# Are Deaths Like Corey Montieth's Common **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958 "2013-07-19T17:33:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/1 "2013-07-19T17:33:38Z")
NPR had an excellent show yesterday, about the ubiquity and cheapness of heroin. Heroin is now cheaper than weed and most synthetic opiates. A doctor who treats addicts called in, and said that most addicts (to opiates) die as a result of overdoses. The young man was just in rehab-most likely, his withdrawal put him at risk-as his tolerance was now lowered, a large dose would kill him. My question: if you enter rehab, you have accepted that you have a problem-why would someone like this (who had a good acting career) act so recklessly? They also had a reporter on from a Vancouver (B.C.) newspaper-who said that a lot of street heroin is spiked with other drugs-you never know what you are buying (and at what purity level). A sad fate for a young life…but at 31, I guess he was free to make his own choices. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/2 "2013-07-19T17:40:52Z")
I think this is better suited to IMHO than GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/3 "2013-07-19T17:44:15Z")
The answer depends on how you define common. It’s been happening to heroin users as long as I’ve been alive. It often happens to people with no change in their tolerance (if that even was a factor here) because they have no idea how much heroin or whatever else was in what they injected. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/4 "2013-07-19T17:44:29Z")
As I posted in the Corey Monteith thread: No, it’s the interaction between heroin and alcohol which is lethal: " The single most common cause of heroin sudden death is bad interaction (and sometimes synergy) of heroin with CNS depressant–especially alcohol and barbiturates. The government has made it very hard to get barbiturates during the past couple of decades, so the biggest problem is alcohol. I have been present during several sudden deaths that happened when a drunk person ingested a relatively small amount of heroin. This appears to have been the cause of Janis Joplin’s death, in addition to the deaths of many others who are commonly said to have died of “heroin overdose”." > **[Heroin Helper](http://www.heroinhelper.com/)** > > Help for users of heroin and other opioids ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/5 "2013-07-19T17:51:55Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > My question: if you enter rehab, you have accepted that you have a problem-why would someone like this (who had a good acting career) act so recklessly? Pleasure is . . . pleasurable. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/6 "2013-07-19T17:52:54Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Heroin is now cheaper than weed and most synthetic opiates. I’d like to see a cite for that- especially the weed part. That’d be kind of shocking. ---
**Author:** ![HelterSkelter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19adc/32.png) [@HelterSkelter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelterSkelter)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/7 "2013-07-19T17:54:19Z")
A few years back I entered into a 90 day treatment program for opiate addiction. In the short three months that I was there 4 people died from overdoses within a week from leaving treatment. So it’s well known among opiate/heroine addicts that your tolerance will be far lower upon leaving treatment. I don’t believe he was being reckless. He made a far too common mistake of using the same amount of the drug that he was used to prior to his detox. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/8 "2013-07-19T17:57:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’d like to see a cite for that- especially the weed part. That’d be kind of shocking. Yeah, $60 will get me high every night for at least a week and a half. I highly doubt you’d get that kind of value out of heroin. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/9 "2013-07-19T18:01:35Z")
If you’ve never had a life-threatening drug problem, it’s something you can’t understand intellectually. I feel pretty meh about drinking and getting high. It’s fun sometimes, but not something I feel the urge to do very much. And I don’t feel that different or great while doing it. I just can’t relate to people that want to do it all the time. My sister is ‘allergic’ to opiates, in that a relatively small dose can depress her nervous system to the point that she stops breathing. She still was addicted to heroin for a couple years. She O’D 8 times, but someone was always there to get her breathing again. Some people just REALLY like getting intoxicated, is the most I can figure. Add in physical dependence on a particular substance, and you can spiral down to the point where your life is at risk pretty easily. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/10 "2013-07-19T18:02:39Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > why would someone like this (who had a good acting career) act so recklessly? Because drug addiction is nasty and difficult to overcome, and causes many of its victims to make irrational, if not downright stupid, choices. My wife’s stepfather was an addictions counselor for many years. Even among those of his clients who willingly chose to enter rehab (whom you would think would be those who would be more motivated to not fall off the wagon), the relapse rate was very high. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/11 "2013-07-19T18:04:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’d like to see a cite for that- especially the weed part. That’d be kind of shocking. Not cheaper, but in certain locations much easier to get. A friend’s daughter started using heroin her senior year in HS. I asked her why, and it was basically ease of availability. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/12 "2013-07-19T18:05:49Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Because drug addiction is nasty and difficult to overcome As are the problems that can drive people to drug addiction in the first place. > [@kayaker](#): > > Not cheaper, but in certain locations much easier to get. I can believe that. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/13 "2013-07-19T18:22:17Z")
[New York Times is timely](http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/07/19/us/100000002340382/a-deadly-dance.html) A video about the rise of availability and cheapness of heroin in Maine. (videos are free to watch) ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/14 "2013-07-19T18:22:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The answer depends on how you define common. It’s been happening to heroin users as long as I’ve been alive. It often happens to people with no change in their tolerance (if that even was a factor here) because they have no idea how much heroin or whatever else was in what they injected. Would it be possible to develop some sort of simple chemical test for the “purity” of heroin? Like litmus paper? They could hand it out at places like safe injection sites etc. I’m assuming this would not go over well in the U.S.A. but it would be a good idea in countries with more enlightened drug legislation. