

did anybody notice that the hundreds of thousands of deaths attributed to the opioid epidemic included heroin?
This is because of two main things, AFAIK.
-
The number of heroin and other opiate addicts that got that way because of prescription opioids. This is a period of time where a significant majority of opiate/opioid addicts started on legally prescribed pills, were kept on them too long and weren’t properly tapered off. Many then sought street versions of the drugs to avoid withdrawals and fell further into addiction.
-
Adulteration of other drugs. It has long been common to adulterate drugs by adding cheaper but stronger drugs and filler to the mix so that most users know something is happening but remain unaware they paid more for a mix of dubious efficacy. Incomplete mixing, higher tolerance to the advertised drug than the additive one, or are in some way compounding in the mixed drugs cause many more overdose deaths than those of known and consistent effects.
And when both aspects combine, it can prove to be a particularly deadly combo.




Because it’s economic philosophy concept, not necessarily a literal term. The German form of the term is about 100 years old refers to the form of capitalism that took root post-WWI; the English translation didn’t really take off until about 50 years ago and typically refers to capitalist forms that rose after WWII.