You’ll find those who will insist that other countries don’t have access to much needed opioid pain medications. The DEA destroys hundreds of tons of good usable, often unused and not prescribed, medications annually. The amount of opioids the DEA “takes back” & collects annually is enough to treat every pain patient, clinic, hospital, and nursing home in the world. Why don’t they help other countries. That’s twofold. Firstly, other countries often don’t trust any medication the United States provides. The US government doesn’t have the best reputation with regard to altruism. Other countries are aware of people being used in human experimentation in the US and foreign lands. Another factor is that United States drug policies have terrified other countries to the point where they often rely on ethnobotanicals, ritual, and heavy doses of alcohol instead of narcotics. This is beginning to change as countries who turn to harm reduction, decriminalization, and legalization are found to have lower rates of addiction, abuse, diversion, drug related crime, and overdose deaths. Portugal decriminalized ALL DRUGS in 2001. In 2017 they had SEVEN opioid overdose deaths! In Amsterdam, where all drugs are legal, the only drug problem they have is among tourists who overdo it or experiment with more drugs than they should while on vacation. In Switzerland, they have harm reduction policies. People who use drugs use medically staffed safe spaces to inject drugs. They’re given clean needles, water, and other needed supplies. If they want to get off drugs help is available. They can also have any drug tested for purity.
Switzerland ‘s harm reduction programs began in the 1980’s and have proven to be a great success.
https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/swiss-recipe-for-dealing-with-drug-addiction-proves-a-success-20130622-2opcj.html
In the city of Amsterdam, drugs are legal, although people under the age of 18 are not permitted in the “coffee shops” where cannabis can be purchased and used. Hallucinatory truffles are not legal, although other hallucinogens are legal. If teens under 16 are caught smoking marijuana, a police officer might stop them, talk to them, and might confiscate their weed. Although, underage drug use, for the most part isn’t much of an issue.
In the Netherlands, there are two categories for drugs. Cannabis, sleeping pills, sedatives, and all Benzodiazepines are legal. For harder drugs there are established limits considered for personal use. Half gram of cocaine, MDMA, MDEA, MDA, amphetamines, heroin, morphine, GHB, methamphetamine, etc… Taking any drug (or alcohol) and driving is a punishable offense. The Netherlands also follows a harm reduction model, understanding that people will consume drugs regardless of laws. They want people to be as safe as possible, so they provide anonymous drug testing facilities with certified medical lab analysts. In the Netherlands, they’ve been able to reduce opioid overdose deaths by dispensing pure, pharmaceutical grade heroin. Most of the overdose deaths in the Netherlands are tourists. When you’re not worried about where your next dose will come from you’re far less likely to live for the drug, knowing it will be there if and when you want it.
Canada is starting their harm reduction programs and has recently begun installing Bio-metric vending machines to dole out the person’s daily dose of Dilaudid. They have safe injection centers manned by medical staff 24/7.
Many of the Latin American countries, realizing how detrimental US drug policies have been, are also adopting harm reduction programs, and many are considering, or drafting the Portuguese model to decriminalize drugs. They’re putting all the money spent on drug enforcement and police into education, infrastructure, revitalizing areas hardest hit by drugs, and rehab for those who want it. Makes a hell of a lot of sense and it’s working!
Chronic_Pain 