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/15 "2013-07-19T18:39:01Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Pleasure is . . . pleasurable. It was kinda weird to hear that program last night because I found out earlier that day that a guy I went to high school with died from a heroin overdose. I hadn’t seen him in over a decade, but it really hit home while listening to NPR last night. I still don’t think such things are really common, but I think it is growing more common because society is being primed with opiates in the form of legal pain prescriptions, and because global events have led to heroin production rising in some areas (Afghanistan), prices falling, and purity rising. Since heroin is cheaper than oxy on the street, people tend to gravitate towards that now if they find themselves addicted to opiates. It used to be you had to actively seek out illegal narcotics to put yourself in the position to become an addict. Now, it just might be that you hurt your back, or got your wisdom teeth removed, and overdid the pain meds not knowing you were vulnerable to addiction. Kinda sad really. That said, the reason I quoted what you said is because of an important point the program made. After the first few times, addicts are often not even getting high anymore. They are just using to feel _normal_ again. They mentioned how your brain chemistry guides many of these addictions. Neurons have specific receptor sites for endorphins that opiates can affect. Drugs like heroin initially get you high (euphoric), but then they just function as an analgesic. One caller last night with a $150/day habit described how she just used to get through the day. She said she takes very little pleasure in it anymore; in fact, she scolded for the host for even suggesting it was pleasurable. It really puts in to perspective how crippling such an addiction can be. > [@Marley23](#): > > I’d like to see a cite for that- especially the weed part. That’d be kind of shocking. According to this [article](http://am.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/13/heroin-cheaper-than-beer/), heroin can be pretty cheap. Obviously, it depends on dosage and purity. > [@](#): > > Law enforcement officials say a tiny, one-dose bag of heroin, costing $5-$10, is cheaper than highly controlled synthetic opiates like Oxycontin or Hydrocodone - and easily accessible to teenagers. > > “Unfortunately, today, a bag of heroin can be cheaper than a 6 pack of beer,” said John Gilbride, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s New York Field Division. > > And this cheap heroin is deadlier than ever, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center. Unlike a generation ago, when the street drug was less than 10 percent pure - today’s version can be upwards of 70 percent pure. Teenagers are snorting it, smoking it in joints, and getting hooked faster, and overdosing more. Another [article](http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1650957576/Police-Heroin-cheaper-than-coke-pot): > [@](#): > > He said police see a lot of people who were prescribed OxyContin or oxycodone by their doctors for pain, and when they could no longer get their prescriptions, turned to heroin, which costs $7 to $10 a bag. > > “It is in plentiful supply and it is now cheaper than marijuana and cocaine.” And one [more](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/nyregion/27heroin.html?_r=0): > [@](#): > > Experts trace the spike in heroin use to its widespread availability and low cost. A bag of heroin can sell for $5 to $25 and induce a six- to eight-hour high, according to officials and former users. Cocaine, by comparison, can cost $40 to $60 for a 30-minute high, while prescription painkillers like Vicodin or OxyContin sell for upward of $40 a pill on the street. [SNIP] > > One of Jonathan’s friends, a 21-year-old former addict from Long Island named Brian, said heroin was cheaper, and often more available, than marijuana or ecstasy. > > “Believe it or not, as a high school teenager, it was easier for us to get than alcohol,” he said. “It’s cheaper than anything out there.” Far from conclusive, but I can imagine heroin is in fact cheaper in many parts of the country than other drugs including weed and alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/16 "2013-07-19T18:51:57Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > It used to be you had to actively seek out illegal narcotics to put yourself in the position to become an addict. Used to be in what good ole times? My mother became addicted to painkillers (which weren’t even helping her pain due to being the wrong kind :smack:) back in 1984, and allow me to remind you that heroin was named so by the doctors who distributed it. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/17 "2013-07-19T18:53:47Z")
> [@MrSquishy](#): > > Would it be possible to develop some sort of simple chemical test for the “purity” of heroin? Like litmus paper? They could hand it out at places like safe injection sites etc. I’m assuming this would not go over well in the U.S.A. but it would be a good idea in countries with more enlightened drug legislation. Amazon might literally have [everything](http://www.amazon.com/Heroin-Purity-Test/dp/B009XDHXIW). That said, it doesn’t seem to be relatively cheap or widely available. Plus, I think the danger also comes from other crap that might be in the drug, not just the purity. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/18 "2013-07-19T19:04:02Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > According to this [article](http://am.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/13/heroin-cheaper-than-beer/), heroin can be pretty cheap. Obviously, it depends on dosage and purity. > > Another [article](http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1650957576/Police-Heroin-cheaper-than-coke-pot): > > And one [more](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/nyregion/27heroin.html?_r=0): But that is definitely NOT cheaper than marijuana. A gram of marijuana costs about ten dollars and that is a lot more than “one dose” for most people. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/19 "2013-07-19T19:10:59Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Used to be in what good ole times? My mother became addicted to painkillers (which weren’t even helping her pain due to being the wrong kind :smack:) back in 1984, and allow me to remind you that heroin was named so by the doctors who distributed it. Yes, in the late 1800’s when it was invented. Heroin hasn’t been prescribed or promoted by doctors in a long, long time. Opiate painkillers only began being prescribed in 1984 when Vicodin was created. Oxy (1995) and Percocet (1999) came much later. It has only been relatively recently that these drugs have become relatively ubiquitous. Also, because Oxy is more potent, it makes an easier transition to illegal drugs like Heroin. I didn’t mean to imply there were not gateways drugs to heroin addiction in the past, just that it’s MUCH easier today. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958/20 "2013-07-19T19:12:23Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > But that is definitely NOT cheaper than marijuana. A gram of marijuana costs about ten dollars and that is a lot more than “one dose” for most people. If I want a half ounce of weed, I contact one of a couple people I know. I wait anywhere from a day to a week to hear back. When I hear back I’m told anything from “come over” to “maybe in a week or two”.☹ If I wanted heroin I could drive to an area in a nearby city and buy what I wanted.☹ It’s all about easy access. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-deaths-like-corey-montieths-common/663958.md?page=2)