i hope this essay isn't unwelcome but i wanted to expand on a previous reblog which mentions turning to the black market: denying people controlled medication out of fear of the addict boogieman literally directly creates and worsens addiction.
as someone who spent a lot of time in hard reduction oriented communities for substance use, one thing you notice real quick: a lot of people with a substance problem have that problem because they were denied or never given access to medical care for a whatever problem the drugs are compensating for (esp common for women, queer people, disabled people, poc, and ofc the poor/uninsured)
and it makes a lot of sense if you think on it for 5 seconds. i'll give two examples off the top of my head.
person A has severe ADHD and/or narcolepsy. they cannot maintain a job without medication, but either cannot afford to jump through diagnostic hoops, or did so and were denied medication anyway. they could say "aw damn" and risk losing their home, families, etc to their untreated illness, or they could go to the black market.
now, these prices are around 5 years old (but i doubt it's gotten cheaper), but lemme break down the logistics:
adderall can be cheap if you live near a college campus or tech city, but on e-markets it'll run you anywhere from .25-$1 per mg in pill form, which could be around $5-30 per dose. long acting stuff like vyvanse is more expensive, and we're boldly assuming the pills are real and correctly dosed.
speed paste availability varies by country but outside of europe it's not common or cheap, and it's not gonna be as potent as pharmacy grade amphetamine
meth, however, is cheap (anywhere from 20-50 per gram), widely available, long lasting, and potent enough to dose as low as 5mg. thats like 15 cents a dose. the drawback? meth is a lot more compulsive, addictive, and neurotoxic than the stuff you'd get at the pharmacy, is often cut or poorly synthesised, has nasty side effects, and is probably a lot stronger than most people need (desoxyn exists, but is rarely prescribed)
easy to see how someone just trying to self medicate could end up with a problem, yeah?
a similar issue crops up with theoretical person b. person b has chronic pain, but either had their medication taken from them due to DEA browbeating their doctor, or was never given anything stronger than tylenol because they were assumed to be faking. if it's a choice between suffering and breaking some laws, the choice is clear. so you go looking for pain meds.
pills advertised as being real (which are often pressed anyway) will often run you at LEAST $1 per mg, often more if it's something like morphine or diluadid (codeine is also weirdly expensive bc it's a meme drug), that could be $100s per day if you need multiple doses.
heroins a little cheaper and stronger, around $100 per gram, which is cheaper than pills
then there's fentanyl. strong, cheap, long lasting, wildly available, and significantly more clear headed and less "high" than most opiates. you can get fentanyl presses for $5 a piece that will last most people a day or more. cheaper in bulk. powder varies wildly. but fentanyl is strong, difficult to accurately dose at home, and builds tolerance/dependence quickly. and once you have physical dependence, missing a dose means flu like symptoms or worse for a week or more.
again, you see how this would fast track someone to addiction?
and i know what you're thinking: what about people doing drugs for fun for real?
well, being honest: most people don't develop addictions from occasional recreational usage, and the ones that do are often self medicating for depression or anxiety or trauma or existential dread. there are some drugs that are significantly MORE recreational if you happen to have anxiety. even if there's a guy out there who really just loves doing drugs and is 100% well adjusted and is just addicted for the lulz: i don't care. that guy still deserves access to safe, accurately dosed, transparently labelled drugs. (this isn't even getting into queer drug culture either bc this is long enough but you'd be surprised how many drugs were banned bc they were popular in queer clubs)
"but why would society continue doing something that very obviously is creating the problem it claims to be fighting?"
simple! many governments (namely the US) want disabled, poor, queer, and brown people to spend their lives working in private prisons or drop dead! denying them access to safe medical/recreational drugs, fast tracking addiction (by creating a situation in which the most accessible options are the most high risk, stigmatised, and heavily criminalised substances on the market), and then dehumanising addicts/drug users to the point even self proclaimed leftists often have no sympathy for them is a quick and convenient way to accomplish exactly that.
anyway i just kind of wrote this essay because i feel like people who have never been in this situation don't understand how someone can wind up addicted to a "scary" drug like meth or fentanyl, you hear a lot of people talk about it like those are "extreme" drugs no "normal" person would ever knowingly try, or that people would only use them if they didn't understand the risks or are Stupid (and therefore "deserve" any harmful side effects) and that's just not true. the fact of the matter is these Spooky Scary Substances are often the cheapest and most accessible options on the market, and if you can't afford to jump through medical hoops, you probably can't afford the Expensive black market options either. and i thought breaking down the pricing and logistics and providing real world examples might put things into perspective, because honestly you probably won't hear it from anyone else.
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