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Comment by ars | Hacker News Reader

Seems to me this is entirely due to a better economy. If you have a job and money, you don't need to escape your life via drugs.

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There can be other issues in life, such as interpersonal issues or stress reactivity that lead to addiction probably far more often than a lack of a job or money. See Michael Jackson, Prince, Demi Lovato, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Petty... the list is endless. Virtually anyone can become addicted if they try these drugs and are dealing with stress.

I think the more accurate common denominator of the people you listed above is past-peak career entertainers, not wealth

Agreed. Not that many drugs aren't inherently risky, but stress/despair/loss of purpose cuts across lines (pun intended) of wealth and is a guarantor of increased addiction potential.

I think the more accurate common denominator is "entertainer". Some of those were pretty damn popular when they died.

The issue is that drugs tend to be available and encouraged for rockers and actors.

Heroin, in particular, seems to have an unnatural appeal to guitarists and rockers and has claimed way more than it's fair share of them.

I really wish we would legalize some of these drugs even if we still keep them behind a prescription. Legalizing the drugs would certainly help as then the dosages would be controlled.

I don’t think this is a fair statement. Many of those listed were people suffering from physical injuries or mental health issues, making them more vulnerable. Prince started on opioids because of performance related injuries.

The economy has been getting better for close to a decade now, and we have seen the opioid use rate skyrocket during that time. If it was tied to the economy, why were those two trend lines moving in the same direction?

I think (without bothering to do any research to source my claim beyond my personal experience as a paramedic, and the sources available in the article) that the widespread availability of Naloxone (and other harm reduction based policies) are far more likely to be the cause of the decrease.

Or access to legal/medical marijuana. If you have a pain killer that is impossible/incredibly difficult to overdose on, you don't need to escape your pain via more dangerous drugs.

I'd guess it's a combination of many different factors.

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