Ohio Opiates

Ohio Opiate Pills Per Person

The opiate "epidemic", i.e. mafias posing as corporations are pushing opiates via legitimate and "illegal" distribution networks, has hit Ohio pretty hard. Even my home county, which is very stable, very white, and pretty prosperous has a steady stream of heroin overdoses reported in our local newspaper.

If you've been reading my blog a while, you might be acquainted with Ohio geography and demographics since I've touched on it several times. The high (bluer) consumption is in the Appalachian counties, which are also poorer.

There are a several possible explanations for why the number is higher in the poorer counties. People who are doing more physical labor oriented jobs are probably more prone to injuries that would lead to a prescription for pain killers, and that is also a feeder system for addiction. There might also be more incentive for doctors in poor areas to become drug dealers, too. It really only takes one bad apple doctor in a region to significantly increase the number of addicts and maybe fosters a culture of drug use in an area. I witnessed that while I was living in Nashville. I had a friend who went to a "pain clinic". The doctor prescribed a variety of pharmaceuticals for basically recreational use with just an office visit. I thought it was pretty weird. If you're not in that "culture", the idea of constantly being doped up and suffering from all the annoying side effects of daily pharma ingestion seems insane. For people who are essentially addicts to those drugs, their addiction is legitimized by a doctor.

Opiates are part of the Babylon Incorporated playbook. Drugs, candy, crappy corporate culture, etc... It's basically monetized vice.