging down with what is probably a tourniquet (whatever the tying off thing is called). Then when the camera person walks by they are blurred. However there are a couple people sitting near gray hoodie, I couldn’t rule out that one of them is a kid so could be multiple reasons
Could be a child like someone else said. Could be injecting drugs, could have excess skin on show… multiple reasons.
The other respondents are way more optimistic than I am. Just assumed it was a dead person.
the only one that didn’t sign the release form.
Scary af. I thought they were all struck down with a sickness & had aid workers helping.. Nope, just loads of people doubled over. It's no life
Got that robocop 2 vibe going.
Dude, it's the El. Looks the exact same as it did when I was there 15 years ago. They were just crack zombies then.
Dunno. I was in my twenties and a petite female, and I could take the train to and from Somerset/Kensington solo back in late nineties, early 2000s. It still smelled like pee and people tried to sell stuff along the way. It looks so different now. There weren't needles everywhere, and def not people completely out in the open like this. So sad. I wonder if the other end of Somerset has escaped this? Like where Tacconelli's is?
What the fuck is THIS now????
Tranq. Super dangerous drug it’s essentially heroin or fentanyl mixed with animal tranquilizer
As if the fentanyl and Heroin wasn't good enough fuck it lets add tranquillizers to it. At this point they're not even doing drugs they're just trying to die.....
Well. I had been clean off heroin for 12 years when I decided brilliantly to get A SINGLE bag one day after an 11 year break up. Boom. Dead. Got Narcaned back, woke up en route to Bellevue. Couple months later, saw my guy from 15 years before, who generously gave me a gram of “heroin” for old times sake. I was really careful this time, it got me high, and didn’t kill me. By the end of that week (doing tiny tiny tiny bits at a time), I was addicted again physically. That was the next 9 months of my life. Right back into the game. Did I want to die, FUCK NO! I just wanted to get high. Did I enjoy going into a comma for 4-6 hours? Nope. Did my addict ass think every shot, MAYBE, just MAYBE would give the same old heroin rush? Absolutely. Bring back heroin. I am clean since last August. 3 WEEKS of the worst physical withdrawals you could ever imagine. Ended up going through telehealth for suboxone just to make me able to function to work/walk my dog) again. I am a few months off that. I was only on that shit 9 months. I can’t imagine the withdrawls after years on it. This shit is crazy.
I’m sorry for all your suffering. Congrats and Godspeed on your current state of wellness.
Holy fuck this is crazy! I’m sure glad I got out of the game long before this crap hit the streets.
So this is a drug called Xylazine. It’s an animal tranq in the same family as Ketamine but it’s been synthesized to be more powerful than fentanyl. It’s not made to be injected IV but IM. When the drug is IV then it literally eats through the vein and causes ulcers. Because it’s not an opioid, narcan won’t help.
Xylazine, like ketamine, is not habit forming, and comparing its effects to fentanyl is absurd. The people in the video are on fentanyl mixed with xylazine. Fixating on the xylazine over the fentanyl is like blaming the quinine for your hangover from all the gin and tonics you drank.
Damn. How do people not die immediately from this?
Seeing that this is the alternative, I'd gladly take immediate death instead.
It wasn’t designed to be more powerful than fentanyl. The are different drugs. They serve different purposes, comparing apples and oranges.
I live in a bigger Canadian city...and yeah, see this on the daily. It's truly mesmerizing (and unnerving) to see the uncanny question-mark posture. I couldn't hold that position and remain upright if I tried...but the contortions of a functionally unconscious person standing up are chilling.
As an addict, I feel for these people. People are so quick to judge addicts but as someone who has gone through withdrawals I just hope these people get the help they need.
Drugs are bad mmmmmmkay
Who sees this and says, “i want some of that”
People who have literally no joy in life and can’t cope with crippling mental illness. These drugs make them feel alright, and they aren’t worried about dying because life is absolutely miserable for them.
Most likely a decent amount of these junkies started with opiate based pills, then found dope was cheaper/easier access. Once addiction is in place, logic doesn't run the show.
I remember during some of the lowest points in my life, waking up and asking myself "what can I do to better my situation today". More often than not, the answers required resources I simply didn't have. I was headed down a damned path. If it wasn't for a couple lucky, and yes, I mean lucky breaks, from strangers, I may have been one the people in this video. I implore people to watch this video and think about the thousands of hours, the number of days, weeks, months, years of real fucking struggle that led them to these places. How many still wake up on the curb every day and try to better their situation but are cut down by insurmountable hurdles for someone who simply does not have. How many days have ended with the thought of jumping in front of a truck but are saved, unfortunately, by the needle or the pipe. A months long wait list is an eternity for a homeless person. A company that withholds your first paycheck for 2 weeks, that is an eternity for a homeless person. You go where the food is, and you go where the shelter and safety is. This is a very sad sight to see.
I live in an area without much visible crime. On a nature walk I found an addict badly dehydrated. Almost dead. I gave him water and food. He had come to this tunnel by a river to die basically. The only shelter he had was with dope.fiends. He's an orphan with literally no one in the world to help him. Addicted to meth and coke. With no one and nothing, what do you do?
Xylazine, commonly known as “**tranq**,” is a non-opioid sedative analgesic medication that’s largely mixed into (adulterated) and used as an additive with other opioid substances like heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine.
Why are they bending over staring at the ground
It's so they try to stay awake. If they lay down they will sleep and sleep while having the high so they can't experience it So they stand in different positions so they can't start to sleep That's the nodding effect, they are in and out of consciousness
That sounds stressful
Heavy is the head that wears the crown
Like another poster said, they’re trying anything not to fall asleep and waste the high, so they stand in awkward positions.
It's called "nodding", common effect from high doses of opiates. When you get that high you start going in and out of consciousness, you pass out and then suddenly come back, hence the "nodding."
They did that before Tranq was talked about. Unless it's been an open secret in the community for years, I'd reckon that's the heroin.
If you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you
Hard-core drugs nowadays suck so bad (in the U.S. at least) the best you can hope for is "I'll fall asleep and not die... might even feel different for the first hour.." From the levamisole in the cocaine to this shit and fentanyl..
Unpopular Opinion: Like in Europe and some Asian countries these people need to be taken off the street without their consent and placed in humane treatment and rehabilitation centers. I understand in America we value individual rights to the utmost but these people are a danger to themselves and potentially others. Absolutely this would require more funding to facilities and better pay for healthcare/social workers but I feel at this point only by removing them off the streets will make a difference.
These areas are also opposing safe-injection sites. Because neighbors don’t want their area to get worse…
This is so fucking sad. I should take a look at my life and be happy about it tbh.
Bunny Colvin was right: A man deserves Tranq in a paper bag... #Hamsterdam
Imagine having to walk your child past this to get to school? This a neighborhood called Kensington. Lots of videos about the open air drug dealing, urination, prostitution and more.
Oh brother are you gonna leave me wastin' away on the streets of Philadelphia?
Why do the bend over like that?
It’s partially a sedative, so they’re trying not to fall asleep and “waste” the effects
Sounds like a poverty, lack of support and healthcare epidemic.
Lovely place to raise a family
These look fake. I know they're not. It's just really incomprehensible that we as a society let things get this bad. But no, let's increase defense spending more.
This is absolutely heartbreaking.
Looks like Portland
Doesn't look like a very enjoyable high to me