Word: druggings
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Although opioids are extremely valuable painkillers, particularly for patients at the end of life, drugs like Oxycontin (oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone and acetaminophen) are unfortunately better known for being addictive. While new studies have sharpened the understanding of how opioids work, and clarified their harms, the general question of safety remains complicated. Differences in the age and health of patients, their history of substance misuse, the nature of the pain and patients' sensitivity to certain drugs mean that a miracle drug for one person may be harmful to another. (See the top 10 medical breakthroughs...
...Gets Addicted? Psychiatrists are careful to distinguish between addiction and dependence. The latter occurs in almost all people who take opioids long-term; over time, they develop a tolerance to the drug, and suffer withdrawal if the drug is abruptly stopped. The point is, they are able to stop taking it eventually. Addiction, however, is defined as the compulsive use of a substance in spite of negative consequences: addicted patients whose pain symptoms have been resolved still can't quit taking the drug...
...high-crime hell of the 1980s and early '90s was a period of chaos in the illegal drug trade. Powder cocaine was generally measured and sold in multiple-dose amounts behind locked doors, but crack was relatively cheap and highly portable. Upstart young dealers saw an opening and shouldered their way into a business long dominated by established kingpins. Trading valuable drugs for ready cash in plain sight was a recipe for robbery and intimidation. Dealers armed themselves for protection, and soon every teenage squabble in crack territory carried a risk that bullets would...
From that low point, the drug business has settled down in most cities. Distribution is better organized. Crack use has fallen by perhaps 20%, according to UCLA criminal-justice expert Mark Kleiman, as younger users have turned against a drug that had devastated their neighborhoods. Opiates and marijuana are illegal, just like cocaine, but they don't turn users into paranoid, agitated, would-be supermen. "A heroin corner is a happy corner" where junkies quietly nod off, says David Simon, creator of the TV series The Wire, who used to cover cops for the Baltimore...
...more realistic view might be the one dramatized in Simon's HBO series, The Wire. In 60 episodes spread across five seasons from 2002 to 2008, the program humanized this tangled question of crime fighting with penetrating sophistication. CompStat-obsessed politicians fostered numbers-fudging in the ranks. Cool-headed drug lords struggled to tame their war-torn industry. Gangs battled for turf under the nodding gaze of needy junkies. Prisons warehoused the violent and nonviolent with little regard for who could be rehabilitated. It made for award-winning drama, but it also was a reminder that in every American city...