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The 21st Amendment to the US Constitution prevents the Federal Government from banning alcohol.
It's solely up to the states to handle it.
Well, I acknowledge it starts at the state level but I doubt a majority of states will ratify any local laws anytime soon. It's interesting that the CDC estimates that 1/3 of Americans suffer with chronic pain like my friend---that's over 100 million Americans---and yet they have no lobby and no voice to speak on their behalf. So they pop NSAID's and drink liquor to kill the pain and die horrible deaths from liver and kidney failure and gastrointestinal bleeding. And in much greater numbers than opiate deaths. Go figure. It doesn't make a bit of sense to me. It also doesn't explain why the DEA is pushing to make prescription opiates disappear in this country. And they will succeed, mark my words.
There are patients with chronic pain who use low-dose opioids wisely as needed and don't get addicted. I know people like that. And yes, I know what NSAIDs can do to the digestive system if used often (in some cases if used at all). After some serious year-long digestive problems, my GI doctor treated me and told me not to use NSAIDs on a daily basis, and avoid them as much as possible. Now they're looking into what NSAIDs might cause as far as bone health...it is suggested that they can interfere with reproduction of new bone-building cells. I have very low bone density already. What's left, other than NSAIDs? Opiods and Tylenol. Tylenol, of course, can't be used frequently for another problem: it can cause liver damage. I take a supplement called Curamin (Turmeric & Boswellia), but it helps very little for my back pain and arthritis pain. I take Glucosamine Chondroitin...don't even notice it helping at all. I rarely ever touch alcohol...I know too many people whose lives were ruined by over-use or alcoholism. I know the medical researchers are looking for new pain-killers, but that could take decades, if they ever produce anything less problematic. Pain already limits my activities...can only get worse at my age.
Everything you say is true, Lee, and it only heightens the mystery over why the DEA is banning these meds and why it is being allowed to ban these meds in light of all the stats I mentioned in my OP.
I can say this with confidence: our nation is getting older every day and every day a new batch of oldsters enters the realm of chronic pain. Many will be able to control it with alcohol and ibuprofen but many more will not. What will they do? They basically have three choices, none of them good:
1. turn to the streets and risk getting arrested and sent to prison
2. turn to the Internet and risk getting arrested and sent to prison
3. suicide and risk not completing it
Judging by how fast this thread is sinking I can see nobody is interested in the topic so apparently nobody suffers from pain around here. They're fortunate.
The answer is marijuana legalization at the federal level. Probably won't happen though because pharmaceutical companies won't make money.
But they're losing even more money by not fighting the DEA in this prohibition on allowing doctors and pharmacies to freely prescribe/dispense opiate painkillers, a proven gargantuan money-maker for them. How do you explain their action on keeping marijuana illegal and their complete inaction on opiates?
It's interesting that every time I ask "WHY?" everything goes silent.
But they're losing even more money by not fighting the DEA in this prohibition on allowing doctors and pharmacies to freely prescribe/dispense opiate painkillers, a proven gargantuan money-maker for them. How do you explain their action on keeping marijuana illegal and their complete inaction on opiates?
It's interesting that every time I ask "WHY?" everything goes silent.
I guess that is because you ignore certain answers, like this one I gave in a different forum thread that you had posted in:
A study was done to see how much money the government spends each year on Medicare prescriptions, state by state. It compared the cost of prescriptions before and after a state legalized. The cost drops by hundreds of millions per year in every state that legalizes. If medical marijuana were available nationwide, and doctors were over the hump and actually prescribing it, the loss in sales to Big Pharma would be in the $Billions every year. Forever. It's a forever issue for them because it is a natural plant that works best in its natural form and anyone can grow it. That is a MUCH bigger long-term threat to them than a temporary war against opioids. I say temporary because as soon as this opioid issue falls out of the political and media spotlight that war will silently end, even if it's years from now, but marijuana will continue to grow as a threat (pardon the pun).
