14. "The Wisdom of Rats"
It is #InternationalOverdoseAwareness Day.
Rat Experiment In the 70s, #BruceAlexander proved rats alone in a cage, offered two water bottles - one just water - the other with heroin - repetitively drank from the drug-laced bottle until they all overdosed and died. Dr Alexander wondered: is this drug or could it be related to the setting? To test, he put rats in “rat parks,” among other rats, free to roam, play, socialize and have sex. Given the same 2 types of water bottles, when in rat park, they preferred the plain water. And if they did drink drug water, they did so intermittently, not obsessively, with NO overdoses. A #socialcommunity beat drugs.
The Safe Supply approach is #harmreduction - prescribing pharmaceutical #opioids to individuals at #riskofoverdose - a bit like #theapproachinPortugal. Safe Supply initiatives have begun in Canada. But like the decision to provide #methadone supply to people unable to go to daily clinic with #COVID19, it is a risk they had to take – but a potentially double-edged sword. Thursday next, we'll hear first data from these initiatives.#30 100MW.Org
It is #InternationalOverdoseAwareness Day.
Rat Experiment In the 70s, #BruceAlexander proved rats alone in a cage, offered two water bottles - one just water - the other with heroin - repetitively drank from the drug-laced bottle until they all overdosed and died. Dr Alexander wondered: is this drug or could it be related to the setting? To test, he put rats in “rat parks,” among other rats, free to roam, play, socialize and have sex. Given the same 2 types of water bottles, when in rat park, they preferred the plain water. And if they did drink drug water, they did so intermittently, not obsessively, with NO overdoses. A #socialcommunity beat drugs.
The Safe Supply approach is #harmreduction - prescribing pharmaceutical #opioids to individuals at #riskofoverdose - a bit like #theapproachinPortugal. Safe Supply initiatives have begun in Canada. But like the decision to provide #methadone supply to people unable to go to daily clinic with #COVID19, it is a risk they had to take – but a potentially double-edged sword. Thursday next, we'll hear first data from these initiatives.#30 100MW.Org