

How a former addict uses Reddit to save drug users’ lives - steven
https://medium.com/backchannel/the-heroin-heroine-of-reddit-a2fffcc2a25b

======
joshstrange
> A person can’t get clean if they’re dead.

That line stood out the most to me and is something I think people regularly
forget or choose to ignore. It really is a shame that due to the stigma most
people don't bother sharing their story of recovery or more often don't even
try to get better.

For all of Reddit's warts things like this and subs like /r/leaves (weed),
/r/stopdrinking (alcohol), and I'm sure many more that I've never heard of are
awesome resources where someone can ask for help without judgement or shame.
Really it's just part of the internet as a whole allowing people to ask
questions or read up on topics that normally would be taboo for them in their
communities and is why I love the internet so much.

------
vonklaus
I was an active member on /r/opiates for ~2 years and it is a great place that
talks extensively about harm reduction the pifalls of being an addict and
operating safety in a high-friction low reputation seedy underworld of drug
culture.

If you have never done heroin, it is dangerous as hell. Not just the drug, but
the people you have to deal with to get it. Obviously, there were people on
the subreddit tellng first time vicodin users to "bang that shit"[0] but there
were people giving safe advice and counseling as well.

It is a strange place where people post a bundle of heroin and some cocaine
and title the post "my breakfast (:", but also when a long time member says
that they quit, there are dozens of congratulatory posts. This community is
the biggest thing I miss about reddit. I still try to go to tripsit IRC to
chat with people even after being clean.

[0]a slang term for IV injection of a substance.

------
1-more
I'm reasonably active on /r/stopdrinking and it's one of the most positive
corners of my life. I've taken a few cats that I've met on there to their
first meeting. I find /r/opiates very interesting: recovery mixed with active
usage mixed with harm reduction. A very interesting scene that can definitely
appeal to the active user way more than a sub with "stop" right in the title.

~~~
digler999
I'm pretty sure there is an /r/opiaterecovery or similar forum. Overall I
think opiates is a good subreddit, because obviously with an addiction that
strong there are going to be many people who refuse/aren't ready to quit.

I've hung out there for a few weeks, and I will say when someone posts "about
to try Heroin the first time, any tips?" many of them will try to dissuade
them from ever starting. And the people who post who are going through
withdrawals and posting the lurid details of what life is really like as a
heroin addict also serve as an indirect influence on others.

------
rflrob
It seems insane to me that naloxone isn't over the counter everywhere. It's a
drug with (as far as my limited reading goes) literally no potential for
abuse. To be fair, it has no purpose unless you are taking opiates, but it
seems the worst kind of paternalism to say that you can't have something
because it makes it less dangerous to do drugs.

~~~
revscat
I suspect that the thought behind not making it available is the same line of
reasoning that leads to various prohibitions on contraceptives: "if they use
it, then the 'bad' behavior will increase."

~~~
joesmo
You forgot to fully finish the line of reasoning: "if they use it, then the
'bad' behavior will increase, so let them die."

------
cwyers
I'm not sure that assisting people to treat drug overdoses themselves without
medical supervision is unambiguously saving lives; many of those people would
have been saved if they had sought medical treatment instead of self-aid, and
I don't see any data about how many died attempting self-aid that could have
been saved if they had sought medical attention.

~~~
nnbvv
Lots of users don't seek medical treatment because they're afraid they'll be
arrested.

I know this sounds unbelievable, but it's true... I found and called in the
heroin overdose of two of my friends, and not only were the paramedics very
leisurely in their response (walking slowly up the stairs to get to the
bedroom where my friends were unconscious), but the cops threatened to charge
me with selling the heroin to my friends. I believe they were bluffing in an
attempt to get me to snitch on the person who really did sell it to them, but
it's apparently not unprecedented for overdose victims to be charged with
possession and the people who called it in to be charged with distribution.

Thinking about that night still makes me angry. It's one of maybe three really
terrible experiences I've had with police in the US. My friends both lived,
though one had his heart stop completely for 1.5 minutes and had to be revived
via a Naloxone shot to the chest.

~~~
JshWright
What you interpreted as "leisurely" was likely "caution". Overdoses can be
very dynamic and dangerous scenes, and EMS will approach carefully. Did the
extra 5 seconds have any impact on your friend's outcome?

I don't know what actually happened, but your description is not correct. "A
Naloxone shot to the chest" is not something that is done.