I guess that is because you ignore certain answers, like this one I gave in a different forum thread that you had posted in:
A study was done to see how much money the government spends each year on Medicare prescriptions, state by state. It compared the cost of prescriptions before and after a state legalized. The cost drops by hundreds of millions per year in every state that legalizes. If medical marijuana were available nationwide, and doctors were over the hump and actually prescribing it, the loss in sales to Big Pharma would be in the $Billions every year. Forever. It's a forever issue for them because it is a natural plant that works best in its natural form and anyone can grow it. That is a MUCH bigger long-term threat to them than a temporary war against opioids. I say temporary because as soon as this opioid issue falls out of the political and media spotlight that war will silently end, even if it's years from now, but marijuana will continue to grow as a threat (pardon the pun).
I apologize if I missed your post in another thread. Often I cannot answer every reply and I miss a few as well. But let me take this one point by point and offer my thoughts. Overall I don't think MJ is a viable alternative to opiate pinkillers.
Quote:
A study was done to see how much money the government spends each year on Medicare prescriptions, state by state. It compared the cost of prescriptions before and after a state legalized. The cost drops by hundreds of millions per year in every state that legalizes.
This is fuzzy. In the first sentence I presume you mean all prescriptions in general. In the second sentence I presume you mean after a state legalized MJ. Third sentence, the cost of what dropped by hundreds of millions???
Quote:
If medical marijuana were available nationwide, and doctors were over the hump and actually prescribing it, [b]the loss in sales to Big Pharma would be in the $Billions every year.
Again, loss in sales of what?? Are we talking opiates here or all drugs in general?
Quote:
It's a forever issue for them because it is a natural plant that works best in its natural form and anyone can grow it. That is a MUCH bigger long-term threat to them than a temporary war against opioids.
I think the loss of opiates is a much bigger loss to Big Pharma. The best MJ advocates can hope for is what happened in Obama's administration. Holden relaxed prosecutions but Obama made no attempts to legalize MJ. I don't think there is a nationwide consensus to legalize it nationally.
Quote:
I say temporary because as soon as this opioid issue falls out of the political and media spotlight that war will silently end, even if it's years from now, but marijuana will continue to grow as a threat (pardon the pun)
I think you missed the point of my OP. There is a hidden agenda to keep opiates from being prescribed. That is what I cannot figure out. WHY is the DEA pursuing this agenda????? It makes no sense. This hidden agenda in the guise of trying to protect a few dopeheads will likely never go away. If narcotics were as easy to make as alcohol--in the same way booze was so easy to make during Prohibition--you might be right: this war on drugs might fizzle. But because opiates are so difficult to make people cannot circumvent FDA laws and DEA enforcement, and so the war will go on and Dr's will continue to be threatened if they prescribe.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 02-16-2018 at 09:58 PM..
I think the Dems are legalizing marijuana in order to collect taxes from it. But first they have to get opiods out of the way. In those states where medical or recreational MJ is still illegal, the pressure from pain patients will push state legislatures to legalize.
I apologize if I missed your post in another thread. Often I cannot answer every reply and I miss a few as well. But let me take this one point by point and offer my thoughts. Overall I don't think MJ is a viable alternative to opiate pinkillers.
This is fuzzy. In the first sentence I presume you mean all prescriptions in general. In the second sentence I presume you mean after a state legalized MJ. Third sentence, the cost of what dropped by hundreds of millions???
Again, loss in sales of what?? Are we talking opiates here or all drugs in general?
I think the loss of opiates is a much bigger loss to Big Pharma. The best MJ advocates can hope for is what happened in Obama's administration. Holden relaxed prosecutions but Obama made no attempts to legalize MJ. I don't think there is a nationwide consensus to legalize it nationally.
I think you missed the point of my OP. There is a hidden agenda to keep opiates from being prescribed. That is what I cannot figure out. WHY is the DEA pursuing this agenda????? It makes no sense. This hidden agenda in the guise of trying to protect a few dopeheads will likely never go away. If narcotics were as easy to make as alcohol--in the same way booze was so easy to make during Prohibition--you might be right. This war on drugs might fizzle. But because opiates are so difficult to make people cannot circumvent FDA laws and DEA enforcement, and so the war will go on and Dr's will continue to be threatened if they prescribe.
The government is not pushing to ban pain meds from regular people because they care about addicts. Addicts can actually function if they have their meds for long periods of time. It's about control. People are easier to control if they're curled up in pain.
The elites will still be able to get pain meds when they need/want them. They just want to demonize drugs while banning them from the regular folks. Why should the elites care if people worth less than they view themselves are in pain?
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