HEADLINE SAYS OF DRUG ADDICTS: ‘YOU CAN’T LET THEM DIE’ … but … PLANET ASKS, ‘WHY NOT?’
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION FEB. 10-2, 20230 — First things first, for all those who want to make some quick, easy money. Put all you have on the Eagles, straight up. Deys gun put the Hurts on the Chiefs. Final score Iggles 27, Thieves 20.
Headline: ‘You Can’t Let Them Die‘
To which THE PLANET says, “Why not?” Sure you can.
Somewhere, despite all wise advice and care, all the education, all the D.A.R.E., all of Nancy Reagan, and all of frying eggs, addicts make a free will choice to dabble in the death.
Let’s think about this dispassionately. Letting an overdosed junkie die brings with it significant benefits.
It:
- Ends the addiction.
- Puts the evil cycle out of its misery.
- Reduces the economic costs to everyone.
- Cauterizes the emotional heartbreak.
- Delivers a double benefit to society, not having to fund the user and eliminating a noncontributor.
- Takes a customer away from drug dealers, lessening demand.
- Strengthens the overall population by eliminating some of the weakest links.
Dope, smack, H, Junk, Skag, Snow, Horse, White, Brown, Beast, Hero. Heroin goes by names and answers to them all. The drug practically owns the Pittsfield underground economy and has hijacked the city’s quality of life. It has brought the gangs, hamstrung public safety, and has robbed so many of a decent future.
Addiction in Pittsfield is so pervasive, the planners got involved. As in the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BPRC). Time to say “uh-oh.”
And that’s when Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski, who struggle with their middle class lives without the copout of hard drugs, must start to worry.
———- ooo ———-
The Planners, you may have heard, have begun plastering billboards with Naloxone brainwashing. Nothing like advertising to the drug world that you’re a hot spot for new business.
And have you noticed that the more we publicize drugs with these well-intentioned moves, the worse the situation gets. THE PLANET won’t suggest causality, but it does make one wonder.
The BRPC’s Andy Ottoson, a senior public health planner, has this memorable quote: “Our goal behind it is to normalize naloxone and try to make it as normal and as ubiquitous to have as a first aid kit or a fire extinguisher.”
That sounds great, except first aid kits and fire extinguishers work. Naloxone only perpetuates the addict and therefore addiction, and “normalizing” naloxone is the same thing as normalizing heroin use.
Hence …
… THE PLANET‘s modest proposal in the form of our “Why not?”
———- ooo ———-
What no one tells you about are the potential series side effects of Naloxone, which, like any drug, comes with a tradeoff. These include:
- Agitation
- body aches
- chest pain
- coughing that sometimes produces a pink frothy sputum
- crying more than the usual (in babies)
- diarrhea
- difficult or trouble breathing
- excessive crying
- fast, pounding, or irregular heartbeat or pulse
- fever
- goosebumps
- increased or excessive unconscious or jerking movements
- irregular, fast or slow, or shallow breathing
- irritability
- nausea or vomiting
- nervousness
- pale or blue lips, fingernails, or skin
- restlessness
- runny nose
- seizures
- shivering
- sneezing
- sweating
- swelling in the legs and ankles
- trembling
- weakness
- yawning
———- ooo ———-
Naloxone gets delivered after the addict shows signs of checking out. Some of those signs:
- Shallow or stopped breathing
- Pinpoint pupils
- Dry mouth
- Bluish coloring to the fingernails and lips; discolored tongue
- Weak pulse
- Stomach spasms or cramping
- Delirium or confusion
- Sleepiness or unconsciousness
- Coma
- Death
In other words, the addict looks like the typical member of the Pittsfield School Committee.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
——————————————————————–
“A good wife … laughs at the time to come” — Proverbs 31:25.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
Copyright (c) 2023 By Dan Valenti, PLANET VALENTI and EUROPOLIS MANAGEMENT. All rights reserved. The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. Those who leave comments own all the responsibilities that are or can be attached to those comments, be they rhetorical, semantic, or legal. Such commentators remain solely responsible for what they post and shall be and remain solely accountable for their words. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in, but not limited to, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. We serve as a marketplace of ideas, without prejudice and available to all. All users of this site — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else — hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice and their use of/participation in this site. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.
Good writing as usual – red meat for the base.
See if the ambulance will let you do a ride along with them. Ride a couple of afternoon/graveyard shifts with them in Pittsfield. See how many OD’s they respond to. And how many die. And how young they are.
Keep in mind, if your family ever needs an ambulance yesterday, better hope they aren’t tied up saving the same “houseless” junkie for the fourth or more times in the last two weeks with narcan.
After that, come back to the table and we’ll offer you some scrumptious red meat to chew on.
A lil’ street knowledge for ya too during the ride along. Look at how clean and/or dirty and unkept the OD victim is. If dirty and unkept, ask yourself why that person isn’t using all of these great services Flat, Pete, Krol, and TFCB, claim are readily available.
An addict has to want to get sober is the only solution. Tossing more money into the issue is not the answer. Jail tends to sober a person up. Tossing money into it tends to fatten the wallets of those who need it the least-see above.
Bonus!!! nobody wants services, they wanna get high.
If you have any of the above symptoms and you’re not a drug user it’s probably just the after effects of watching Biden give the SOTU speech. Drink plenty of water and you should be okay.
