I would agree “D*d damn The Pusher” sentiment.
And I do feel sympathy for people who get hooked on these things, and also for their friends and family.
And I DO believe there should be avenues to get help.
But I abhor giving these addicts the victimhood status of someone who contracts a disease they didn’t ask for.
The majority of these cases of overdose and addiction are cases of people using the drugs recreationally, not people to whom they have been prescribed appropriately who need them for a real medical condition.
One has only to look at the media and see the pictures of these people who they report as overdosing on a daily basis. They are almost all people who are relatively young and otherwise healthy. And you aren’t getting hooked on one prescription with no refills (which is how it is normally done) that is written after knee or tooth surgery.
It isn’t to say there aren’t irresponsible physicians...there are. And they should be severely punished.
But over-prescribing these drugs is NOT the standard of care, far from it.
Oxycontin is not a new drug. For with people with terminal chronic debilitating pain is is a wonderful drug. These individuals will in all likelyhood become addicted but that is of little importance as they are terminal and in great pain. Oxycodon has been used for years for extreme pain control. It is a good drug with a high potential for abuse.
The problem with the drug is its over prescription. It should never be used except for extreme pain. It can and should be used for those with short term extreme pain. If the pain is long term and chronic the risk benefit of pain control verses addiction should be weighed carefully.
The problem is not the drug, the problem is the indiscriminate use of the drug. It should also be noted that people that “DO NOT” have a predilection to addiction will get off the drug once their pain is controlled and gone. My father (chopper pilot) broke his back in a chopper accident. He was in great pain and used high dose codeine for this. He was addicted. Once the pain was no longer severe he voluntarily reduced his dosage until he no longer took it. He did not have a predilection to addiction.
As a pharmacist I once worked with home health care terminal care, pain control and hyperalimentation. My patients were mostly terminal cancer victims. We kept them pain free at home where they wanted to be with their families until death. Most were addicted to the morphine. This was okay, they were dying and our work allowed them to die at home with dignity and love from their family. Oddly it was very satisfying work. The appreciation shown by the families to me was unbelievable.