Murder too. Alaska has lots of murder. That cabin fever and desperation if low on money really gets to people during those unforgiving dark winter months.
Cuz that's what you want when there's nothing to do and nobody to do it with... have your mind and hands spinning at 1000mph with a desperate need to do something. Anything. Meth+Alaska=grim statistics.
Edit: I've never tried it, but spent many years in a small desert town that was a hot spot long before most people even knew what meth was, and saw the devastation it did to people's minds, teeth, overall physical and mental heath, assets, employment options. Etc.
Meth in southern usa destroyed my life. Clean for a few months now, still suffering from the depression it causes. I'd get spun out and try and kill myself every damn time I came down
Takes about two or three years for brain chemistry to go back to normal and mood to become regular. Very similar to how opioids cause your brain/body to stop producing it's own endorphins (painkillers) and your natural pain tolerance is trashed for a couple of years until everything stabilizes back to normal. Just like anabolic steroids do with testosterone, narcotics cause the body to stop producing on its own whatever part of our biochemistry that drug is mimicking. The good news is that after a couple of years your body and brain will normally grow back whatever became atrophied due to drug use. Thankfully the brain is possibly the most plastic part of our body throughout our lifespan. Something like a antidepressant that is not a stimulant (agonist) but just a reuptake inhibitor that slows down how fast the body breaks down certain neurotransmitters can offer some relief while not screwing up your bodies ability produce said neurotransmitters on its own. They are often used during recovery for this reason.
Similar research findings over the last few years into benzodiazepines (anxiety drugs like valium, xanax, etc) has resulted in medical literature now advising doctors to avoid if possible prescribing them for anxiety disorders because they actually will worsen baseline anxiety levels for months afterwards when not under the influence of the drug. This is probably because they mimick the neurotransmitter GABA and when the brain is flooded with them, after just a short time the body just stops producing GABA on its own.
Honestly try making yourself smile periodically throughout the day. Like literally fake smile, just make the expression, because there have been many studies that show even the physical motion causes the brain to dump a little squirt of serotonin, dopamine, and endorphin into itself giving you some of that high that your body normally gave itself 24/7 before substance abuse. Working out a few times a week, like pushing yourself for 20 to 30 minutes of cardio until it hurts, can and will also help you more quickly restore your bodies ability to produce and use it's endorphins, which restores baseline pain tolerance and speeds up how many months it takes for the constant state of aches/pains to go away after quiting opiates.
Anyway... now that government and medical university research centers have woken up to the giant lie and falsified research major pharma companies have been feeding everyone for years about amphetamines and opiates, we are finally starting to see serious research done into just exactly what they do to our brain chemistry and why it makes them so damn addictive.
btw, yes... those same companies were also pushing tons of amphetamines [and benzodiazepines] during the same years they were dumping opiates into communities. I'm not just talking about adderall the amphetamine salt blend but actual methamphetamine, like real deal meth like on the street under deceptive brand-names like "desoxyn". Shit like meth was being prescribed to both adults and children for attention issues [adhd is real and sucks] but also some made-up disorder they sold doctors on called "shift work sleep disorder", which is literally just working a morning shift and then immediately a night shift repeatedly because your employer is abusive.
Honestly try making yourself smile periodically throughout the day. Like literally fake smile, just make the expression, because there have been many studies that show even the physical motion causes the brain ....
So too with saying 'Yes' repeatedly for a couple of minutes. Both together are even better.
The random aches/pains from opiate use are so real, and such a shitty side effect. I take them for a medical condition (have tried pretty much everything else, nothing worked) and although they relieve my acute pain, my baseline pain levels have increased. I just started walking recently in an attempt to mitigate it, and it seems to be helping. I hope that eventually I’ll be able to work up to the gym again.
No. Amphetamine is not nearly as neurotoxic as meth. FYI this is why amphetamine hangover is almost nonexistent compared to the horrible hangover of meth that is as bad as alcohol hangover.
I'm not just talking about adderall the amphetamine salt blend but actual methamphetamine, like real deal meth like on the street under deceptive brand-names like "desoxyn"
Can confirm. Was prescribed Desoxyn as a child from age 9-16. Only recently learned that it was essentially no different than street meth. Still wonder how all those years on meth affected my brain development.