Is blogger Dan Valenti really saying that Pittsfield politics’ barstool, aberration, rolodex-renaissance, Montello, and vibrant-dynamic taglines didn’t work? I thought that PEDA was supposed to attract Fortune 500 companies to Pittsfield instead of PEDA’s millions of dollars in always growing financial liabilities for GE’s former postindustrial polluted properties. I thought that Pittsfield’s Level 5 public school system was supposed to send the city’s youth to prestigious institutions of higher education instead of to the underclass. I thought that inner-city Pittsfield’s over-hyped arts district was supposed to rival London, Paris, NYC, and L.A. instead of being home to over 1,000 gangs who sell drugs and even worse to the local people. I thought that City Hall was supposed to invest in the city’s most valuable resource: the People and their residential neighborhoods instead of letting Luciforo’s Dalton Avenue pot growing buildings stink up half of the city. I thought that Pittsfield’s public finances was supposed to favor the 5 decades-long shrinking middle class taxpayers instead of producing huge amounts of so-called “Free Cash” and secretive multimillion-dollar Slush Funds via Kufflink’s “Cooked Books”. I thought that state and local politics would be run by politicians who didn’t answer to failed and disgraced former politicians who live in Naples, Florida (Jimmy Ruberto) or Boston (Nuciforo). I thought that Pittsfield politics was supposed to change from its corrupt and insider’s only “Good Old Boys” notorious past to the “Brooklyn of the Berkshires” tagline of the 21st century. I guess that I thought wrong!
Don’t forget JM you and your ilk all voted for the Democrat powers to be. From what I read you are still pushing the agenda. Try to learn how your new state is really the “vibrant and dynamic” place and don’t screw it up by voting Democrat. Do not house the Berkshire Brigades when they invade New Hampshire to try and sway the vote.
Dan,you need to see the incredible feb 2 finance discussion on free cash explanation and flub up presentation on why it’s at seventeen million. And if your watching check out councilor Warren in the audience,even he was laughing at it.
Think of the billions of dollars spent since 1970 on drug enforcement. Picture of all those put in jail for dealing or just using drugs. Picture all the heart ache, crime and misery drugs have caused.
Now look where we are 70 years later and 1000 times worse off for our efforts. We now have more potent, more deadly, more life ravaging drugs than ever. More people getting addicted at even younger ages and more families crying rivers of tears watching helplessly as their child goes upside down in a world that seems to have no answer.
CLEARLY, we are doing something wrong. VERY wrong.
But one common theme associated with drugs is MONEY. There is money in producing drugs, and selling drugs. There is huge money in efforts to try to control drugs. And there is HUGE money in rehabilitation of it s “victims”. And most sadly, there is huge money in looking the other way while all this goes on. Payoffs from the poppy fields all the way to the kid who delivers the drug on his bicycle.
I agree with you Dan. I also believe Naxalone is a significant part of the problem. Users see it as a parachute in case something goes wrong. How many first time users do so because they are told there is a backup plan? Kids who were once afraid are now not afraid.
It’s warfare. The first stage in war is economic.
The irony of these naloxone drug loving individuals are they are the same ones that are on Park Square wanting the right to kill babies!! Quite a crazy world we live in, it’s hard to be logical and survive in today’s world. You can look at anything the government gets involved with and see failure. So with the Super Bowl in mind you can bet that this promotion will just increase the number of addicts walking mindlessly on NON looking for a few bucks at the red lights from the working adults of society.
Would you put it past a person like MA Illegal Immigrants Tzar, Tricia Farley-Country Buffet (D-illegal immigrants), to shell out a few $20 to those degenerates, so it looks like her events are well attended?
She’s done absolutely nothing for the taxpayers in Pittsfield and her district in over a decade in office.
Not to mention she’s pushing to legalize the sex trade in MA. A letter to the editor today explained this.
Inflation, high crime, fentanyl OD’s, young POC’s and their gun/gang violence, in Pittsfield, and this iis the issue Farley-Country Buffet is focused on. Are you F**KI* kidding me?
I have always been amazed that the same people continually get re-elected when they absolutely do nothing in office! More and more people are saying things like this to me so it has got me wondering how they do get elected if all these other people say they are voting for the challenger or no one, leaving it blank. The numbers always come back with high vote totals for the incumbant, strange. Then you here how Barry was walking the voting corridors and gets you thinking because where there is smoke there is usually fire
I agree Shirl. It does amaze me too. The thing that really amazes me is how are these issues never addressed with her during a debate? I would repeatedly question her about who in her district advocated for illegals to get DL’s? Chief Wynn because he said, “it was safe?” Not good enough for me.
Any statistics to back up how this “makes it safer?” Border states tend to have higher auto insurance rates because of vehicle thefts headed south of the border or uninsured/underinsured drivers and hit and run accidents. A DL doesn’t get a person auto insurance. Only cash does. So again TFCB, how does this make it safer?
Now legalizing the “sex industry,” is her next golden goose project. Is she planning on running or investing in brothels? Andy is the pot king. TFCB needs a retirement parachute. Who cares if it’s a 15 y/o juvenile runaway being held against her will, huh Trish? The cops won’t mess with her. Especially if she’s a female POC. Great plan!! Nothing could or will go wrong with this whopper.
Just let them die. The bonehead contributors to this site are truly uninformed. That applies only to the BONEHEAD contributors. Some can’t spell or string two sentences together, and others revert to name-calling when confronted with fact and logic. Others know the real truth but are afraid to speak it, and so hide behind Author, who writes well but can’t afford a copy editor. When are you folks gonna wise up: you are in the minority for a reason — the majority knows what’s going on because they watch *both* Fox *and* CNN and so have a realistic grasp of goings-on. Hannity and Carlson know what’s going on but they also know a cash cow when they see one – they are loathe to release the goose that lays the golden eggs. How are those MySlippers holding out….? I guess I can’t blame you because y’all must’ve been standing behind a pole when G-d passed out common sense. Walter Cronkite would be severely disappointed.
Another informed Berkshire Eagle reader.
Ha ha ha. Haven’t read the rag in 50 years.
