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The opiate epidemic is VERY serious. We lose almost as many people every 2 weeks to overdoses as we lost on 9/11.
Its very complicated to fix, because some truly need them. I was personally "addicted" to oxycontin. I never wanted to be, never planned to be, and went to great lengths to get pain relief while turning down pain meds. When you have a condition that causes long term pain, the options can be limited. I finally decided to try oxycontin after telling my doc no for a while. It helped, dramatically, at first. Over the course of time, it became less effective. After 2 years and some episodes of waking up in the middle of the night gasping for air, I wanted to quit. Overdose deaths from opiates come from respiratory arrest. I didn't even use a high dose and refused offers from my doctor to increase my dosage multiple times.
For the idiots who think the addiction is the individuals fault, I couldn't care less about their fully uneducated ranting viewpoint. I took what my doc prescribed as a last ditch effort to lower pain from an autoimmune disorder after trying everything else, including injectable immune modifiers that cost insurance over $1500 a month for barely noticeable improvements. I was never advised about addiction, overdose possibilities, or the hell that withdrawal brings to someone trying to escape the opiate grip. For those who think they know better because they quit after the 20 pill prescription they got post surgery, just stop talking, you don't have a clue.
The body produces opiates naturally, but when medicating, the body stops producing it after an extended time medicating because it detects that there is plenty already available, so the body stops making its own. When you stop the drug, you are left with zero opiates in your system until your body begins to make them again, which can take days or weeks depending on what dosage and length of time a person used them. When you have zero opiates in your system, you cannot function in a useful way. Severe insomnia, nausea, fatigue, chills, cramps, etc. Thats not to mention the fact that the pain issue comes back on top of the withdrawal.
I quit when I left Texas and moved to Washington. I had tried unsuccessfully to quit twice before I left. I came to Washington with less than 2 weeks supply of pain pills from my TX doctor and was determined I would never get another rx for them. I broke the pills into smaller doses and did a step down, which helped lessen the withdrawal. On top of that, I started smoking weed at night to help with the nausea and insomnia. Weed doesn't work for everyone trying to quit, but it does help a lot of people and for me it got rid of the insomnia which was what I needed to be clear headed enough to push through the other withdrawal.
I use weed occasionally to help with pain and otherwise just live with it. Of course the know it all anti weed crusaders accuse me of making up my pain as an excuse to get high. Well stuff it where the sun doesn't shine, I don't need an excuse, I have my reason and have no need for your worthless approval.
The situation is real bad from what i understand and it definitely is of our own making. Laws and law enforcement/regulation will help some but the way this is going it may be with us for a long time to come.
We don't have the spine to solve this problem either.
Maybe doctors should stop prescribing powerful pain killers for mundane things.
Such as morphine for a slight headache.
I agree with you. And some people have the unrealistic expectation to have every discomfort relieved. Reference pharma commercials
I also think part of the problem was the Joint Commission designating pain as the "fifth vital sign." That was in 2001. Patient reports of pain elimination were part of a hospital's score. Anything below a arbitrary benchmark required the hospital to formulate an action plan in order to maintain optimal accreditation.
Some hospital's even had written into their patient rights statement that a patient had the right to be pain free.
I'm all for providing and promoting treatment resources to help those who actually want that help, and thoroughly disclosing to patients the real risk of addiction to prescribed drugs, but beyond that, I don't think anything should be done.
If people choose to kill themselves, as long as they harm only themselves, that's their decision and they should have that right.
The fact is that we don't have enough statistics to properly know the score.
I have met many a person, including the one in the mirror, who have been helped by opiates. ALL of these people were on light doses and for many years or decades. It allowed them to live - work, play sports, travel and do many things they would not have been able to continue doing if they were in pain.
But it appears many Americans are too big into the Forbidden Fruit thing...if X amount is good, then 10X is better, right? You can see addiction to food, drink, sex, money....many of them being terribly harmful, even worse than a (non needle) everyday light opiate addiction.
I'm a creature of moderation and some discipline...and I am not taking them to escape the real world, rather to do away with back and other pain and to allow me to be much more active. I'd be lying if I didn't mention that opiates do mellow your head a bit...not strong like pot or heavy tranqs, but a basic "yeah, the world is OK" sort of feeling. Less anxiety and worry about tomorrow (which I think comes with absense of pain - pain makes one feel vulnerable)....
On the other hand, give me a strong opiate and I don't like it at all....keeps you up at night, constipates you, etc.
I have a hard time blaming this on Government....they are pretty ignorant. BUT, our government - in a sense - is the #1 promoter of Corporatism - Capitalism which basically says "War is good because it makes money and Opiates flowing out the front and back door make money too". That is, by the time it hits the Government Radar it's all over...took 10 years or more for this one to really get seen and start being addressed.
I'd say in this order....
1. Unhappiness and general malaise - there is no doubt this is epidemic in the USA today. It is not the fault of Government, although Government could do more to mitigate it (but many political positions are against this).
2. Capitalism - in the form of "any money is good money" and also in the form of "treating that patient with opiates cost a LOT less than Physical Therapy, etc.". More profits.
#2 is deeper than it seems because it creates the "forgotten man" that live in places where things REALLY are hopeless...and many of these places have become opiate central. People without money just aren't important in our system and society. This was always the case, but there were economic booms that gave them hope...no more.
Special on 60 minutes Sunday regarding an attorney suing the manufacturers and distributors of opioids. also sued the tabacco industry and BP.
Quote:
Mike Moore says he's, "just a country lawyer from Mississippi." But this country lawyer has engineered two of the most lucrative legal settlements in American history. As Mississippi's attorney general, he engineered the historic 1998 settlement under which Big Tobacco paid billions to address smoking-related health issues. In 2015, he convinced BP to settle multibillion-dollar lawsuits over its huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Now Mike Moore has taken aim at the manufacturers and distributors of opioid painkillers, claiming they should pay for the epidemic of addiction and death that has swept this nation. As you'll hear in a moment, he has powerful new evidence that he says proves that states like Ohio, among the hardest-hit by the opioid epidemic, should collect billions from all the companies he's suing.
I am a long time on again/ off again volunteer at a hospital detox / treatment center.
No shortage of seemingly functioning heroin addicts. The open air markets are a 24/7 operation.
As addiction progresses it becomes more challenging to function. Traffic violations are a common source of arrests for possession, especially hot gear. The car is typically impounded.
Yep, I was a daily user up until about 2 yrs ago! Suboxone truly saved my life, they need to be giving this stuff out on street corners! (strangely enough, Suboxone is highly regulated and controlled), makes you wonder what possible reason they would have to restrict and control a drug that helps people stay OFF heroin? LOL Geez, that is pretty bold actually, like they are announcing that they are in full collusion!
Seriously, why does NO ONE ever ask how THIS MUCH dope comes in so CONSISTENTLY and reaches its destination? If THIS much dope consistently gets past our border control, that is beyond pathetic, and more than likely suggests collusion, 'LUCK' just cannot explain THIS MUCH dope and THIS consistent.
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