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I'm out of WV where we have been especially hit hard by the "opioid epidemic". At first I took little notice when the focus was on pills. Now those are heavily regulated and the addicts have moved on to the much more powerful and easy to obtain Fentnyl and heroin. So now, at least in my hometown there is a needle problem. So most urban abandonments I now avoid due to the large amount of needles. Empty beer bottles, etc. never bothered me but the needles are a different story.
Have you guys noticed changes to our hobby related to the opioid epidemic?
Everyone has a dark side, mines just a little more illuminated. |
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Round here in MN we dont have it that bad, in abandonments there really arent that many needles, but if you walk around in certain parts of town (Over North) you start to see more in abandonments and on the streets. Since i am new to the hobby i have not noticed a change, its always been that way whilst ive been exploring, see needle, avoid needle.
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I've noticed some needles in abandonments, some used, some not. I've also come across some unopend medication that addicts would LOVE to get their hands on. In East Texas, I've seen some stuff that makes me think some addicts resided there. East Texas has a pretty bad meth problem, and I always try to carry a bit of pepper spray when exploring out there.
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In Northern California it's gone in waves I feel like. For a really long time meth was the big thing I'd see. Which was a change from my childhood days when it was needles (for the 90s heroin phase). Now it's both. I will say however, that needles don't get left around the way they used to here which I've assumed is a result of needle exchange programs. Whatever you might feel on those, if it is the reason behind fewer needles lying around I'm good with that - users are gonna use but I don't want to have to navigate their left behind needles and if they're not left behind because of exchanging I'm good with that.
Stealth: adj. designed in accordance with technology that makes detection difficult. Wraith: n. A wisp or faint trace of something |
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In central Wisconsin, it's actually the rural areas that have been hit the hardest. While I have seen methheads downtown and once found an abandonment with what looked like a hookah den, needles haven't really been an issue for me. But if you go out into the rural areas, it's not needles that you need to worry about- it's meth labs. Just north of where I grew up is a little town called Merrill, which is basically the meth capitol of the entire Midwest, thanks to a massive dealer ring based out of Merrill that stretched from MSP to Chicago before it got busted. I have friends from the area who have plenty of stories of finding old meth labs just walking in the woods.
"Sorry, I didn't know I'm not supposed to be here," he said, knowing full well he wasn't supposed to be there. |
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Posted by Turd Furgusen I'm out of WV where we have been especially hit hard by the "opioid epidemic". At first I took little notice when the focus was on pills. Now those are heavily regulated and the addicts have moved on to the much more powerful and easy to obtain Fentnyl and heroin. So now, at least in my hometown there is a needle problem. So most urban abandonments I now avoid due to the large amount of needles. Empty beer bottles, etc. never bothered me but the needles are a different story.
Have you guys noticed changes to our hobby related to the opioid epidemic?
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it's this epidemic has hit Northern New York and Vermont hard as well... it's truly out of hand. One of my close friends' sister died from a fentanyl/ocycontin overdose. My friend from high school, Christie, overdosed on heroin after she couldn't get oxys anymore. it's everywhere... as a result, you really don't travel into abandoned areas unless you want your car window ransacked, or held up for money. this shit has really changed life here... Just last August, my neighbor down the road in this quiet little neighborhood got busted for trafficking heroin, crack, pills, patches and the odd package of coke here and there... three houses down.
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Oh yeah! I live in the greater Vancouver area and the Opioid crisis is super heavy here to the point where I was out scoping out cool abandonment's on one of the main streets a few months ago and we found a dead guy in an alley who had clearly overdosed. I now stay away from buildings located too close to the city because usually there are squatters and things like that. Which sucks because I really like the Adrenalin of exploring places in the city.
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So it's not just me I guess.
Everyone has a dark side, mines just a little more illuminated. |
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I find a crap ton of needles in the woods. It's really sad.
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British Columbia has also been hit really hard. I haven't seen much around where I am at on Vancouver Island, but I know that it is around.
