Posted on 12/22/2017 3:20:38 PM PST by nickcarraway
This abstract reflects very sloppy writing, and, unfortunately, the entire article is behind a paywall so I cannot review it to see if the abstract is simply poorly written, or if the sloppy writing is reflective of the quality of analysis in the complete article.
A decrease of 0.7 deaths per month? Out of how many hundreds of deaths total, on average? I would argue that such a decrease is a statistical blip, and not really indicative of an inflection point at all.
Also, I would expect deaths from opioid use to peak and then decline, as the total number of susceptible people become addicts and then die off without being replaced by new addicts. Some people are genetically susceptible to addiction disorders; they are the ones who are dying off.
I was shocked to find out there were over 60,000 OD deaths in 2016.
I knew it was spreading, but I had no idea it was that bad.
...
Trump made it an issue during his campaign.
I am always amazed by leftist voters. Often, they will vote very conservatively (i.e. rationally) on specific issues, but then will vote for the most radical nutty leftists possible, who are certain to overturn the voters' will if it goes against the leftist agenda.
I don't think "safe" injection sites are the answer, and I don't like the idea of methadone "treatment" either. A lot of research is going on to understand the neurological mechanisms of addiction; I think that until we (the scientific community) fully understands this, we are kind of shooting in the dark to try to come up with real solutions.
I just heard about a case in Maryland where someone died of methadone overdose, and the guy who provided the methadone was convicted of manslaughter (IIRC).
I honestly do not see substitution of one addictive substance for another addictive substance as an improvement. The users are still addicted.
I know a physician who says that opioids are useless for long-term pain management. He says that there are better strategies for managing long-term pain.
Personally, I use exercises that I learned in physical therapy to manage pain. I have arthritis in my back, in a joint that I did not know existed until I got the arthritis. The best way to manage the pain is to do moderate back exercises—too much or too little, and the pain increases.
I think that marijuana does nothing for pain, but that when a person is high, they simply do not pay much attention to the pain. I do not think that is an optimal solution; being mentally impaired through intoxication from a drug has all kinds of down sides that affect multiple areas of a person’s life.
Opioids (for medical use) come in IV formulations as well as in pill form.
I'm not impressed. This is just substituting one addictive substance for another. If drug abuse were down overall, I'd be impressed--but that's not what that article shows. It actually cherry-picked by showing only opioid related deaths, and not DUI deaths (or vehicular deaths) as a whole.
I attended an Opioid Summit recently.
What I learned there is that a common scenario for addiction is that a person is [over] prescribed opiates for pain and becomes addicted. The prescription drugs are expensive, so as they become more strongly addicted, they look for cheaper sources of the drug. Heroin is cheaper than prescription pills, so they turn to that. Most heroin in the US comes from South America--and our porous border facilitates the heroin highways. I-95 and US-40 are both major distribution routes for heroin on the East Coast (and I live near both of them, so my area is very affected by the opioid epidemic). Heroin is expensive, too, so dealers cut it with fentanyl or carfentanil that they make in home labs. Fentanyl is about 10 times as potent as heroin, and carfentanil about 100 times as potent.
Another aspect of opioid addiction is that the body becomes resistant to the opioids. Their bodies both tolerate higher doses, and the highs become less intense. Therefore, as resistance grows, users look for more potent drugs. That, along with the drug prices, also contributes to the progression of prescription drugs to heroin to fentanyl and carfentanil.
Being more potent, fentanyl and, to a much greater extent, carfentanil are more deadly than prescription opiates.
Are we to ban opioids? When people overdose on any drug, illicit or otherwise, effects can be lethal. I don’t take them and have no problem with banning them, but some people need the pain relief and of those people, there is always the one who thinks, if this much is good, let’s double the dose. Following label directions is always important.
Yes, but our libturd friends/enemies label the humans in utero, nonhumans, often deserving of death. It’s a woman’s right to kill.
Yes, it’s media hype with a hidden agenda. Many people make bad choices and they will defend their position to the death.
I do not consider a substitution of one addictive substance for another as an improvement.
The body most certainly does recognize cannabinoids as foreign chemicals. Unfortunately, the body does not have very efficient enzymes to detoxify and remove them, so they remain in fat tissues for a prolonged period of time. I would worry about the biological effects of that prolonged contact, since, in the case of many toxins, it is not the exposure that causes the effects as much as it is the prolongation of that exposure.
