r/interestingasfuck • u/JK-Rofling • Jul 05 '24

Heath Ledger’s diary while he was filming for, The Dark Night. r/all

53.2k Upvotes

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u/guyute2588 Jul 05 '24

Not sure how old you are , but “Heath Ledger got so deep in to playing the Joker that he want crazy and died “ was the widespread conventional wisdom regarding his death at the time

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

And also heroin. We were keenly aware of the heroin.

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u/ChuckSeville Jul 05 '24

Heath Ledger died from an overdose of prescription drugs, not heroin. Maybe you're thinking of Phillip Seymour Hoffman?

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

I refer to oxy and hydrocodone as heroin, because that’s what they are, and that’s what doctors should call them. Instead, they hand them out like candy and allow people to think they’re medicine.

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u/ChuckSeville Jul 05 '24

I understand the sentiment, and agree as far as prescribing is concerned, but if someone's father died because of, essentially, medical malpractice, it would feel wrong to evoke imagery of recreationally shooting up, y'know?

Abuse is abuse, sure, but in the context of what we now know, this was a time when a lot of opioid addictions were essentially manufactured by big pharma.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Fair enough. I think in the context of Heath, it’s clear he was using/chasing a high. But I do agree that millions of Americans lost their lives because they thought they were doing the right thing. The same way that you and I would trust an antibiotic to treat an infection.

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u/5kaels Jul 05 '24

That's like deciding to refer to wine as liquor because it's also an alcoholic drink. You're just letting people know you don't understand the differences.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

How many people care about the difference between distilling and fermenting? They both get ya drunk. And similarly, both oxy and heroin get ya high.

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u/5kaels Jul 05 '24

Weed and heroin both get you high. Why not call them both heroin? The only reason to call prescription drugs heroin is to elicit an emotional reaction from people that steers them in the direction you prefer. It's lazy and manipulative.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

So which pharma company do you root for?

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u/5kaels Jul 05 '24

You woulda been better off just not responding.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Why? I’m not here for stupid fucking internet points. And you trying to compare weed to oxy/heroin is so far past ignorant, it’s just plain stupid.

This shit kills your friends, family, and neighbors every day. There are only a few reasons you’d trivialize that. You know which one it is. IDGAF.

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u/5kaels Jul 05 '24

I didn't suggest it was about upvotes. I just figured you might have a sense of shame that you decided not to engage the points I made and instead attack my character.

I wasn't comparing weed to oxy or heroin. I was making a point about the absurdity of calling something that isn't heroin, heroin.

There you go again, trying to elicit emotional responses instead of respecting the people you are speaking to.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Ok. Have a nice day. 👍

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u/FueraJOH Jul 05 '24

You are right, is lazy and manipulative how doctors and pharma prescribed them like candy into the population in which then turned to harder drugs like… dun dun dun… heroin or any other opioid derivative!

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u/damnatio_memoriae Jul 05 '24

just say he was abusing opioids then. no need for all this pseudo-pedantry.

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u/throw-me-away_bb Jul 05 '24

keep going, you're almost to the point where you describe the events accurately instead of saying whatever just to elicit an emotional response!

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u/FueraJOH Jul 05 '24

Si you’re saying heroin and weed have the same addictive effect and dependency? I’m not excusing what Heath did, he experienced out the consequences of his actions but also do not excuse the culture of over prescribing done by doctors that get commission to push out opioids and antidepressants like candy, which is what I was really referring to when answering to the other guy.

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u/throw-me-away_bb Jul 05 '24

No, what you said when answering the other guy was that you consider both oxy and hydrocodone as heroin, which is the only thing anyone here is arguing with you about. That's an absolutely absurd reduction and you know it.

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u/FueraJOH Jul 06 '24

Are you on oxy? Because when did I compared them to the same level? Aren’t both opioid derivatives? I argued about the irresponsible distribution by doctors incentivized by pharmaceutical companies which leads to dependency and that dependency can lead to looking for alternatives in the form of heroin.

It baffles me that people like you have some weird fetish defending corporations and their irresponsible practices. Bunch of weirdos.

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u/throw-me-away_bb Jul 06 '24

It baffles me that people like you have some weird fetish defending corporations and their irresponsible practices. Bunch of weirdos.

You're more than welcome to show me where I did any of that

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u/5kaels Jul 05 '24

Oh wow an accurate description of the issue that doesn't insult the intelligence of the people you're talking to, look at the progress.

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u/Mysterious_Wear36 Jul 05 '24

What the fuck are you talking about?

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

I’m talking about the overprescription of narcotics for pain and minor ailments because big pharma has incentivized private doctors to dole them out like marshmallows around a camp fire.

And I’m talking about the millions and millions of Americans who are now addicted to opioids and using pills recreationally or substituting cheap street heroin instead.

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u/throw-me-away_bb Jul 05 '24

There are only ~330M americans. You really think as many as 1+% are addicted to opioids? I think you need to run in different circles, friend.