Ahhhh Uncle Walty who was the most liberal broadcaster at the time. The same NIMBY environmentalist that fought the green producing electricity for MA because it would wreck his view from his beach house. Glad he was sharing his wealth with the poor.
Like it or not, Uncle Walty represented the majority and the political center. One word from him and support for the VN war was gone.
Some experts who write long screeds don’t know the difference between affect and effect.
That’s a fact Jack.
“ the majority knows what’s going on because they watch *both* Fox *and* CNN and so have a realistic grasp of goings-on.”
If Fox is insufficient for providing a grasp, and CNN is also insufficient, how does watching both provide a realistic grasp. Watching either would be comparing shadows.
Hannity, Carlson are creatures of brands as are Krugman and Friedman. For any of them to change their message would be akin to an act of spontaneous madness. I agree with you on them. Your points here in general well taken.
Cronkite.
Yet there goes another creature of brand. I doubt that Cronkite convinced Americans that they were sucked into a bad war in Vietnam. The Kennedy/Johnson administration didn’t even want Americans to think it more than an advisement project. Cronkite, for his part likely had a good measure of the growing disillusionment. Tim O’Brien writes of it in The Things They Carried.
@Charles K
Thank you.
The more sources of input you have, the more complete a model you can produce, even if some of the input seems flawed. Comparing shadows is a nice metaphor, but doesn’t yield a good understanding.
I may have exaggerated by saying ‘one word’, but Cronkite *did* have the effect of turning the popular view against the war, as LBJ famously points out.
There are no creatures that are not of brand.
Bravo!
Spot on!
Go Eagles!
Naloxone just helps to keep big pharm in business.
“Addicts make a free will choice to dabble in death.” – Well said Dan!
The truth is that the Naloxone is no longer for just the drug addicts. It’s for the general population too because Fentanyl is so pervasive in our society that kids are dying from it. Open borders have created a highly dangerous situation and that’s why the government needs Naloxone to be as readily available as toothpaste. You can’t give Naloxone to yourself though. It has to be administered by someone else who hopefully knows what they are doing, but Fentanyl is so deadly that it’s the only way you will be saved if you aren’t treated within minutes. None of this craziness would be necessary if our border wasn’t open to everyone.
Pretty sure most of the Fentanyl is coming from China and according to my sources very few of them are showing up at the Mexican border. But maybe you have more up to date info than I do.
Didn’t know China bordered the United States.
It’s called the drug cartels and, yes, they have lots of Fentanyl. Not to let China off the hook, they are doing their part too to destroy the people of this country.
Agree, China is the manufacture, Mexican drug cartels distribute, United States are the consumers. Now is the time for real change.
I left my heart there, high on a pill
Maybe you have an old map. When was the last time you were in San Francisco?
You got me on that one. Well played.
The drug cartels in Mexico have plenty of Fentanyl too. Tons of it are being confiscated on our border. That’s what they are catching.
Matt, come on, get your head out of your McDonough
Really, just let them all die. The world would be better!
Just let them all die: Our civilization would be worse off for it.
how? hey are drains
There are many drains and many contributors to our society. If we get rid of just the drains it says something very negative about our society and culture. One of the hallmarks of advanced culture in the evolution of humans is how well it takes care of its young, old and indigent.
Young? Yes. Old? Here, America does a lousy job. Indigent? Yes. All sorts of programs. But drug addicts? Why? Ultimately, it is up to the individual to choose to end his or her addiction.
Would you say the same of the oxy-addicted folks in Appalachia?
Why deride the good people of Appalachia? They are salt.
They endure a great deal of hardship (life) with good grace.
Exactly my point.
Mahomes puts the Hurt on Hurts. Eagles lose.
I hope so but I’m not betting on it:(
Careful Dan, Some of your readers probably have junkie adult children that they have to support (read:enable) and raise their grandkids because of it.
The word junkie disparaging and offensive
Changing the name to “Opioid Dependent” doesn’t mean they’re not Junkies. Undocumented = illegal alien. Obese = Fat. Unauthorized Withdrawal = Robbery.
Disparaging means to express a low opinion of something. If it hurts your feelings that people have a low opinion of you then be grateful, you’re still more of a human than George Santos!
PC buffoon
My uncle has been doing better since we stopped calling him a drunk and told him he was a victim
Baasaaaa
A trailer truck load of sausages went off the road at the Richmond/West Stockbridge line yesterday. Peter White was seen careening out Barker road towards the scene wearing a large bib.
And don’t forget a lubricant. Whatever sausages Porkchop Pete doesn’t devour or use, he’ll grease up the remaining sausages and serve to the taxpayers of Pittsfield.
The cultural competency coach got her family and friends a taxpayer paid summer vacation.
Those actually contributing to the Pittsfield tax base get a greased sausage as a “thank you,” compliments of Flat and Mr. Worldwide.
I have heard the ‘free will’ argument. Trouble is, once someone starts consuming, it no longer remains free will. Given the quantities now distributed by hostile nations into our country, Pat is has a reasonable hypothesis about the general need for naxalone, not that it gives a fresh start to the victim. Those in the overdose state are also experiencing brain damage from asphyxiation.
What preventative education is taking place in PPH today, and how does it compare to that we experienced in the 1980?
We are not the first nation to be attacked by weaponized narcotics. Heroin was the weapon of choice in the subjugation of the Chinese. Forward from Red Cocaine, by J. Douglas: “Dedicated to all those people who have lost a friend, or a loved one, to drugs. It is time to fight back.”
For those who would dismiss it for being strictly sensational, I don’t believe that be fair. The drug crisis began to materialize in the US after three major wars (WWII, Korea, Vietnam) with Vietnam being a weary demoralizing catastrophe. The argument is there that our leaders had little appetite for the global challenge we faced. From intro to Red Cocaine (). Formatting is mine.
