Nachtwey, Opioids, Time Magazine

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Heartbreaking. The addicts are caught between corporations that wanted more users and criminal justice system. All addictions are a medical problem, not a criminal problem. There's a lot of money to be made between Big Pharma and the Prison Industrial Complex. It's beyond sad. Here in California, we're spending more than $40K per inmate per year while social service, our school system, and California higher Ed are facing cuts. Ugh.

 

[summicron1]

Sorry, i got a bit carried away.
My main point was.....Drugs and Crime have been hand in glove for A Long Time. In the 1920's it was alcohol. There was a "Crisis" with crime and alcohol.
Right now "Opioids" are the Gluten Free buzzwords of the news media. Drugs and Addiction have always been with us and always will be.
How society deals with it is The Real Epidemic

mr moore -- my wife worked as an addictions counselor for 18 years so I speak with some authority when I say that you don't know what you are talking about.

i suggest you put more effort into learning before forming and voicing opinions.

ct

 

[CMoore]

mr moore -- my wife worked as an addictions counselor for 18 years so I speak with some authority when I say that you don't know what you are talking about.

i suggest you put more effort into learning before forming and voicing opinions.

ct

I am a narcotics addict.
My brother was DEA for 35 years.
My daughter is married into a family of Vice and DEA cops.
I can assure you mrsummicron, it is you and your wife that are quite confused.
good luck

 

[macfred]

I am a male nurse for about 40 years (worked in a palliative care ward / hospice for more than10 years and now working with -multi-morbid- patients, suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
A large proportion of these patients suffering chronic (or acute) pains.
The supply with medicines from the group of opioids -with supervision of a medical practitioner- often leads to an enhanced quality of life for the affected persons.
One should not demonize such targeted therapies in principle, provided that those are for the benefit of patients.

We can’t add days to our patient’s life, but we can add life to their days.
C. Saunders

 

[Old_Dick]

Cmoore & macfred,

+1

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Here's another sobering reality of opioid deaths. It's a drain on government budgets. But the video that shows mechanisms of addiction to me, shows that is a medical problem. Not a problem that's solved with prisons.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article202540669.html

 

[jtk]

 

[jtk]

Above, a famous studio photo by Max Waldman ... actors from Peter Brook's film Marat Sade ... most of Waldman's images are far more wrenching than this one...I think they were inspired by Richard Avedon's Minox photos within the insane asylum that held his sister.

Waldman shot this with 2475 Recording film that was processed to display the grain. Most of Waldman's fame has been with dance (ballet etc) photos.

 

[CMoore]

I posses neither the Studio/Lighting skills nor the creative ability to manufacture a frame like that.
You say there are more./.....will have to take a look.
Stunning beauty.
No reason i Would Know, but .....i did not know Avedon had a family member in that situation. My ex-wife (god bless her) and our son are both Schizophrenic. Not saying his sister was, just that i lrealize the crushing weight of mental health issues.

 

[macfred]

An interesting essay about Avedon's photographs from the East Louisiana State Mental Hospital in Jackson, Louisiana :

http://photostoots.com/richard-avedon/

 

[jtk]

I posses neither the Studio/Lighting skills nor the creative ability to manufacture a frame like that.
You say there are more./.....will have to take a look.
Stunning beauty.
No reason i Would Know, but .....i did not know Avedon had a family member in that situation. My ex-wife (god bless her) and our son are both Schizophrenic. Not saying his sister was, just that i lrealize the crushing weight of mental health issues.

Waldman shot this and the other Marat Sade cast photos using very simple TUNGSTEN light and 2475 Recording film processed per Kodak. 2475 could be pushed to around 2400ei... however I think he rated at 800ei and DK50 to retain sharpest grain. I'd have shot a boatload of 2475 if Kodak hadn't "moved ahead"...no subsequent fast B&W came close to this beauty, tho one of Fuji's very fast color negative press films (also abandoned) looked similar when converted to B&W in post-processing. NIK Silver Efex does a decent job simulating this look , interpreting the C41 dye blobs as grain.

I think Waldman photographed Peter Weiss's Marat Sade stage actors after midnight at his nearby studio...he didn't have fancy light...this was before the Peter Brook film, whose characters look a lot like Avedon's, seen in the new "Nothing Personal" book. You can get videos via Amazon...the book became ultra rare, but has just been re-printed by Taschen at around $75. Out of my money range, sadly. Somebody stole my copy of the old book decades ago.

 

[Two23]

www.opioids.com/oxycodone/rushlimbaugh.html

jamesnachtwey.com/

Yes, there have been many, many famous people who've been addicted since Limbaugh was over 12 years ago. I've known two people who've died from opiate addiction, including the son of my barber who used to hide his fentanyl in his dad's barbershop. I advised my friend the barber to not allow this as he might get shot by other addicts coming for the drugs. I'm on my state's grand jury, and every three weeks we review 20-30 cases. Roughly two thirds of all the cases we review involve meth; that's our problem drug here. Last session 18 of 22 cases involved meth, including several robberies. Before meth we had a very low crime rate, but it's been rising since then. I ended up buying a small .380 pistol and obtained a permit to carry it, mostly when I'm out alone at night taking photos. Many of my friends have done the same. I was in Seattle twice last year, and was absolutely astounded at the hordes of addicts roaming the streets there, and the syringes and human feces on the walkways. San Francisco has to be many orders worse. I'm hoping my town doesn't become anything like them. I think we need a different approach to the problem.

James Nachtwey has been one of my favorite photographers through the years. I am fortunate enough to own a copy of his book, "Inferno." His photography never disappoints.


Kent in SD

Below photo: Chicago, taken with a Leica IIIc and Leica 50mm Elmar, HP5
(I placed a Subway gift card in the guy's shoe.)

 

[CMoore]

It's, unfortunately, nothing new.
Fifteen years ago, or so, a good friend (he plays bass) got a panic call from a big name Blues-Rock band. Both their keyboard and bass player were in Rehab for Heroin addiction. They were about to embark on a Europe/Asia tour. They needed some tour players.
The "chick singer" was also addicted, but they could not replace her or, they would have had to forfeit the contract....Bad Financial Move.
I epoxied Two Ounces of Heroin into two different (phony) reverb tanks of their Hiwatt and Dr Z guitar amps.....just to get the girl through the tour. She supposedly had a source for Methadone in France, but she would still need "help".
One of their road crew had to beat the reverb tanks with a 5 pound sledge to get at the dope.....which were wrapped in vacuum sealed bags and encased in Crisco.
I was telling my sister about it, and she was shocked.
THREE people in ONE band...??
I told her it was not like three out of five people in her office were addicted.....this is a Rock Band. Its a whole different world...like Hollywood. They live a faster and looser life.
Rock & Roll baby. The things people do.....

 

[jtk]

jamesnachtwey.com

Time Magazine assigned him to photograph "the opoid crisis" much the way he'd photograph a war zone. Good idea, who better.

Can't find that issue locally so will try to order online.

 

[jtk]

I found a copy at my gym...and stole it.

Time Opioid Diaries March 5, 2018

Not a coffee table magazine. Very hard edged. Exceptionally well written. Scary to see.

Only 2 ads, one for Time and the other (back cover) for SimpliSafe.

Can't find a link to a free version but here's another of Nachtwey's ...amazing story....about 9/11

http://time.com/3528699/revisiting-911-unpublished-photos-by-james-nachtwey/