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I have some rather misanthropic opinions about the "opioid epidemic" which I'm not going to share. I will share my own experience. My doctor cut me off on hydrocodone for my back problem 2 years ago, I'm making the last prescription for htdrocodone last as long possible by only taking it when it's absolutely necessary. I'm down to 7 pills out of a bottle of 100 that I got 2 years ago. I doubt that I would resort to street drugs when my supply is ultimately exhausted. My observation about discarded needles out in the world is basically "meh". I had briefly dated an epidemiologist and she said that viruses like the HIV virus are quite frail and doen't last very long outside of the body. Bacterial spores present the greatest risk, but most are easily treated with antibiotics.
In order to use your head, you have to go out of your mind. |
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I've noticed some needles in the more populated areas around where I live, mostly in drains/abandoned buildings, but there are definitely less than there was in the early 2000's and late 90's. I got one major scare in 2009 when a broken needle got stuck in the bottom of my shoe, but luckily it was not long enough to even poke through; after I got home that night I ordered some steel-toed shoes which make me feel a lot more secure. I was pretty young though, so I had to convince my mom that they were for working outside, ha ha. I think the major issue I've seen is that some of the homeless people in the area just throw them in the dirt along the sidewalks/bike trails. The City isn't doing much about it now, but I'm sure they would if a kid got poked by one.
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That and tetanus. Most the time I know to watch for needles is because I see the little orange caps littered on the ground. Saw a bunch of them on a trail and then there was a disgusting rusty needle laying there. Wasn't even a seedy area. It was a suburban trail that people use as a short cut to a library and some shops.
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I mean you don't have to avoid them entirely, it's a perfect opportunity to play urbex russian roulette; step on a couple and see if you pick up any cool diseases. Get a few buddies together and place some bets!
Are we living a life that is safe from harm? Of course not, we never are. But that's not the right question. The question is, are we living a life that is worth the harm? |
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Posted by Radio2600 I have some rather misanthropic opinions about the "opioid epidemic" which I'm not going to share. I will share my own experience. My doctor cut me off on hydrocodone for my back problem 2 years ago, I'm making the last prescription for htdrocodone last as long possible by only taking it when it's absolutely necessary. I'm down to 7 pills out of a bottle of 100 that I got 2 years ago. I doubt that I would resort to street drugs when my supply is ultimately exhausted. My observation about discarded needles out in the world is basically "meh". I had briefly dated an epidemiologist and she said that viruses like the HIV virus are quite frail and doen't last very long outside of the body. Bacterial spores present the greatest risk, but most are easily treated with antibiotics.
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Spot on. Hep C can last a week out of the body so it s a real danger with these needles. HIV dies almost instantly.
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Needles have always been a big problem here where I am. (Opioid OD capital of the country.) Lately though the issue is people getting exposed to harder stuff and ungodly chemical cocktails of fentanyl and who knows what else. Just within the past few months a couple local jails have gone into emergency shutdowns several times because officers got exposed to things while booking people in and fell sick/needed narcan revival.
Take nothing less than photos and memories, leave nothing more than footsteps. ~GemCityHippie |
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lately i've been working on a biggish art project focusing on abandoned houses. maybe it's that particular theme, but i see more needles these days than i ever have before. sadly, we have even lost a few explorers due to the opioid epidemic.
[last edit 4/22/2018 1:50 PM by fiftyone_eggs - edited 1 times]
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I can attest to the seriousness of the opiod problem here in BC. The other day there were 5 ODs in the span of 12 hours here in Victoria. On another day there were two in the span of an hour. There was a homeless guy who ODed outside of my work. A couple of civilians did CPR on him and security revived him with an AED. He was taken away by ambulance. Then he comes back a few hours later and sets up camp in the same place. A lot of people were giving him the stink eye. Addendum: One more thing I wanted to add. There is some asshole around here that has been taping uncapped needles to underneath handrails in stairwells and parking garages. Something to look out for when exploring abandonments.
[last edit 5/1/2018 7:38 PM by GearheadExplorer85 - edited 2 times]
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San Francisco is horrible. People laying out in the streets and on MUNI platforms. Some are violent too. Watched someone take a shit one day. That was great
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Posted by RescueMe1060 San Francisco is horrible. People laying out in the streets and on MUNI platforms. Some are violent too. Watched someone take a shit one day. That was great
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Is it just localized around the downtown core, or does it happen outside at places like Larkspur and Sausalito as well?
You're not in a brothel lineup. You're in a two way business discussion. |