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Opioid, Schmopioid
american thinker ^ | 7/14/2017 | r j kozar

Posted on 07/14/2017 5:31:02 AM PDT by from occupied ga

...

legal or not, using opioids is just plain stupid. Compared to an opioid user, a man who punches himself in the face looks smart.

That's why I roll my eyes and change the channel when hectored about this so-called epidemic. If you want to talk about an epidemic, talk about zika or bird flu. Opioid addiction comes from a decision, not a virus. No mosquito can infect you with opioid addiction, and you don't need antibacterial soap to avoid catching it. To speak of it as an epidemic and to speak of addicts as victims is to stack the rhetorical deck for the view that addictions and overdoses are diseases rather than choices.

And that brings us to Middletown, Ohio, ... A city councilman there ... has proposed that the city’s EMTs simply ignore 911 calls from any overdosing addict who has already received Narcan from the city twice before. Three strikes, says his proposal, and you’re out. The very suggestion has, of course, prompted a tsunami of hate mail from people with lots of tattoos.

...

And if my cold-hearted attitude means that more opioid users die, my answer is a big, fat so what? If they don’t want to die, they shouldn’t abuse opioids. If an addict doesn't care about his own life, why should I?

...

You who tell us we have a duty to rescue every user, you who say we should give him a government program and pay a regiment of social workers for his benefit, you are the same people who portray the addict’s drug use as something other than a conscious decision.

...

Save our EMTs for real victims of real diseases.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/07/opioid_schmopioid.html#ixzz4mo9Lmwsz Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: addiction; epidemic; opioid; wod
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To: alicewonders

No deflection at all. Just pointing out this is yet another entry on a very long list of stuff those who want to panic can panic about.

A large quantity of the people selling this crap that kills are pharmacists. Most of the opioid addicts in this country were made by following doctors orders. And note so far the number of “opioid bombs” to go in buildings on this planet is ZERO.


101 posted on 07/14/2017 7:53:03 AM PDT by discostu (You are what you is, and that's all it is, you ain't what you're not, so see what you got.)
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To: from occupied ga; Lakeshark; BlackFemaleArmyCaptain

Opioid use is spearheading the push for increased medicaid. Basically, we’re paying able bodied people to stay home and get high. It’s stupid.

Moreover, it is the Fed subsidizing drug cartels via subsidizing their customers.

If you really want to help drug users build the wall and control access to the country.


102 posted on 07/14/2017 7:53:21 AM PDT by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory.)
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To: fatboy

Elvis died on the toilet trying to take a sh*t. He was backed up from all the drugs in his system.


103 posted on 07/14/2017 7:53:24 AM PDT by TigerClaws
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To: fruser1

Actually it’s not psychosomatic.

Addicts’ body and brain chemistry has been altered by the drug they abuse. It takes control of them and there’s tons of research on the effects of addiction on the brain.

Psychosomatic would refer to a perceived illness with no basis in biology.


104 posted on 07/14/2017 7:56:47 AM PDT by TigerClaws
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To: sheana

I think far too potent drugs are routinely prescribed to folks who have no business taking them and no idea of the potential consequences.

I’ve seen a county sheriff get addicted to oxycontin after a fairly routine knee surgery. 50 pill counts (long enough to create addiction concerns) were handed out for fairly minor pain.

Lot of judgmental folks with no clue posting comments here. Hope they and their family are never touched by addiction of any type, but do hope they’d participate in a church outreach to addicts and learn to help others. It is truly a ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ epidemic.


105 posted on 07/14/2017 8:00:00 AM PDT by TigerClaws
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To: discostu

A kilo of carfentanil contains 50 million fatal doses. That’s a lot of death in a very small space.


106 posted on 07/14/2017 8:01:24 AM PDT by BlackAdderess (Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

We have a system where chronic pain management is broken. If you suffer from chronic pain you get oxycontin for a while until you can’t because a government bureaucrat determines you may become addicted. Then you have a choice, take a less effective drug, or go the illegal route. If you go illegal, the problem is that you can’t control the dosage or purity, because, well because it’s illegal.

Just because one is using prescription opioids with a doctor’s supervision to control pain, even if addicted, does not mean that one cannot be a functioning, productive member of society. However, if one turns to street drugs for relief and becomes addicted with the attendant consequences (including prison, razor thin differences between too little and too much, inconsistent dosing and possibly death) then one is unlikely to become a productive member of society again.


107 posted on 07/14/2017 8:03:54 AM PDT by nuke_road_warrior (Making the world safe for nuclear power for over 20 years)
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To: BlackAdderess

Yup. Lots of ways to die.


108 posted on 07/14/2017 8:08:33 AM PDT by discostu (You are what you is, and that's all it is, you ain't what you're not, so see what you got.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Two categories/POVs

Unfortunately, almost every addict fits into both categories at the same time. Most addicts have families so to the families (at least at first) They deserve all the kindness and mercy in the world.

However, If you don't know them and they're sucking up your tax dollars and emergency medical resources and your father died of a heart attack in the ambulance because all of the EMTs were out dealing with narcotic ODs and didn't get to him for over an hour then they're street punks who deserve no mercy.

