> And the problem is the people that are dying of heroin aren't the Silicon Valley tech workers with good jobs and homes that make up the majority of hacker news. They're people living in shithole towns like my hometown.

First problem - assuming I'm in SV or other high tech areas. I'm not. I'm in south Indiana. By definition, it's a flyover state at best. BTW, most of Indiana is "shithole towns". Thanks for playing.

> The jobs left decades ago and people are just scraping by. They don't have enough savings to pack up and leave.

That's most of the USA, except for the sweet money in those big city coastal areas. Mining is done gone. Manufacture is gone - where it has come back, is 95%+ automated. IT work is menial tier 1 call center jobs, if you can find them. Trucking is still prevalent, but we all know where that's headed.

There's service jobs. That's what those sweet sweet '60s, '70s, and '80s jobs turned in to. Work your ass off for what, $8/hr? Or maybe you're "lucky" and got a $2.35/hr server job. Or maybe you work healthcare service. Oh, so you're an in-home-health aide? You physically help people with many tasks to be functional? Well, you're worth $7.35/hr . And you get to drive to and fro clients houses. And they will want you to drive them places... That's commercial driving so you're driving uninsured. Enjoy those sweet benefits.

> I've got friends and family dying because it's way too accessible, and the idea of making it legal and even more accessible doesn't appeal to me or my common sense.

Uh huh, like illegalization has made it impossible to get. Oh, that's right. That's why heroin is being cut with all sorts of shit, including fentanyl, strychnine, and other fun things. Many heroin users die cause their supply has been fucked with.

Legalizing it would provide a pure source, and accurate dosage. And it deprives criminal enterprises from capitalizing on these people. And people who are suffering real chronic pain can get their pain fix without dealing with a damned moralistic gatekeeper.

> So congrats on being able to take opiates and not have a problem. If you have stable employment, your situation is in no way relevant to the people this problem is afflicting.

More ass-umptions. I got in a nasty bike accident while working at starbucks. They put me on unpaid medical leave. Job didn't pay well to begin with, and their insurance ended up covering none of my physical therapy. Great insurance it wasn't. I was soon laid off for not being able to do the job. So yeah, I did over a year of opiates, while being unemployed and unemployable. Just blows your narrative all to hell, doesn't it?

> Addicts don't have a chance to just up and get a happier life.

Did it occur to you, that drugs provide a temporary "happier life"? Our society sure as hell isn't interested in fixing these chronic problems of homelessness, lack of food, poverty. They're still thrown away - out of sight, out of mind. Or, it's their problem for being lazy or laggard or making bad choices or getting the wrong degree or joining the military.

So yeah, if we're not willing to start providing ways up for these people, then yeah, provide drugs. It at least provides a snapshot of "not suffering", albeit for a while.