Gotta Hurt

Reason ^ | March 5, 2004 | Jacob Sullum

[Khurkris]

A sad little secret is, for some types of pain, the best treatment is either morphine or heroin. Both have very specific applications for pain abatement. Yet Dr's are scared to death to use this regimen.

[neverdem]

Ping, I read of a doc being successfully sued because he didn't provide adequate analgesia, a terminal cancer patient, IIRC.

[neverdem]

Yet Dr's are scared to death to use this regimen.

This crazy war on drugs causes more organized crime, screws up what were recognized constitutional rights, caused the death of more than a few innocent folks with no-knock entries on incorrect addresses, became a full employment act for LEOs and screws up medicine as well.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

For my wife, vicodine did no good at all!

It was like taking baby asprin.

[DuncanWaring]

And then, of course, there is the question "Why did the War on Alcohol require a constitutional amendment, but he War on Other Drugs does not?"

[Prospero]

This is all really coming to a head, quite soon.

I see an ADA class-action lawsuit in the mix.

I blame the Doctors, who will not be bothered with politics, from fear and the complance of having had a sucessful "Progressive Education."

[Khurkris]

"This crazy war on drugs causes more organized crime, screws up what were recognized constitutional rights, caused the death of more than a few innocent folks with no-knock entries on incorrect addresses, became a full employment act for LEOs and screws up medicine as well."

Uh...yeah. OK. I am just speaking to the proven medical effectiveness of opiates in pain management. The WOD is a seperate topic. But in some ways they are related.

[neverdem]

By ADA I assume you mean the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are being sued already for inadequate pain control. The docs are very active politically with the AMA, etc. They're afraid of the DEA yanking their authorization to dispense controlled substances.

[A CA Guy]

I agree that for some people the best you can hope for is to drug them out of horrible pain for their future short life.
Yet, the on-line pharmacies are a problem in that it easy to commit criminal acts on from both sides of the transaction. It isn't as easy with the local store where you have to hand or phone in the RX!

[neverdem]

The WOD is a seperate topic. But in some ways they are related.

They've done some studies showing marijuana is effective for some types of pain, but the gov't is very reluctant to fund such studies.

[EEDUDE]

The reason behind the prescription drug DEA push is simple.

The WOD is a miserable failure.

Going after otherwise law abiding citizens attempting to keep themselves out of pain because their doctors live in fear of prescribing appropriate pain medication is EASY.

Price of heroin on the streets is $75/gram and usually greater than 90% pure. It has NEVER been so cheap or plentiful.

What does the say about the success of the WOD?

[secretagent]

Doctors go along because they make money from the War On Drugs.

People have to pay doctors to get basic pain relief.

[neverdem]

For my wife, vicodine did no good at all!

I hope she was getting a more potent and longer acting opiate like Fentanyl patches or MS Contin. I refer you to my comments about docs getting sued successfully. Pain control is now a standard of care.

[neverdem]

People have to pay doctors to get basic pain relief.

People usually have to pay docs to get treated. Taking opiates can be tricky with many adverse effects including possibly lethal from respiratory depression, or a wicked constipation to the point the patient has to be hospitalized and manually disimpacted.

[A CA Guy]

It's not a miserable failure. Mostly the druggies keep wanting to say that to try and change the laws in an attempt to get their drugs.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Yes we were using all of those plus Morphine in her final days.

[neverdem]

It's not a miserable failure. Mostly the druggies keep wanting to say that to try and change the laws in an attempt to get their drugs.

Please read comment# 4. How's it different from the roaring success that was known as alcohol prohibition and all the problems that caused? Moderate alcohol consumption appears to have beneficial cardiovascular effects. The only other medical use ethanol, i.e. drinking alcohol, has that I know of is as an antidote to methanol and ethylene glycol poisoning, i.e. wood alcohol and antifreeze, respectively, which is caused by current restrictions on ethanol.

I'm not advocating any kind of drug abuse, but marijuana and opium have been used as medicine for millenia. Cocaine solutions are used as topical anesthetics. The morbidity and mortality from illegal drugs pale in comparison to ethanol. I regret to inform you that you're not going to change human nature by police state measures. Those druggies are going to get their drugs by hook or by crook. Do you think that there would be so murders and so many assaults on the Second and Forth Amendments if there wasn't so much money to be made in illegal drugs?

[babaloo999]

Remember rule #1 of any WOD postings: if you are against the WOD in it's current form, you are just a cop hating, child molesting druggie who wants his cheap(er) drugs.
And probably a libertarian, too, the most damning of insults.

[neverdem]

And probably a libertarian, too, the most damning of insults.

I have a few libertarian sympathies. How did you guess, did you read my profile page? I also happen to like the original U.S. Constitution and quite a few friends who are LEOs including my best friend. What's a guy to do? I guess I'll just have to suffer the insults in quiet resignation. Father forgive them, they know not what they do.