For example, dioxin (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, specifically) is a naturally occurring substance that has a half life in the human body of 7 to 10 years. Like many cannabinoids, it is fat soluble. It is not poisonous because of how it affects the body--many chemicals in foods have exactly the same effect. It is poisonous because the body cannot detoxify or remove it, so the metabolic effects it causes never stop.
One other to add to your very good points; black tar heroin has been contaminated with anthrax spores resulting in many cases of death from septicemic anthrax, mostly in Europe. Who knows how those spores got there? .
Not to mention alcohol to help push em over the edge. Alcohol kills about 50,000 annually and few think much about it.
Yep, two goals of the Obamas:
1. Tear down America
2. Drug Money for his allies
A primary purpose of the US being in Afghanistan has been to ensure the importation of heroine into the US.
Fort Carson and Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs have been the distribution points in Colorado. The dramatic increase in heroine use in the military and in the surrounding areas are well known in the medical field. Trafficking from both bases was established during Obama’s term, and now we see in the news that there is proof he was aiding this trafficking from Afghanistan, as was suspected by some and known by others.
Don’t forget humans also have opioid receptors in addition to cannabinoid receptors. As a human race, does having opioid receptors mean we will all succumb to opioid addictions? No. I have to wonder if the Central American indians have better knowledge of coca leaf usage (over the world of Western medicine). How hard would it be to OD on chewing coca leaves? Practically, impossible? When a government entity demonizes anything & pollutes the minds of the public with questionable propagana, I have to wonder what their endgame plan is. We KNOW it’s not out of the goodness of a bureaucracy’s heart for our wellbeing. How paternalistic and condescending!
Very interesting stat. I am going to dare and guess at why, if legalizing pot helps lower opiate abuse (stipulating because there isn’t a way to track quiet opiate abuse but opiate deaths are trackable), as the study appears to conclude.
Many people have anxieties. They don’t talk about it nor do they even understand they do. They seek self medication because it makes them feel better or more normal. Using myself living in a state where pot just became medically (whatever) legal and within days will be recreationally legal, and using a population where people aren’t too open about their self medication, moms of small kids, I will say that fellow moms of young kids are much more honest and open about their use of pot and why they use it.
Some do admit to just getting high for fun, but most seem to use the stress of a long day with kids, or social anxieties, as the reason they use cannabis. They are careful to describe their usage being confined to the kids being in bed.
So I am going to potentially conclude that an easy relatively harmless substance takes the edge off the hard parts of life for a lot of people. Thus they are not tempted by the ‘blotto” removal of all of life’s problems that an opiate provides. Everyone knows opiates lead to addition and that their effects are a) hard core but b) diminishing rapidly. Access to cannabis might really be enough of a small break from normal consciousness and worry.
I think that marijuana does nothing for pain, but that when a person is high, they simply do not pay much attention to the pain. I do not think that is an optimal solution; being mentally impaired through intoxication from a drug has all kinds of down sides that affect multiple areas of a person’s life.
That isn’t how cannabis works for pain. In my experience there is no need to become intoxicated if you stick to CBC oil. And there is zero ‘instant pain relief” like you would get with an Advil. Instead, the herb builds up over time using the cannabinoid receptors. It may take months to build up to a steady therapeutic dose. And chronic or cancer pain will slowly recede and disappear. There is zero “high” and there can be dramatic chronic pain relief.
This is how many herbal treatments work. Build up the dose over time and take it daily for optimal results.
RE pregabalin (Lyrica). Read the medical journals in Europe. Using Lyrica recreationally is called “Budweiser”. The UK has a huge problem in their ERs due to pregabalin being abused for a “buzz”. I can only surmise it’s similiar to the old Quaaludes. Recreationally, the U.S. medical/legal communities are behind the eight ball...not even on U.S.’s radar. I’m not surprised that the word hasn’t gotten out in the mainstream about Lyrica. It is still one of the pharm’s most lucrative products. Hydrocodone costs pennies to produce & less than $10 for 30 at a pharmacy. If everybody goes along with the “all opioids are evil” mantra, they have successfully gotten rid of their non-profitable product forcing chronic pain patients into a huge moneymaking product. Trust me, the word on the streets is lyrica/neurotin DOES have a street value.
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