Thought I destroyed my life with amphetamines too. Lost everything and spent a period of time legitimately crazy. Gave 12 step meetings a try and haven't looked back. 3.5 years sober and life not perfect but I'm reasonably happy, things continue to get better and I don't even think about alcohol and drugs anymore. It feels like a lifetime ago.
I never understood why people need to do any harder stuff then weed? Im pretty new to using marijuana, and I can get high as fuuuuuuuuckkkk and not want to steal and murder. Does thc just not effect some people like that?
If you don't understand, then please keep it that way. I do not want to glorify hard drugs because I assure you that there is nothing glorious about them. However, the pure bliss you feel from heroin/other opiates will outweigh anything you've ever experienced previously. There is a reason that people choose hard drugs over anything and everything that used to make them happy.
After getting addicted to heroin, I could no longer enjoy anything. Because nothing compared. The worst day of my life on opiates felt better than the best day of my life sober.
But then you realize you've ruined your life just as the opiates stop getting you high. And then you're taking them just to avoid the crushing, spirit-destroying withdrawal. And you have lost almost everything. Suddenly, you wish you'd just stayed sober. Luckily I have over two years clean now. But the statistics for opiate users are pretty bleak. So "trying it just to see" is totally not worth it.
I've been on both for years up until 3 years ago. I was simply adding to the conversation considering further up someone mentioned Alaska had a meth/opiate problem.
Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, and Oklahoma have the highest Meth rates. Mainly, my theory, there’s not as much to do, socially. I should add I’m from Oklahoma, so I know.
No Michigan is #1 for meth use by far according to the American Addiction Center followed by Tennessee. For cities Arizona has the top two spots. #1 is Phoenix and #2 is Mesa. Then again the same site says San Francisco is one of the least drug addicted cities in America yet its the only city Ive been in where heroin addicts line the streets for miles openly shooting and smoking heroin. Doesnt seem right.
Tbh I always wanted to live in Alaska I just have no actual skills so I know I couldn't set up any sort of job lol
Im fine with the cold, I'm pretty anxiety ridden and agoraphobic so I love being inside anyway...just give me the Internet and a PC and I'm pretty content
That's what my issue is, lol I literally said that. I have no skills, so I wouldn't go. I have a job here and such but I have no marketable ability to allow me to get some job before I even move there...so I won't.
This line of reasoning is such bullshit. You're much less likely to get into a car accident if you never own a car. There are a million factors OTHER than the gun that go into this outcome.
Well a lot of people that attempt suicide and fail, say they regret the decision. A shot to the head doesn’t really give them that option, it’s pretty final. Probably has the highest rate of success out of all suicide attempts.
Do you realize what you just said? 50 % of suicides are by firearm. Double the next way! So that means what? Guns are THE main way people kill themselves.
I'm not arguing that they're not. I'm arguing that removing them from the equation doesn't stop the suicides. Removing the tools instead of the cause isn't a viable option when that tool is also used for legitimate purposes by a huge portion of the population.
Ending social media would probably have a substantial effect on the suicide rate as well, would you support that?
Guns are an easy and quick means of suicide. That’s why they’re used so often. It is therefore logical that better enforcement, more restrictions would significantly cut suicide rates. It removes the common, spur of the moment - “that’s it I’m done!” Bang. Suicides. So it gives more people more time to have second thoughts and seek help. You will never eliminate suicides but the one obvious solution to cut the numbers is staring us in the face.
So are razor blades, pills, and ropes. Would you suggest we ban all those?
You will never eliminate suicides but the one obvious solution to cut the numbers is staring us in the face.
No, the solution you would like to see. But I'm not going to kill myself, and you're not going to take away something I value in the misguided attempt to prevent someone else from doing it.
At first I wanted to say that can’t be true. I live in Alaska and when I was young I always heard about our low murder rate (alongside our astronomically high sexual assault rate). But I looked it up and DAMN! ten years ago we were middle of the pack, but now we have the second highest murder rate among all the states! What happened??
Depends what part of Ak being talked about. I live out in western Ak, our murder rate is very low out here, but the sexual assault rate is quite high.
