The Rural Poverty Megathread -- "Too Poor to Afford Guns and Religion"

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Rural Poverty Megathread -- "Too Poor to Afford Guns and Religion"

Crow Jane: Oct 18, 2012; nothin' wrong with a lady drinkin' alone in her room

It's worth noting that cities also simply have more addiction resources than most rural areas do. Where I am, you can walk into any pharmacy and buy naloxone, no questions asked, which has apparently already had a noticeable positive effect, but sadly isn't as viable in a place where the nearest pharmacy is over an hour away and Republicans are in office. There are a lot of hospitals, emergency response time tends to be pretty quick, and there are plenty of counseling services, methadone clinics, aa/na groups, etc. That simply isn't true for non-urban areas a lot of the time.

That's not to say opiates aren't a problem here, because they absolutely are. But like a lot of things, it kinda comes down to infrastructure.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2017 02:37

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# ¿ May 19, 2024 09:56

Crow Jane: Oct 18, 2012; nothin' wrong with a lady drinkin' alone in her room

If we're talking an overdose situation, though, any distance is going to be potentially fatal, especially if we're comparing it to being able to literally run to the end of the block to get what you need. Whether we're talking a fifteen minute drive or an hour one, that's critical time being wasted, to say nothing of the possible addition of impaired driving into the mix

# ¿ Jul 6, 2017 04:55

Crow Jane: Oct 18, 2012; nothin' wrong with a lady drinkin' alone in her room

glowing-fish posted:

I mean, I know there is a lot of rural area outside of Jefferson, and there are places in the county where someone can be a dangerous distance from a pharmacy, but I feel that with much in this thread, people are moving the goalposts to fit the narrative. Not being able to visit every town in the United States, I am trying to fit together what facts I can from objective sources.

The narrative is that this town doesn't have access to health care. The facts don't fit that.

There might be a lot of reasons why people have opiate problems, including legal/social barriers to seeking help, I don't know what the laws are in Ohio about Naloxone. But the city has two pharmacies. If it was legally and culturally feasible, there is access to life saving drugs.

I mean, is your point that people in Portland, Oregon don't overdose because there is literally a pharmacy on every corner and that everyone in Portland is only a two minute run from a syringe of naloxone? I mean, if that was true, I would probably have at least one friend still alive.

Good lord, I'm not saying no one in Portland overdoses. And I stated that opiate abuse is a problem in my (non-Portland) city as well. I'm saying most cities have more infrastructure in place to deal with addiction than small towns or rural areas do, whether we're talking emergency services or na meetings. Access to Naloxone is great, but it takes a hell of a lot more than that to actually treat addiction, and those resources simply aren't present in a lot of places.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2017 05:38

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