“Furthermore, as a high-level State Department official assured Congress 5 years ago [1985] there is no evidence of a communist conspiracy to weaken the American social fabric by promoting the use of drugs.
Red Cocaine presents unpleasant facts contradicting thse views. Dr. J Douglas, the author of this book, is not selling a theory but instead is calling attention to evidence. He has marshalled his facts carefully, presents them responsibly and cautiously and offers a wealth of soberly documented data., That data describes in detail the efforts of China, the Soviet Union, and its many surrogates, to use drugs over many decades as weapons designed to damage and weaken -if not destroy – the stability of Free World countries. The top target is and always has been, of course, th eUnited States.
Nobody would suggest that the entire drug problem is the result of a communist plot. [There is truth to conventional wisdom about our own responsibilities.]”
Clearly, the American social fabric and the stability of the United States is now very much damaged. Wherever you go in this nation urban or ranch you will hear people who have lost family to drugs leaving the broken ruins of their children and widows. I think this conversation needs a different approach and the anger is misdirected.
Pittsfield’s State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier’s one issue to champion in the 2023 – 2024 state legislative session on Beacon Hill is the decriminalization of sex work.
How is that for “A Happy Ending”?
Letter: “Will Rep. Farley-Bouvier listen to her voters on health care policy?”
The Berkshire Eagle, February 10, 2023
To the editor: What is state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier’s response to voters in her district who overwhelmingly supported Question 5 last November?
Question 5 asked that Rep. Farley-Bouvier vote in favor of replacing our for-profit health insurance system with a publicly administered, tax-supported one. A public insurance trust fund would pay for all necessary medical services for all Massachusetts residents, totally eliminating premiums, co-pays, deductibles and point-of-care fees; and it would cost Massachusetts residents less than they currently pay. In this legislative session, that opportunity is bill HD.1584, An Act establishing Medicare for all in Massachusetts.
At a recent meeting of Rep. Farley-Bouvier with her constituents, I learned she plans to vote for the bill if it comes to the floor but will not make it a priority. Rep. Farley-Bouvier said she chooses just one issue to champion each session, and this session it’s — wait for it — decriminalization of sex work. While I support the latter, I find it shocking that any state rep. would limit themselves to a single issue that affects a relatively small number and leave it to others to do the difficult work to address a major crisis such as the affordability of health care. Despite the fact that almost all citizens in our state have some level of insurance, approximately 40 percent of Massachusetts families struggle to afford health care. These statistics are even worse for people of color.
Rep. Farley-Bouvier is co-chair of the Progressive Caucus but said she does not plan to use her position to build support for HD.1584. This should be her minimum effort. The bill might not even make it to the floor for a vote, as has happened at least twice previously, if more legislators don’t make it a priority.
Rep. Farley-Bouvier has stated that she has not heard from enough constituents about health care — as if 75 percent of voters in her district supporting Question 5 were not enough. Residents of Pittsfield, please call her office (413-442-4300) and let her know you want more than just a yes vote — you want her to do everything she can to fight for HD.1584.
Henry Rose, Dalton
Sure, let’s make healthcare just like the DMV and Pittsfield’s DPW and have Ricardo Pendejo run it.
How many times can a family member motion the court for section 35 and be denied regardless of multiple recent heroin arrests.
The judges want the deed they don’t give a shit about Law nor Order. Just the deed, the property deed.
Money ain’t shit. Property is.
It’s a circus
Sadly, but not surprisingly I was hoping for better from people on this subject. Most of these negative comments are from folks that have never had to face the reality of substance use disorder (SUDS) in a family member, loved one or friend. (Or maybe you are just an unsympathetic, or evil person who finds joy in others demise) It is hard to believe that the naysayers have not been effected in some way as this illness is so prevalent in our society to the tune of over 2.1 million people in our country. I know most of what I will say will fall on deaf ears, but I will never give up my fight to stop the stigma associated with SUDs which contributes to those effected in not seeking recovery.
I know the first thing Mr. Valenti throws out, is that addiction is a choice. It is not a choice in most cases. I have had family members that are in long term recovery from SUDs and they didn’t make a choice to wake up and crave drugs. They like so many others, were led down a path of over zealous pain management for injuries/illnesses they suffered. They were prescribed opiates by doctors that didn’t have the knowledge to effectively manage pain, caused mostly by Big Pharma who told all healthcare professionals, “Prescribe freely, these aren’t addictive.” We all know now how wrong they were and their motivation. SUDs is not a new problem, it has been around a very long time but exploded due to the misinformation spread by Big Pharma in an effort to line their pockets. Opiates can be used effectively to manage pain but must be managed properly. Let me tell you a story. Due to a extremely painful battle with osteomyelitis of my lumbar spine which caused sepsis (and accidentally revealed a pulsating aortic aneurysm waiting to kill me), I was on very potent and high dose pain medication in Baystate Medical Center’s ICU for a month back in 2012. When I was recovering from the illness they properly titrated my doses and weaned me off the pain medication the proper way. I left the hospital never to take another pain medication. That is not always the case. As was the case with my family members, their illness injury was not properly managed and the doctors just yanked the proverbial pain medication out from underneath them with no weaning. They were left with unmanaged pain and a craving for the pain medication that was over prescribed to them for months.