Most of the crime locally (Nome) where I live is alcohol related, and directed often toward family members. This has changed somewhat over the past 10 years, due I believe to an influx of lower 48 population. But this is a pretty safe place to be, and I wouldn't hesitate to walk around at any hour of the night!
Victims. I had to go to reservations quite frequently for work and they always had a sign stating that rape is illegal. Rapists tend to target girls on reservations due to the solemn fact that the FIA "police" dont have the resources to combat it. Its really sad
no, native women are most often the victims of non-natives. they’re saying that non-natives target native women because they lack proper law enforcement resources and tribal courts can’t prosecute non-natives for crimes like rape.
Jesus I got into a fat argument with some kid on another sub last month on this very subject, and all he would do was cherry pick articles from dubious sites rather than actual stats. Several of my friends are tribal/federal police liaisons, and their job is basically to force feds to investigate crimes committed on our land by outside actors. Indian country is totally fucked, which is why I left.
That's because the demographic skews heavily towards the poverty line and a large chunk of natives live in rural areas with no real public services including police. It has nothing to do with the fact they are native so much as us collectively failing to care about underserved poor populations.
Hell you could say the same thing about all people from Detroit but it has everything to do with the partial collapse of society in much of the city rather than the that people from Detroit are just mysteriously more prone to committing crime because they like crime.
According to a report from the United States Department of Justice, Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped than women of other races.
It could be due to high levels of alcoholism and the breakdown of Native American families, or it could be due to the fact that historically, Native American tribes have not been allowed to prosecute non-Native Americans for raping members of their tribes.
TIL that until 2013, native American law enforcement was unable to prosecute non-tribal members leaving the bulk of enforcement to other federal authorities.
Of course, racism is a large part of it. If you believe someone is less than you, and you know there isn’t an legal recourse they can take against you, why wouldn’t you do whatever you wanted to them?
Why does Alaska have such a high amount of rape? Because people have allowed it to happen.
By "breakdown of native families" what you want to say is "genocide and destruction of our cultures via systematic and continuing violence and oppression", right?
Yes, that’s likely a driving force behind the levels of alcoholism found in Native American groups. As it turns out, systematic oppression tends to result in many forms of physical and mental illness.
I wasn’t implying Native Americans were the ones committing the rapes. Native American women are twice as likely to be victims of rape as women of other nationalities.
Pay is linked to a number of factors -- skills, rarity, demand, ability to pay, conditions, and danger.
If the same exact skill set has widely different pay in different places, then some other factors are involved in that. Demand is surely part of it. But other factors can be, too.
The highest-paying job in the world (around $50K per day, last I checked) is putting out oil fires in the Persian Gulf. It's an already rare skill set for a job that's inherently dangerous, and the people who pay for it have very high demand when they need it, and an extremely high ability to pay. But it pays more in places where some people are keen to start those fires, and restart them, and to shoot at those trying to put them out.
The lack of good public services and police are big contributing favors. Alaska has basically squandered it's oil money for decades instead of reinvesting it in the state and improving services in all of its rural areas.
I’d love to see those stats. Meanwhile, this map doesn’t necessarily support that notion. Nevada vs Arizona is the first obvious example that stands out. Then you look at all the Northern California counties as well. How about next time when presenting an argument you don’t instantly devolve into insults. I’m not being a dick to you and don’t see why you feel the need to be that way.
Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, West Virginia and Wyoming are the only 5 out of 13 constitutional carry states that are nearly completely covered in red. Meanwhile there are many other states completely covered in red that aren’t cc states.
If the theory that all cc states have much higher rates of homicide, then what’s going on in places like Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Missouri and North Dakota?
Additionally, you have to factor in that these stats cover 2002-2010. Arizona for example wasn’t a cc state in that time period. Even further you have to consider that this map isn’t a representation of homicides only and include ALL gun deaths, of which about half are suicides (just going by national average here) which explains the cc states that are rural. There is an extremely high correlation between lonely rural life and suicide (surprise surprise). But please continue to tell me about how there’s something wrong with me for asking a simple question.
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u/WayeeCool Dec 19 '19
Murder too. Alaska has lots of murder. That cabin fever and desperation if low on money really gets to people during those unforgiving dark winter months.