Good post, very interesting and there is a lot to think about. My nephew is one of those addicts and his own mother prefers that he be in jail than free since he has had a couple of near death ODs.
The reason people get addicted is because, as a non-addict, they have no conception of how powerful and addiction actually is. They figure they won’t get addicted because they’re not stupid, or what not.
E.g., Many folks said “I’ll just quit smoking when I get out of high school.” For the addict chance is low. There is currently no way to determine, in advance, the degree of someone’s addictive nature.
Addiction is a pyschosomatic experience. Non-addicts can’t comprehend addiction anymore than someone who has been blind from birth can comprehend color.
I've been saying that about drug addiction for about 40 years.
Did not like this article.
Some doctors hand out bottles of opioids like candy. If a person didn’t UNDERSTAND opium, they might keep taking the pills, which do cry out from inside your brain for more, ujntil the bottle was done. Then feel horribly sick when the last one was gone. Until they remember their spouse once had some for a dental procedure that he never used. Good, another bottle. After that the person is addicted for sure, and the addiction can talk louder to them than what used to be rationality.
It’s not kind to treat people like that the same as someone who decided to shoot up heroin one day cause a friend did.
Every adult should study opiates before he is ever offered one from a doctor, and should know how to counteract the drug asking for more when the surgical or back pain is gone.
I love opiates for their complete pain relief when necessary. I’m grateful to Gd for them. But I know ALL about opium and I know exactly when to cold turkey STOP — while I still have full rationality and my own brain in charge — and so I have no fear of myself becoming addicted should I need it again.
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.
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.
Same applies to smokers, drinkers, the morbidly obese and people who do things like drive without their seat belt or bike without helmets.
Wow - all these folks calling the writer names.
People take opiods for pain. The vast majority take them as prescribed and are careful. Some go beyond the limit and abuse them or become addicted.
I don’t believe that many responsible users of these drugs end up getting Narcan. What happens is the drug gets sold on the underground market, someone crushes it up and injects it - and injects too much, thus overdosing. I seriously doubt anyone takes a handful of tablets and OD’s - they would probably puke it up first.
So the writer says those who willfully overdose should be ignored - and that is his/her opinion - so calling names because you disagree puts you in the same boat as the ANTIFA people - so stop doing it.
Disagree all you want but logical thought and a coherent argument win more points than name calling.
And having had a child who was addicted to opiods I know both sides of the argument. He started with back pain, progressed to injecting heroin. The whole time he held a job and told tales about why he was sick, stole money from me and others. Eventually he met someone who convinced him that she was more important than opiods. Two rounds of rehab and he has been clean for 5 years now.
Given that, however if he had lost it all, injected while his kids were in the car and all the horror stories we read - I would have said three strikes you are out - no narcan, no nothing - you had your chances. Either figure it out or you will die. And I would have resolved myself to bury him.
This is a very personal issue for me and my family as my brother, 47, passed away late last month from what looks like an accidental painkiller overdose.
The cause of death is still pending, but he was a painkiller addict and had been abusing his body for many years. The medical examiner and narcotics detectives speculate that he took a dose of painkillers cut with a cheaper, but more potent ingredient called Fentanyl. These were purchased from a drug dealer.
The NYPD is seeing this with alarming regularity lately. It’s impacting people from all walks of life.
This has been particularly distressing to our 83-year-old mother, though it has impacted us all.
He had been very hostile to me for many years. He had stolen from me when he had the chance. He’d break into my PC to snoop at my emails, banking info, and business. He’d needle me constantly, trying to get a rise out of me. Over time, I cared less and less. He always had problems, though the drug abuse made them more pronounced.
There’s some guilt because I feel I could have done more, but as a practical matter, I don’t think anyone could have reached him. Certainly not me, as he was so negative & hostile towards me.
I raise this because while I don’t think medical help should be denied to OD’ing people, I think that there’s nothing we could have done institutionally to have prevented this. If those closest to him couldn’t reach him, I doubt a government program could reach him.
We should have clarity on the matter. The desire to “do something,” while sincere, isn’t a mandate to “do anything.”
At the end of my brother’s life, he loved his pills more than he loved anything or anyone else. It’s sad but it’s true. Given the problem with counterfeit pills laced with a very lethal substance, every time he got pills from the black market he was playing Russian roulette.
I think we should make treatment available and if someone can’t afford it, we should help them. The net positive of that policy is greater than the net negative. That being said, a lot of addicts are beyond help and we should be realistic in our expectations.
“Opioid addiction comes from a decision, not a virus,” Ergo, it can not be an epidemic. HEH HEH
No contradiction - when a homosexual 'bugchaser' chooses to expose himself to HIV, it's no less a disease for being a choice. (Whether we should spend taxpayer money on his health care is a separate question, which I answer in the negative.)
He had to find an inpatient medical rehab center in order to wean him off of the drugs over more than two weeks, costing him several thousand dollars out of pocket.
Something people who make these sorts of statements have never experienced is chronic, debilitating pain, and the fact that opioids are physically addicting, and just "quitting" can be very dangerous.
Mark
It was explained to me that a lot of people get their prescriptions for painkillers refilled at that time and they sell them to make money on the side.
These aren't necessarily people who need monthly prescriptions - they may have needed them at some time, but the doctors seem to have forgotten that they are for the TEMPORARY relief of pain, and will continue to write refills as long as the patient asks for it. The VA is notorious for this, and have probably been more responsible for spreading addiction than anybody.
The doctors who over-prescribe are responsible in large part for the problem, and it will continue until this process is checked.