The other problem that has occurred is the proliferation of fentanyl in almost every drug in this country. There are local recreational cocaine users that have been found overdosed from fentanyl. Their first reaction is “I didn’t use fentanyl, I was just using a little cocaine.” (I do not condone this) Unknowingly, they consumed a deadly amount of fentanyl. How does this happen? There are some things we know and some that we can only theorize. One of the things we do know is illegal drugs are big business in this country. Drug dealers are often getting involved in many different types of drugs to sell, so they are bagging up their weed, and breaking down there coke into smaller street quantity packages on the same table they are cutting their heroin and fentanyl. These are not rocket scientists or licensed pharmacists using quality control and sterile packaging techniques. And all of this fentanyl is coming from China. China is producing fentanyl in great quantities as well as selling all the chemical components needed to make your own fentanyl, using the Mexican cartels in many cases to get these into our country. This is a concerted effort, in my humble opinion and many others, to inflict damage on our population making us a weaker country.
But back to stigma. We know SUDs is a disease causing changes to the brain. It is driven by physical changes, psychological changes and physiological changes. I know I will be told I’m wrong in this forum but the science is clear. Many people who have this disease often have preexisting mental health issues that are untreated, lack the social support necessary to help them in their situation. Another thing we know is, people will do better when they have the mental health services and social support network that will encourage them to enter recovery and deals with SUDs. But when people stigmatize those with SUDs, which is evident in most of the comments I have read on this forum before undertaking this post.
Narcan is part of a harm reduction strategy to help them. Harm reduction can help reduce the threat of death until the person is ready to seek recovery. You cannot force recovery on anyone. They must be ready to seek treatment and seek a path of recovery. We know the war on drugs has been a colossal failure. You cannot jail yourself out of this mess is a mantra you will hear over and over from the law enforcement community, the substance treatment community and civil rights community. We can only offer the services needed for recovery and hope they will seek recovery sooner rather than later. Narcan is no different than any other medication available to treat disease. Would we not provide chemotherapy because the patient may still participate in activities that may have contributed to their cancer? Would we deprive a patient with hypertension the use of antihypertensives because they might not start exercising or reducing their sodium consumption? Would we deprive a diabetic insulin because they may not follow a strict diet to manage their diabetes? The answer is no, no and no. The patient who suffers from the disease that causes them to seek illegal medications should not be deprived a medication that can extend their life until they can successfully seek long term recovery. Also remember that the death of an overdose effects more than just them, it effects their loved ones (siblings, children, parents, etc.). It effects costs on our health care system which we all suffer. The effects felt by the loss of an overdose is far reaching and not anything anyone should ever wish upon anyone.
I would suggest you visit https://harmreduction.org/about-us/principles-of-harm-reduction/ to learn about the principles behind harm reduction.
I have had to deal with many negative effects substance use disorder has heaped on ones I love, up to and including death. All which I had little to no control over. And I totally get people that are bitter and angry at relatives that suffer from this disease and caused you to suffer personally. Hell, I have been bitter at some of my loved ones because of this but at the end of the day I remember we are all flesh and blood human beings that deserve our patience and help when we can give it. This could happen to any of us and if you don’t believe this your are very naïve and sadly mistaken.
I am prepared to get kicked around due to this post by any that take the time and effort to read my post. I understand that there are many many people that don’t understand this subject and aren’t open minded enough to get educated but if my getting kicked around and lambasted in this forum causes even one person to seek understanding of this complex illness then it is all worth it. And anyone that is ready to throw insults or question what I say, I would ask you to have the cajones enough to put your real name like I have done and meet me in person to discus this subject over coffee in person.
Thanks for those that may have taken the time to read this long post that I could have gone on for much more.
BRIAN
I thank you for the well-written, well-argued push back. It is most welcome.
Philly 31 Kansas City 30
I agree with much of what you say, but if our borders were closed, China would have a harder time getting the Fentanyl into this country.
I don’t necessarily disagree with you but I hate mixing politics with this argument.
They are inextricably linked. We must reduce demand through treatment AND prosecute predatory dealers AND stop the flow. And it is not just China. Mexico is now a dominant source. Unless we attack cartel leadership and production labs in Mexico we will continue to see thousands of Americans dying every month.
Good points!
Bravo, Mr. Andrews. Until one understand that addicts are totally powerless over their addiction and unless they have structured treatment and the tools to help them, there is no hope. There are plenty of examples of people who have beaten their addiction because something and someone gave them hope: Eric Clapton, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew Perry…Should we have just let them die? Narcan is a tool we can use to give people hope.
I also know people who have over come their affliction. It was not through Methadone or whatever the new drug that Spectrum is doling out. There’s got to be an alternative, to this. The money spent on that should be allocated for different programs.
No, medicated assisted treatment needs to be an available option. Different options work for different people.
K C 35 Philadelphia 33
Chiefs 28. Eagles 19
Isn’t there any education that would tell those addicted that fentynal is deadly? Who cares where it comes from. A monkey knows that that shit is not good.
Narcan for the monkeys.
You get a narcan, you get a narcan !!!!
Any treatment is a scam just like Covid. Bottom line if a junkie wants to stay a junkie they will.
Agree, No one size fits all. Why is so much resources are given to people who dole out drugs to fix a drug problem? I’m so sick of the Pharmaceutical industry. They’re dangerous and deceptive. Time for change. I think afflicted users will benefit from new ideas. Science should always be questioned, without that the world would still be flat.
Close the borders crack down on drug fueled tent villages. Put them through the courts. Bowler offers them programs. If they refuse keep locking them up until they comply or leave town. They are breaking vagrancy laws.
Bayer was a prime supplier of Heroin with complicit ‘doctors’ prescribing them for sleep aids, cough, PMS, headaches. I believe that Bayer named it Heroin.
And the patients got addicted and rightfully placed blame on the doctors. Even then – similar story.
And in my mid-century suburban neighborhood there was always a bottle or three of Paregoric, traditional used especially for children. And if you caught a chill, Mommy made you a Rock and Rye hot toddy. The good old days, I think I remember most of them.