109 posted on 07/14/2017 8:10:48 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: TigerClaws

Withdrawal has a basis in biology. An active alcoholic, for example, can actually die from suddenly stopping for a day.

I believe psychosomatic includes conditions made worse by mental factors. So, while a smoker won’t die from not smoking, they may be sweaty and shaky for awhile.

Nevertheless, you may be right that addiction is not technically characterized as psychosomatic by doctors. What I meant by that word was the perception of the addiction from the addict’s point of view.

The lack of the comprehension from the non-addicts point of view is the underlying cause of their hostility towards addicts, to which the author of the article is definitely in that camp.

Watching an addict prioritize their fix over all else is painful to watch when it’s someone you care about.


110 posted on 07/14/2017 8:10:50 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: cardinal4
I have been close to someone who developed an addiction (and later died) and I can tell you, bar none, it was one of the worst experiences of my life and it left an indelible mark on me. In fact, ever having to deal with it with one of my children is my largest fear.

I honestly, though, don't know if I'd just rather an early, quick end or to watch that person slowly kill themselves over the course of ten years, become unrecognizable, sink to newer and lower lows--

111 posted on 07/14/2017 8:11:55 AM PDT by riri
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To: TigerClaws
Kids use them as party drugs

Showing incredible bad judgment and self destructively stupid behavior. "Kids" often make bone headed decisions; most of the time they don't suffer any serious consequences, but sometimes they do.

112 posted on 07/14/2017 8:13:09 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: TigerClaws

I haven’t seen doctors handing out pain meds like that since they started cracking down on them about 5 years ago. I had a very painful foot surgery and the doc prescribed me 5, yes 5, pain pills. I took my tramadol instead.
Another major surgery the doc prescribed 10. I took a few of those.
The docs here are pretty stingy with the pain meds now. I was waiting for hubby at a pain management doc and saw a gal come out griping because he wouldn’t give her anything but tramadol. It was obvious she was med shopping even to me.


113 posted on 07/14/2017 8:22:37 AM PDT by sheana
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To: from occupied ga

I’d be inclined to blame the kids or the parents, and to some extent I do. But a HUGE mitigating factor is that most of today’s kids are being raised by government schools and the media which are filling their heads with mush. Even diligent parents who are very involved in their kids’ lives, even homeschoolers, can be sabotaged by the pervasive culture which is at odd with their values.

IMO, this is just one of MANY evil effects of corruption in our government, our legal system, and our “culture”.


114 posted on 07/14/2017 8:22:58 AM PDT by generally ( Don't be stupid. We have politicians for that.)
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To: semantic
One primary fact is that it's necessary to have an IQ of at least 95 to be able to function as a productive citizen in some form or capacity

Really? I thought 100 was average, and 5 point below average makes you worthless? I remember reading that below 80IQ people didn't function too well, and below 60 they really are not able to do anything

Dysfunctional behavior begins early - typically by age 13.

Too true a former boss's kid went down that route and he started at age 12. The kid was not dumb in the low IQ sense, but by 13 he was stealing from relatives and friends to buy drugs, and by late teens he was jailed several times for theft. He openly bragged to his father who spent big time in the rehab swindles that he was able to get drugs and use them in the expensive rehab centers to which he was sent. I lost touch with the dad 14 years ago. I suspect the kid is either dead or in jail for something serious by now.

115 posted on 07/14/2017 8:24:26 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: generally
IMO, this is just one of MANY evil effects of corruption in our government, our legal system, and our “culture”.

Can't disagree with that.

116 posted on 07/14/2017 8:26:32 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: cardinal4

Agree completely. We’re seeing some really stupid articles posted lately on Free Republic. This one is a real loser.


117 posted on 07/14/2017 8:29:33 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: from occupied ga
A dirty little secret that most people are totally unaware of is that the Medicaid expansion of a few years ago, which was rejected by some states but embraced by fools like governor John Kasich in Ohio, is paying for a lot of these opioids.

That's right: the dumb, sheeplike American taxpayer is literally paying for much of the recent explosion in the opioid addiction, and doesn't even know it.

118 posted on 07/14/2017 8:33:11 AM PDT by jpl ("You are fake news.")
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To: yldstrk

This problem did, in fact, begin with the unconscionable greed of the pharmaceutical companies and this writer doesn’t know jack about it. Corrupt and greedy doctors and other healthcare providers made obscene fortunes spreading the misery. Most of these people started out with some pills - usually as teenagers. When manufacturers increased production from 9 tons to 135 tons in a 2 year period, they knew exactly what was going on with their stuff.
Self-righteous fool.


119 posted on 07/14/2017 8:42:26 AM PDT by Emmett McCarthy
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To: tumblindice

Opioids like OxyContin and Vicodin are pharmaceutical grade heroin. How can doctors prescribe and pharmacies provide what is essentially heroin, while telling patients it is safe? Where is FDA and Justice Department on this! Why is El Chapo in jail and not pharmaceutical execs?


120 posted on 07/14/2017 8:43:44 AM PDT by alamogal
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