I don’t know where in PA you live, but here in Central PA; York, Lancaster and Lebanon counties, not to mention Dauphin Co. and of course Harrisburg or as I like to call it - “Detroit on the Susquehanna”, heroin and OxyContin abuse along with Meth to some extent, is a very real problem around here and I’m not just talking about in the “cities” of York, Lancaster and Lebanon where the problem is more evident among the Blacks and Hispanics although not solely restricted to those groups, but also in the rural areas and the small (and mostly white) towns.
My former boss who retired last year and has two nieces who graduated from HS in the Manheim area of northern Lancaster Co. within the last couple of years, told me that her nieces told her that heroin and OxyContin and other opiates were very easy and not all that expensive to get if one wanted to, even to buy right in the HS’s – everyone knew who was selling and who was buying. And these were not only the “down and out bums in an inner city slum” types, but a lot of middle and upper middle class white kids. And it isn’t just the “kids” as in the “High” school kids. A lot of adults are using these drugs too.
That’s because, like prescription pain medications, heroin is an opioid... When a physician stops prescribing opioids or those drugs become too expensive, a patient may switch to heroin, which is relatively cheap and easy to obtain.
Here is my concern and I will point out that there are legitimate uses for Rx opiod pain killers which are a God send for those people who are in severe pain, post op, etc. or have chronic very painful conditions. But now many doctors just will not proscribe them anymore even when indicated. I’ve even read stories about late stage terminal cancer patients not being able to get Rx pain killers anymore out of the concerns over their addictive properties. Like the last thing a terminal cancer patient in severe pain or society at large has to worry about is them becoming “addicted” to an opiod pain killer if they only have weeks or months to live.
And when they are legitimately proscribed, both the doctor and the patient are made to feel like criminals or reported to, put under suspicion, are now tracked by the DEA.
Yes, without question there are some people who are at first legitimately proscribed pain killers who end up addicted to them (Rush Limbaugh is one such an example that first comes to mind) and there are some doctors who proscribe these very dangerous drugs like candy, but IMO, the vast majority do not, but all now suffer for the bad actions of the few. And now those people who need them can’t get pain relievers and are told to take an OTC pain reliever like Tylenol or Motrin that while not “addictive” have their own set of problems and potential complications and don’t work nearly as well.
Back in the mid 90’s I had a severe back injury and was proscribed Percocet and a muscle relaxer, both Rx’s were not “refillable” and I only took them for a few days to get me over the worst of the pain and the severe muscle spasms and “flushed” the pills I did not take once I no longer was in pain. But just last month when I suffered another similar back injury, all I got was a referral for physical therapy (and that is not a bad thing) but nothing for the debilitating pain, I was just told to take an OTC. When I asked the Dr. about an Rx for muscle relaxers, she at first gave me the “stink eye” and then gave in after I told her I had been proscribed them by my former Dr. and assured her that that not only did I not take them regularly but that my last Rx for them, that the bottle was still half full and expired when I had flushed them, but not before giving me a long lecture about only taking them before bed, not driving, operating machinery, etc.
The last time I got a pain killer Rx of an opiod was when I had a severely abscessed molar. I had to have the molar removed and the dentist wrote me an Rx for an antibiotic and for hydrocodone - only for 10 pills but thank God he did as the otherwise the severe pain would have driven me to madness. But having taken both Percocet and hydrocodone for very short periods of time, I can understand why they are or can be addictive to some. I deducted while taking those drugs, is that they really do dull the pain but they don’t really make the pain go completely away, but they do make you more oblivious to it and just about everything else – you still feel some pain but you don’t care about it as much about it nor anything else.
On a related side note, my older brother who lives near several big “retirement communities” near the Jersey Shore told me that one day he went to a local liquor store to buy a bottle of wine for him and his wife for their wedding anniversary dinner. He’d been to this liquor store a few times before but he noticed that the liquor store was very crowded on that day, filled with a lot of very “elderly” folks, a lot of them using canes and walkers, some on oxygen and they were buying several bottles of cheap brandy or whiskey at a time and they didn’t look like your typical “boozers”. i.e. alcoholic types, very nicely dressed, diving nice cars, etc.
Curious, my brother asked the liquor store owner why on that day there were so many “old folks” and the owner said, “Look at the calendar – it’s the first week of the month when they get their SS payments so they are stocking up.” “Stocking up?” my brother asked. “Yes, they are stocking up on their “pain relievers”” the liquor store owner told him, “A lot of these folks have severe arthritis or other very painful conditions but their doctors will no longer proscribe them any pain relievers so they come here to get some liquor to help them with the pain instead.”
Thanx, Doc ... I DO appreciate your reply
I agree with what u said and from Philly in Pa. I’d like to see all drugs legal and able to buy. I admit, I haven’t been sick or injured for a long while but there were times I’d like to be able to buy antibiotics to put off an infection but it’s illegal.
In rural north central PA we have more drug crimes than any other.
It is a big expense for low population counties to prosecute these people. The write up in the local paper for court reporting is probably 80 percent drug related 10 percent DUI and the rest almost all non-violent crimes.
It is a relatively safe place to live but you must be very vigilant if raising children. Everyone knows who the drug abusers are and it tends to run in families rather than economic condition.
I would like to see hard work requirements as part of sentencing to deter the ‘its like summer camp’ attitude that is common in PA.
The local DA is good at what he does but has a limited budget for his office. Some of the larger drug operations are prosecuted under regional jurisdictions and that helps some but I’m sure compromises are made due to limited funds for prosecution.