~~~
nnbvv
I didn't witness the Naloxone shot so I don't doubt that you're right about
that, but I know he got one because the cops told us and we found the empty
syringe afterward.

I really don't feel like it was caution. The cops were already at the scene. I
talked to the paramedics as they entered the house. The whole thing was
conducted with a total lack of urgency -- I got the impression from the cops
and the paramedics that they were just pissed off to be there, tired of
dealing with stupid junkie kids.

~~~
JshWright
So, how do you know his heart stopped?

He got Naloxone because he overdosed on an opiate... That is not the least bit
surprising...

~~~
nnbvv
Because the police told us! And I'm also pretty sure my friend was told the
same when he was at the hospital.

I should have left the part about the paramedics out because it's not really
central to what I feel is important about that story -- that our laws exist in
a way that makes drug users afraid to seek medical attention. I don't mean to
malign the paramedics, and perhaps my perception of their behaviour was off
since it was a really traumatic night for me.

You're free to believe me or not. With regard to the Naloxone thing, I told it
that way because that's just how I thought Naloxone had to be administered...
I guess I've seen too many stupid movies (Pulp Fiction in this case, perhaps).
If you knew the full context of what happened it might make more sense. My
friends had never done heroin before and I've never around people who do it
either, so I don't know anybody who carries around Naloxone.

------
WhoIsSatoshi
link to the reddit thread regarding the article:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/opiates/comments/3e2ord/the_article...](https://www.reddit.com/r/opiates/comments/3e2ord/the_article_about_us_came_out/)

------
forgottenpass
Saving drug user's lives? I don't believe it. The press has clearly told me
multiple times that reddit is just for despicable people to be be sexist and
racist.

~~~
prezjordan
I don't think anyone is saying that Reddit is _just_ for despicable people,
but you can't deny that they're all over it.

Look at the front page right now.

~~~
mschuster91
> Look at the front page right now.

Not a single racist or otherwise scummy content on mine, I stick with the
defaults - and I doubt /r/CoonTown etc. end up on your frontpage by accident

~~~
prezjordan
I should have clarified - the logged-out homepage. The one Reddit exposes to
the internet at large.

There is currently a post with several thousand points: a picture of two women
on the back of a garbage truck with the caption "Actual feminism." I'm not
sure what that has to do with feminism, but I guess Reddit thinks women need
to work seemingly "dirty" jobs before they're allowed to complain about work
conditions.

But you're right, if you customize your subreddits you can avoid a lot of the
scum.

~~~
mschuster91
> There is currently a post with several thousand points: a picture of two
> women on the back of a garbage truck with the caption "Actual feminism."

I don't see any problem with the picture itself or its description. Isn't
feminism after all also that women can work in previously male-dominated jobs?
Challenge accomplished for these two, I dare say.

As for "dirty" jobs, well I highly respect garbage men/women, even more so
when they strike in Italy again and pictures of trash-filled streets make
headlines.

~~~
prezjordan
Women can and have been able to work those jobs for many decades.

There's a certain undertone with the word "actual" \- as if other depictions
of feminism are not valid. It's just strange that it's there at all.

But whatever, words are hard.

------
stephengillie
What's the hacker angle on this story? It seems like a common human-interest
story about someone donating their time to help others.

Is it supposed to be intellectually fascinating because it happens on an
internet forum? Is that all it takes to get upvotes on HN?

~~~
jasonmp85
It's a person who, through technology, has done something risky and
enterprising to change peoples' lives. And it has interesting policy and
societal facets as well. Why doesn't it "belong here", again?

~~~
stephengillie
_Is it supposed to be intellectually fascinating because it happens on an
internet forum? Is that all it takes to get upvotes on HN?_

------
ysleepy
I just put a script on my openwrt router to get all A dns records for reddit
and iptables block them.

reddit has become the lowest common denominator of procrastination and my
human side cant reasonably control itself.

I dont care anymore about all these fabricated stories and the hivemind
filterbubble.

~~~
vonklaus
This wouldn't actually block this article or stop reddit from appearing in
google searches, no? You just basically edited your host file to resolve these
to 0.0.0.0 making the links dead when you follow them. If you have a way to
make these links not appear in google, I would be interested to apply this to
other sites, but how does this help? Legitimately interested, please expand.

~~~
ysleepy
It is almost eqivalent to the hostfile trick. But since switching DNS is too
easy and some of my devices default to 8.8.8.8 it is not a sufficient
solution.

~~~
ysleepy
Nope, still shows up, but cant open any reddit website.