Opium – Its History and Use with Babies Whilst Teething
Lethal Lullabies: A History of Opium Use in Infants – PubMed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov>
Cocaine for soldiers & opiates for teething babies: exploring the history of drug use – BBC
Alcohol and Teething: An Oral History
Opium Dens were also legal, but they were before my time.
Brian,all of Your options cost Us money.
You could get a job as an air bag
Agree, why so much money going toward one treatment po? Maybe politics, dirty politics, or pharmaceuticals having their way. We can do better. Everyone effected by drug addiction should lead us .
If you believe you are powerless than you’re right.
So the happy campers of Springside park are all victims of doctors…. Right
Brian, you make your case very well.
Your compassion for the junkie is awe inspiring. But Sadly, many of us have faced the reality of a beloved JUNKIE suffering from SUDS. I’m far from unsympathetic to the plight of the beloved JUNKIE. Years ago, if some unsympathetic evil person had even suggested a course in TOUGH LOVE, and/or advised me to let my beloved JUNKIE hit ROCK BOTTOM, because until they do, the JUNKIE won’t get better, I would have pissed on that unsympathetic advice and the evil meddler who suggested it. That was then! That was when I’d catch a grenade for my beloved JUNKIE. I’d throw my hand on a blade, I’d jump in front of a train, I’d take a bullet straight to my brain, YES, I would have died for my beloved JUNKIE. And that’s exactly what my beloved JUNKIE made me do. Some sins are unforgivable. Sometimes you can’t save the JUNKIE from themselves. You can disguise addiction in any acronym you want, but a JUNKIE is a JUNKIE is a JUNKIE. And sometime the only cure for gangrene is amputation. And even then, no one is getting out of this HELL alive.
“Nessun maggior dolore / che ricordarsi del tempo felice / nella miseria”
– Dante Alighieri / Divina Commedia, Inferno
Dante’s line translates as : “No greater sorrow / than remembering the happy time / in misery”
“If you are going through hell, keep going.” – Winston S. Churchill
“They yearn for what they fear for.”
“The path to paradise begins in hell.”
“In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself, in a dark wood, where the direct way was lost.”
“E quindi uscimmo a riverder le stelle” – Dante
“Love…no such thing.
Whatever it is that binds families and married couples together, that’s not love. That’s stupidity or selfishness or fear. Love doesn’t exist.
Self-interest exists, attachment based on personal gain exists, complacency exists. But not love. Love has to be reinvented, that’s certain.” – Rimbaud, A Season in Hell and the Drunken Boat
Forsan et haec olim meminsse iuvabit
“Perhaps we shall look back on even these things and laugh” – Aeneas (in my words)
How much does it cost for the ambulance ride? How much does it cost to roll the fire trucks? How much does it cost to supervise the user at the emergency room for the required wait before being released to do it all over again? Who pays the tab? Think about where all this money goes and you will begin to understand why the users are protected.
MAN
Excellent observations!
How much does the ambulance company make on narcan administration and who pays them?
That’s determined by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. They set the rates.
What’s the point of an ambulance if they do not administer medical services?
The guy doing all the complaining runs an ambulance service
At least I have guts enough to put my real name and not hide.
Distributing narcan saves lives.
Distributing narcan saves money in the long run.
Distributing narcan is the right thing to do.
Why would the Healthcare system be supporting the distribution of narcan? To relieve the load on the Healthcare system. Too much money and resources are being spent dealing with this epidemic. If profit was the motive the last thing we would do is distribute something that would reduce the amount of business. Stop and think for a moment.
Why do we do the right thing reviving a user and transporting same to the ER only to turn them out after the waiting period is over. Why do we not lock them down until they are fully recovered from the disease? How many users are getting frequent flyer points from the ambulance companies? How many calls for services do the fire departments rack up to justify the ever increasing budgets they propose? I have personally dealt with a large number of users over the years and only three things end the cycle. Dearth, incarceration for an extended period or a personal decision to go straight. Rehab seems to only delay the first.
How much is the life of a junkie worth? What is society’s return on its investment in a junkie? What about the junkie who has OD, according to the junkie, more than a dozen times, and been hospitalized several times with bacterial endocarditis due to her heroin abuse? How much is the life of the 62-year-old purse snatching victim of the junkie, and how much is the life of the 17-year-old girl stabbed by the junkie for coming to the aid of the purse snatched victim? Tell me again how junkies are worth saving, and how Narcan saves the lives of junkies in the long run, and why Narcan is the right thing to do, because junkies are worth saving. The 62-year-old woman and the 17-year-old girl are just two the innocent casualties of the junkie, there are several others, and none of them better off for having crossed paths with the junkie. Stop and think for a moment, how much are their lives worth?
So you do it for free?
They don’t OD on fentanyl. They are poisoned by it.
Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool than to Speak and Remove All Doubt
Are you the person driving the harm reduction bus?
Thank you for our perspective sir.
Junkies deserve to be stigmatized. There should consequences to shooting poison into your veins. I disagree all methods of enabling the junkie, especially bringing them back from the brink of death time and time again.. Not every junkie is a junkie because of a sports injury, they weren’t deprived and abused as children. Evil has a way of making friends with the good and dragging them into the darkness. Junkies leave a lot of collateral damage in their path of destruction. Every junkie I’ve ever known was/is conniving and deceitful. And once the junkie knows that you know that about them, they’re malicious to the point of being deadly. I knew junkies six decades ago, some are dead now, and the ones that aren’t, I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.
but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. – James 1:14-16 (KJV)
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. So, don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters James 1:14-16 (NLT)
I think I’ve beaten this poor dead horse to death now.