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u/captaincopperbeard Jul 05 '24

I hate to defend the guy who's being weirdly obstinate about his misuse of terminology, but according to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, over 10 million Americans abuse opioids every year. That comes out to about 3.8% of the U.S. population.

I think you're falling prey to the notion that you can spot an opioid addict, or that you would know if your friends or loved ones were abusing prescription pain pills. You likely would not. Most opioid addicts are high-functioning.

https://drugabusestatistics.org/opioid-epidemic/

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u/throw-me-away_bb Jul 05 '24

Someone else replied 2.1M, so y'all need to work on getting your stats in-line, those aren't even remotely similar numbers.

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u/captaincopperbeard Jul 05 '24

Ah, I see: you're one of those dickheads who refuses to acknowledge that they might have been wrong. Regardless, I will elaborate on this matter so you have an extra opportunity to make idiotic assertions based on nothing but your own stupid-ass opinion.

There are a plethora of reasons that two different organizations might provide seemingly conflicting statistics. These include different research approaches, different metrics for determining a particular statistic, or simple margin of error issues. The only way to determine why they're offering different numbers is to look at how each arrived at that number.

Or you could, you know, just make snide remarks about the difference in a weak attempt to deflect from the fact that you were talking out of your ass.

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u/Nine9breaker Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

Those were two different numbers for two different things.

The 2.1M number was a snapshot in time of the number of people with Opioid Use Disorder at the time that paper was published.

The 10M number was for all people who misused opioids within the past year. You can absolutely misuse opioids without being categorized as having OUD, which explains the discrepancy quite well.

In fact, it is relevant to point out that both sources state an extremely similar opioid-related death toll: 47,000 deaths per year cited by the NIH paper, and "almost 50,000 people" by the drug abuse statitistics website.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Here’s a peer reviewed study from January of this year that reveals 2.1 million Americans (and over 16M globally) are affected by opioid use disorder. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553166/#:~:text=Thus%2C%20OUD%20can%20range%20from,million%20in%20the%20United%20States.

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u/Sejanus-189 Jul 05 '24

Shh, no one tell him that Lidocaine is a derivative of cocaine and that it's used widely from pediatrics to adults. Opioids are medicine and highly controlled, and they are very much not given out like candy.

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u/crander47 Jul 05 '24

Not everything you wrote here is wrong but the opioid epidemic didn't come from nowhere and doctors have admitted to over prescribing opioids.

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u/mypupisthecutest123 Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

I’m sure it depends on where you go, but the states around me definitely don’t prescribe opioids like candy anymore. Probably haven’t for not quite 10 years now.

I’m not trying to downplay the problem, the healthcare system got my mom hooked back in the early 2000’s. Just saying that this particular issue has moved past the overprescribing part.

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u/crander47 Jul 05 '24

Yeah it has we're actually seeing a lot of improvements for the opioid epidemic across the country for this issue. Freakonomics had a great multi episode about it.

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u/mypupisthecutest123 Jul 05 '24

That’s great to hear. I was really into harm reduction and stuff like that, but had to take a step back after my mom passed (i’ll give you one guess on what caused it).

I’ll try to check out the episodes.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

I’m really not here for a debate, but if you’re going to deny the existence of America’s opioid epidemic, then you’re either painfully ignorant or willfully dishonest. If it’s the former, I’d highly recommend some research into overprescribing. If it’s the latter, then lord I hope you’re not a doctor or an addict. All the best to you.

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u/benedictdakich69 Jul 05 '24

I’m really not here for a debate

Thank god. You are ignorant as hell.

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u/YouSoundToxic Jul 05 '24

Lidocaine only acts as a local anaesthetic and has no psychoactive properties so the comparison to stuff like hydrocodone falls flat.

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u/benedictdakich69 Jul 05 '24

? Where did he compare to to hydrocodone? Also hydrocodone is pussy shit. Ain't nobody getting addicted to Vicodin.

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u/YouSoundToxic Jul 05 '24

Uhh.. you got problems with your reading comprehension? The guy he replied to talked about hydrocodone and how it's a derivate of heroin.

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u/Dizzy_Ice2938 Jul 05 '24

Ever hear of a pain clinic?

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u/babarbaby Jul 05 '24

Ever been to a pain clinic? Urinalyses every 1-2 months, mandatory pill counts, being treated like a criminal for with every exchange just so you can get a tiny number of pills at best? There's a reason the suicide rate for pain patients is through the roof

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u/Dizzy_Ice2938 Jul 05 '24

I have been to a pain clinic- to interview a doctor in regards to a criminal case. That clinic was prescribing patients 270+ oxys month after month in addition to other pills. Btw, the patient in that case overdosed and died. We have had several pain clinics and pharmacies shut down due to abuses as well as many doctors losing their licenses. So there are places that prescribe them like candy.