Binge Drinkers, Opiate Users, Tranq addiction, Sleeping Pills= Most Americans?

[nurider2002]

What a buzz kill

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by middle-aged mom

The typical heroin addict is male in his early 20’s and white.

He has unlikely ever held a steady job. He spent his teen years getting loaded.

While most who drink alcohol or smoke weed do not pursue harder substances, those who are addicted to opioids/ opiates, crystal meth, cocaine and byproducts typically began their journey with alcohol and/ or weed.

The younger the engagement the more likely, harder drugs will be pursued.

So you are writing off the entire opiate and other drug epidemics that have occurred in Appalachia, Ohio, Iowa and elsewhere? That middle-aged women are dying en masse to the point of even lowering the national mortality rate?

Tell you want. Read two books and then get back to me.
Methland (most Iowa, but everywhere also).
Dreamland - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U19DTS0...ng=UTF8&btkr=1

"You won’t find this story told better anywhere else, from the economic hollowing-out of the middle class to the greedy and reckless marketing of pharmaceutical opiates to the remarkable entrepreneurial industry of the residents of the obscure Mexican state of Nayarit . . . Dreamland--true crime, sociology, and exposé--illuminates a catastrophe unfolding all around us, right now."

Apparently you haven't heard about the Heroin Highway (southerners coming to florida pill mills and getting 100's of pills) and all the middle aged and older people dying en masse.

Read about a couple days in one midwest cities. I see a lot of 30-60 year olds in those words:
https://www.cincinnati.com/pages/int...ic-cincinnati/

[detshen]

Originally Posted by Caligula1

I really can not disagree with this.

I've on this very board have often told of my addiction to alcohol. I've also been to rebab more than a dozen times.. I'm not proud but I have to admit to it or die.

I have two very fulfilling jobs. One that is a great help to society in general, because there is not many that can actually do it or deal with the **** I do for 36 hours weekly. And another is a simple Produce Job that really isn't so simple also. But it is in the general scheme of things easy and simple.

I grew up in a family of highly functioning drunks. Unfortunately.. That functioning thing didn't quite work out so well for me after about 35.. My Uncles started getting me drunk at about 10..

Where was my Mother you may ask? Well out supporting me. Because after getting his ears blown out at a Base in SE Asia, after 2 tours my father came home and was killed in an industrial accident at Grumman's. A High pitch alarm sounded, he didn't hear it and ended up getting decapitated by a door on a jet.

I'm one of the ones that was really too damn chicken **** or smart, not honestly sure which is true, to not delve into any drugs besides pot and a bit of cocaine in the late 80's. Which to be honest I liked.

I've seen friends and a few family members die from opiate abuse. I also believe those were self induced, meaning they went out and bought street drugs..

Now for the rehab thing, I can not tell you how many older folks I've met in rehab. Grandmothers, perhaps even Great-Grandmothers in there suffering from addiction. Opiate addiction. All caused by big pharma..

Great Granny's that actually bought their **** from the streets after doctors cut them off eventually..
But as a doctor, how can one prescribe powerful addictive drugs to Granny's and suddenly cut them off..

For the take as prescribe crowd, Yeah that **** don't work.
Folks that only smoke 10 cigarettes a day still get addicted.

I'm certainly no saint in all this but nor am I a demon.
I openly admit my faults. I contribute to society both in tax dollars and over 3500 hours of volunteer hours within a three year period. Which, I stopped about a year ago due to it just being too damn tiring.

So everything is to blame and everyone. from Repubs to Dems to devil worshippers..
Too much Pharm, not enough real help for those in need. And of course the people themselves who succumb to the addictions and keep it going without actually trying to seek help.

The bolded should be criminal. Too many doctors are cutting their patients off of opioids becuase of the current "opiate crisis." You can't put a person on these strong meds then suddenly stop them, a person must be slowly weaned down or they will experience excruciating, horrible withdrawal symptoms that can last weeks. Most opioid addicts don't even get high, they have to take the drugs just to stay well enough to function. There are also people who truly need pain medication in order to have any quality of life. There were certainly doctors who overprescribed and criminal "pill mills" but patients in need are being hurt by these current guidelines on opioid use being decided upon by the government.

Substitution therapy using meds like suboxone can be very helpful in getting addicts off other drugs but it is very expensive and the use is limited, doctors have to go through special training and then they can only see a limited number of patients. They also make the patients jump through many hoops to be sure they aren't selling them. Honestly, so what if some sell them? They don't get don't get you high, people buy them because they want to get clean but can't afford the endless doctor's visits required.