Someone in this type of addiction is incompetent to decide. There’s laws already about insanity. Why reinvent the wheel. Do not want the addicts around me or my loved ones. I don’t care if you’re my mother or the pope in rome, take your weak ass and go far away
Perhaps this Andrews fellow will post his address so the SUDLGQTMAGA victims can contact him for help.
That’s a great idea there.
I’m easy to find. I don’t hide behind a fake name.
You gotta be careful, though, I’ve learned it can come back to bite you.
You sound like an attention junkie. Does narcan help with that?
If you liked it then you shoulda put a tax on it…
I agree with Dan and Flats not running for mayor. Who would have the unmitigated gall to run off of her record. She’d lose anyway
Dan,how about this for city council. Maffuccio if he can run,Benoit,Mazzeo,Kalinowsky,Warren,Kronick..so, if the cabal gets in,they’ll have to adhere to the new 6-5
We can do much better. There are eleven seats that can be taken by 11 independent thinking residents. If you want to dismantle the machine, flood the ballot with good candidates.
The machine will put their desired candidate plus one or two fakes. That will work only if uncontested by similar numbers of real candidates.
If you can honestly state that you are independent, and you speak your mind, you will win.
Agree. One step at a 6-5 time though.That’ll make any gobsig special interest mayor useless.
CHAZ
Agree 100%. Now, how do you get that many citizens, good citizens who can truly represent the constituencies, interested in making a serious bid for office?
Talk to them.
The state selects 9 random people to serve on juries to decide a difficult case to which they have not given ANY thought. Generally, they get it right.
Same would go for City Council. If you use common sense and have a moral sense, you will get 90% of your votes and arguments right.
Common sense is very uncommon.
Cream of Wheat 29 Quaker Oat s 23
Tony the Tiger 38, Cap’n Crunch 10
Buckwheat is now Kareem of wheat
So now this George santos was a drag Queen.
He used to race at Lebanon Valley against Corn Pop.
Yeah. His pseudonym was Ricky Rhodes
Using your own logic, you must be the idiot. You are almost always on the losing side of the vote.
My logic suggests that a randomly selected City Council would produce better results than the current one. Glad to see you are trying to think logically!
You don’t posses logic. Better results? What you mean to say is results you like. You are a Boob.
Yeah but look whose on the other side boob.
Boob. No no no, he thinks he’s a rockstar. Wordwise’s just going on what his manager said.
Mazzeo lives in Dalton.
Maffucio is MIA.
I thought that Pittsfield politics is run by an unethical old man who lives in an upscale condo in Naples, Florida, a former public-school secretary who lives in a mansion in an elitist Gated Community neighborhood with a few feet from Hancock, and a Pot King who lives in Boston. If one puts it all together, one sees a useless Rolodex, a former secretary who loves excessive taxation and secretive Slush Funds, and a 4-foot tall “legal” drug dealer & grower of marijuana products. Poor Mary Jane & Joe Kapanski, who has to pay for Jimmy Ruberto, Linda Tyer, and Nuciforo’s leadership of Pittsfield politics!
Mia is Mazzeo’s daughter??????
Seems that whatever California decides eventually, flows to 17 states including Massachusetts. Homelessness, reparations, woke politics, diversity, equity, inclusion, CRT. What could go wrong with that?
https://apnews.com/article/technology-california-clean-air-act-vehicle-emissions-standards-eebb48c13e24835f2c5b9cb56796182a
Donald Trumps failed COUP means ignorance failed once again and democracy gives us another day to choose the correct path.You must acknowledge what happened or the unwoke will give the MAGA a 2nd chance at destruction of America
Of course making America great again is destroying it. Have another joint TSC .
Given his previous positions as the attorney for the whole * plantation he owns everyone and everything.
Texas Gov. Abbott’s Chief of Staff told state agencies, including universities, that using DEI policies in hiring violates federal & state employment laws. DEI initiatives “illegally discriminate against certain demographic groups” and has been manipulated “to push policies that expressly favor some demographic groups to the detriment of others.”
Bottom line – Pittsfield’s Office of DEI should be immediately disbanded and all DEI hiring practices in the city should be stopped for violating federal laws!
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-02-10/texas-bans-dei-hiring
Agree completely, FRITZ.
Are you suggesting addicts are responsible for their own addiction? How dare you!
Super Bowl prediction. Have picked twenty two in a row. Philadelphia by 10.
So.it will be twenty three in a row after tommorrow
A day in the NEW NORMAL lives of Dickie and Janie. After Dickie and Janie fell from the apple tree while playing in the orchard, Dr. Feelgood immediately over prescribed pain killing narcotics to which Dickie and Janie quickly became addicted. Once Dickie and Janie’s boo boos had healed, and Mother and Daddy’s health insurance refused to pay for anymore of Dr. Feelgood narcotics, Dickie and Janie were forced to steal Grandmother’s oxycodone, morphine and fentanyl patches which had been prescribed to granny to treat the pain caused by her Metastatic Bone Cancer. Mother, Daddy, Puff and Spot were just sick to death over this. Dr. Feelgood referred Mother, Daddy, Puff and Spot to a psychiatrist for counseling to cope with Dickie and Janie’s bizarre erratic behavior. Mother, Daddy, Spot and Puff were immediately prescribed Benzodiazepines to quell the tension and anxiety of living with junkies.
Theres also the part about Daddy and Gramma putting the house up for collateral with the bail bondsman. Janies got a gun. Whole thing has come undone. The next generation has no roots nor wings. Shanequa the great grandchild was born wid it.
Well, that’s what happens when you integrate the neighborhood with Mike, Pam and Penny Edgerton, Shirley Sharpton Edgerton’s ancestors.
