Posted on 12/31/2016 7:24:13 PM PST by DBCJR
For years, Oklahoma lead the nation in prescription painkiller abuse according to SAMHSA.
Oklahoma and the nation set out to do something but it was almost totally "supply-side", regulatory and law enforcement oriented to reduce the supply of opioid tablets on the street. These measures were much needed but they did nothing to help the estimated 245,000 prescription painkiller abusers in Oklahoma, nor prevent new entries into the problem, "demand-side". Demand-side interventions are treatment and prevention initiatives. Why are demand-side interventions important?
Addiction to opiates is the most powerful addiction. If you shut off supply dramatically, without demand interventions, you have a massive population very sick and desperate. It was entirely predictable what would happen, a shift to heroin, a major game-changer for the worse. Look at what happened to the supply and street price of OxyContin during this time:
When the supply of OxyContin was cut in half the street price of OxyContin rose 5 fold! What would people do? Heroin was cheap and easy to get. The Mexican Drug Cartel was very accommodating. They built tunnels across the border with robotic rail constantly going 24/7. A million dollar investment nets $20 million the first year.
This greatly and abruptly changed the landscape of opiate addiction. So much so that in 2010 ABC 20/20 ran a series, The New Face of Heroin Addiction:
Unfortunately, the traditional treatment, according to SAMHSA is only 6-10% effective with opiate addiction. Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) improves those odds substantially. However, the vast majority of MAT is administered, as a prominent marketing campaign states, "in the privacy of a doctor's office", for a 30 day script for a a partial agonist buprenorphine drug like Suboxone. The doctor recommends getting counseling and not using other drugs. Does an addict do that? A Harvard study shows when these aspects of treatment are not included success rates fall back to to traditional treatment levels.
In addition, buprenorphine drugs are only appropriate for low to intermediate opiate dependency but methadone, a full agonist, is for intermediate to heavy dependency. Why? Because buprenorphine plateaus at 32 micrograms. Before that level it is actually more effective than methadone but after that methadone becomes far more effective.
In other words, in intermediate to heavy dependencies, buprenorphine fails to manage withdrawal and cravings effectively. And most of the time the person affected is not getting counseling or subject to clinical accountability. What happens? More often than not, the addict hits a low spot, begins to relapse, and uses the buprenorphine when they cannot get the drug - or sells it to get the drug.
Listen to what our former clients say about the difference in treatment:
Advanced Recovery offers evidence-based best clinical practices to obtain the best results. http://AdvancedRecovery.co
A couple I worked with from 2007 to 2014 who lived across the street, the wife died from an accidental overdose of opiate pain pills.
My cousin in OK once told me her two teenage sons did “Karaoke” several times a month.
I thought they were singing.
No. I heard her wrong .
“Carry Okie” meant serving as pallbearers for a classmate who had OD’ed.
I was stunned. I thought that inner city Boston, where I lived at the time, was bad.
There must be one helluva lot of money to be made in treating addicts. About twenty five years ago I broke my back and got addicted to opioids while I was healing.
Since I didn’t enjoy the feeling of being detached from the Earth I had no problem making it a major goal to get of the daily dosage that I was on. It took me about two months but I managed to do it.
Why people desire to float around, disconnected from reality is way beyond my comprehension.
You know absolutely NOTHING about chemical addiction or its treatment.
This article is written by ceo of a for profit “treatment” center...its filled with inaccuracies! The “article/advertisement” completely distorts good evidence-based treatment.
Some clinics at the VA and some community centers do excellent treatment of opioid use disorders.
If a prescription painkiller crackdown made things worse, how was it "much needed"?
Bans on consensual vices are much more effective in enriching violent criminals than in protecting abusers from themselves. What's "much needed" is to stop fighting fire with gasoline.
Just be grateful.
Not everyone becomes addicted using pain meds, and not everyone can get off them without help.
Are we just supposed to take your word for all that - or do you have, say, a link to a better source?
From 6% to what? 20%?
It is astonishing to me the way politicians talk about "treatment" like it was penicillin for meningitis.
In my opinion it takes some serious effort to become an addict. It isn’t something that happens by ‘accident’ so there’s got to be more to it.Now if it is lack of true desire to breeak free or just what I don’t know.
I’ve been battling terminal cancer for the past three years, fentanyl and morphine sulfate are daily meds for me these days. Every chance I get, I manage to break free of them for week or two. Just that desire to get both feet planted solidly on the ground is what I’m looking for. So I know it can be done with determination alone.
I will pray for your healing and strength.
Your situation is very difficult. I’m glad you’re able to manage as well as you do.
Very fair question. I will look for reference to article on the latest evidence-based treatment, so its not just me bloviating.
Sounds like thevsame money making scam as spring shadows glenn of 30 years ago.
It’s well past time for jail terms for over treating doctors!
For some people, Naltrexone turns off addiction like flipping a switch.
Wow, three years, Gd bless you. I had a friend who also needed opiate daily for her liver and pancreas cancer. She didn’t consider herself addicted at all. She shot up sub q as often as she needed, for both pain and nausea. Thank the Lrd for opiates for people in your situations.
I do think there are differences between people, either in the absolute ability to break free or in the depth of their desire to break free. I’m giving all addicts the benefit of the doubt that they wanted to stop as badly as I always do after my brain surgeries. Maybe some have a harder time. I know exactly when to stop. When I think, “I’m not in pain now, but I’ll take one for later.” BOOM. NO MORE PILLS from then on. Done.
Ironically, if one takes triptan meds (not psycho active, you can drive etc) to combat migraines, you DO take one at the slightest hint or aura to prevent pain. But this is NOT for opiates.
I can’t even drink alcohol or take cold medicine and I’ve never had a pain killer that actually made the pain go away.
I know a woman who has a messed up back and they had her on so many pain relievers and she was still always in pain. I convinced her to get off of all but the NSAID and while she’s still in pain she feels a lot better.
When I took ONE in error, I hadn't realized how much pain I'd been normally carrying around—for decades!
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