Father, Mother, John, Jean, Judy, Spot and Puff lived to see another day.
Eagles 31 Chiefs 27 Hopefully a real good game from start to finish. And hopefully not decided by the zebras.
I got K C baby.. 29-23.
There’s no words or mode to quantify the losses. It’s worse than you think.
The need for Rx pharma to soothe the bone pain from the lead contamination. Oh god.
This is not Flint Michigan remember !
There’s LEAD in the water and the soil the Boards of Health do not give a flooded shoddy dam.
This is why, this is why, this is why there’s no housing – contamination, grandfathered.
How about before Merging ALL the schools we pay for a consultation to assess which kids already have lead poisoning
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/southern_berkshires/great-barrington-koladza-airport-berkshire-aviation-lead-fuel-health-special-permit/article_6dc7ad2c-a994-11ed-aa62-07deb7b81dec.html
1 ppb ?
This is bullshit.
Lead concentrations in samples taken from the well and a bathroom faucet in the airport’s office tested at 1 part per billion, well below the EPA action level. Culligan Water took the samples, and those were tested at Microbac Laboratories in Lee — the same company that tested the neighbors’ water.
February 11, 2023
Hello, Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for today’s political email about Beacon Hill lawmakers failing to pass State House and now State Senate rules reforms. Now that Beacon Hill lawmakers and elected officials have stacked the deck in their favor, they will have no problem continuing to “Cook the Books” to enrich themselves and their wealthy campaign donors at the public trough, while the rest of us have to pound sand in disgust.
Why do a majority of Beacon Hill lawmakers call themselves Democrats when they give the financial, corporate, ruling elites, along with the greedy lobbyists and other special interests tens of billions of state tax dollars during the every two year state legislative session? Indeed, the Republican Beacon Hill lawmakers are more progressive than their Democrat colleagues in Massachusetts State Government when it comes to rules reforms.
The thing that bothers me the most about all of the political and financial shell games on Beacon Hill is that it makes a mockery out of millions of residents and state taxpayers who fall for it all because some to all of it goes over their heads. Cities such as my economically distressed and very unequal native hometown of Pittsfield are also being systemically mocked by the elitist snobbery of Boston’s Brahmin culture of always putting the elites above the masses.
I wish I never attained a Master of Public Administration degree from UMass Amherst (May, 1999) so that I wouldn’t understand how unfair and inequitable Beacon Hill lawmakers have been and are to the common people and taxpayers of Massachusetts. I am happy that you, Erin Leahy at Act on Mass, write about it, but at the end of the day, I understand all too well that the fictional State Representative Sellout Shakedown is still running the show on Beacon Hill.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
Thank you Chuck Connors
You know, common sense along with wisdom isn’t always packaged with
book smarts. Many out there with two or more degrees and have no common sense.
We don’t want the truth. We can’t handle the truth.
The issue about owning the news outlet isn’t a concern about freedom of speech, he does, he gets that freedom, finally. The issue It IS about position. Affiliations. He can hide the truth just as much as he can tell it.
Tell me he isn’t a benefactor.
The Kris Jenner of deals %%%
We’re only Hathaway there berkshire tachonic
Tell me he doesn’t have interest in windrush.
Tell me he isn’t business colleagues with the survey crew.
The academia, community development, cannabis, real estate….. museums, reservations…. it’s too much power it’s an injustice.
Um, the Railroad.
Who is the benefactor for Elizabeth Freeman Mum ? It is the grandson of the attorney who burned her ? Yes it is.
If you think slavery and the massacre of Indians is in the past, you’re sadly mistaken.
I look white
And as for my lack uh writin skill, its because im am a frail victim. Since high school I am a slave. I did not have the time to learn composition, I was busy pleasing someone else’s needs. And by needs i meant his dick. Some unholy shit I was forced to do.
You all keep talking as if you are concerned about out community- all you care about is money same as the administrators.
Who gives a dam
The dam
The FUCKING dam
I was not harmed in the janitor closet but that billboard was very well played. It was hilarious.
Who else is allowed to develop “Undevelopable Property” who else gets away with Lead in the water this guy and his friends that’s who.
Red Hill
Let’s name the new district red hill in honor of your honor
You’ll be red from crawling through this fraud
Kudos to fritz for finding DEI hiring procedures.now we need someone to do further research to insure that we are reading the policy correctly. Ònce we know the policy specifics we should fire those who were hired under the guise of cloaked racism or more appropriately undeserved fovoritism
Please do not listen to Dan and fritz on their Super Bowl prediction. Kansa City will win the game. Go Chiefs !!
STATE FARM STADIUM. DAN.
Tampa won in their stadium. Rams won last year in their stadium. And now Mahomes,the spokesman for STATE FARM will win in that stadium. I am so freaking smart.
Why do you think the line hasn’t moved in three weeks who do you think they’re playing? State farm is worth hundreds of billions one way or the other Mahomes is going to win the game
One thing we can all agree on Hunter Biden looks like a drug addict
Mahomes has a contract with K C that has him at 500 million. Thought I’d throw that in. One other thing is the Eagles have two first round draft picks this year. They will win it next year. They won’t win it today. You guys don’t owe me anything. You have three hours or so to get to MGM Springfield and make money to pay your taxes with.
Locally we can agree that the Biggest Loser in the History of Pittsfield politics other than the current known losers has to be J Lo.
How can someone who’s phone was so hot it was burning a hole in his pocket to run for City Clowncil and gets beat by that dude?
K C wins also. Why? Like Muree Said….State Farm Is There.
Wow.
Peet, I don’t understand half of your ‘…The issue about owning the news outlet…’ post.
My Dam post was blocked ha. It’s in the news today.