Posted on 05/08/2011 12:34:35 PM PDT by Cardhu
The new opiate abuse. $30 to $50 bucks a pill around here for Oxy.
Guy in our town went away for 2+ years selling to an undercover for about a year.
Portsmouth truly is a cesspool.
City Overview
“As of 2010, Portsmouth’s population is 19,847 people. Since 2000, it has had a population growth of -5.08 percent.
The median home cost in Portsmouth is $52,070. Home appreciation the last year has been -14.62 percent.
Compared to the rest of the country, Portsmouth’s cost of living is 24.30% Lower than the U.S. average.
Portsmouth public schools spend $4,904 per student. The average school expenditure in the U.S. is $5,678. There are about 18.2 students per teacher in Portsmouth.
The unemployment rate in Portsmouth is 12.40 percent(U.S. avg. is 10.20%). Recent job growth is Negative. Portsmouth jobs have Decreased by 3.25 percent.”
I just checked the status of Ohio - seems that it is part of the rust belt with super high unemployment.
Drug abuse is drug abuse, no matter if it is prescription or illegal drugs.
Apart from misdiagnosed drugs there is the profit motive in unnecessary procedures.
Here is part of a letter to the Times in February 2011
Letter
The Price of Colonoscopy Published: February 22, 2011
To the Editor:
States Aim Ax at Health Cost of Retirement (front page, Feb. 14) describes steps taken by cities and states to control employee health care costs. One city, Wauwatosa, Wis., requires its employees to undergo colonoscopy at age 50, to help forestall cancer and potentially high treatment costs, you report.
Colon cancer screening with colonoscopy viewing the entire colon has almost completely replaced more limited sigmoidoscopy, which costs as little as one-tenth as much. Yet studies have repeatedly failed to show that colonoscopy reduces the risk of death from colon cancer more effectively than sigmoidoscopy.
Indeed, two national multidisciplinary task forces state that sigmoidoscopy is just as effective. Nonetheless, the American College of Gastroenterology recommends colonoscopy over sigmoidoscopy, and national health care legislation mandates that new coverage include screening colonoscopy.
Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/opinion/l23colon.html
Columbus and south of it were never part of the Rust Belt. Southern Ohio is agriculture and an Appalachian way of life. Portsmouth is an extension of Kentucky and West Virginia, without the charm.
Indeed it’s strange what the young and dumb call cool so their peers will except them,a weak lot indeed.I have no pity for anyone who goes out on the O.D. route.
Thanks for the correction - but what caused the loss of population and very high unemployment situation for a rural agricultural area.
I was lucky that the one time I needed pain meds for a prolonged period I was under the care of a doctor with a relatively small number of patients.
Part of the susceptibility testing is also finding the most cost effective drug for the job. Drugs for a particular bug are listed as A, B and C drugs. A drugs are the default. They have the highest efficacy for the buck. The only time you would go to the B class is the patient is allergic to it or the A drug just does not seem to be working. We never report B drugs on the MB report unless we are informed that a patient has an alergy to the A drug.
My wife was suspected of having polyps and this is what the did with her. Nothing of any consequence was found with the pill, so there was no need for a colonoscopy.
Family farming is a dying enterprise in this country; Southern Ohio is a microcosm of that. A great many of the locals used to work in Columbus or Cincinnati, but the recession put them out of work, and the relatively few higher wage earners (for Southern Ohio, $50,000 is huge money) can’t support the small retail and service sector in the local area.
The number one cash crop is marijuana and federal and state social welfare programs provide most of the cash flow to the locals.
That is very interesting I have never heard of that procedure. My daughter is a nurse and hospital administrator in Saudi Arabia I will have to ask her about it.
Al-Jazeera?
Is this why the Slammies call America the Great Satan?
Your excellent summary of the conditions in Southern Ohio explains why the young folk and others are turning to drugs. No work and welfare programs tend to depress ones outlook on life.
I lived for a short time in Lincoln, Nebraska and Kansas about 20 years ago. It was my first encounter with fly over country after living in NY and PA. I was really impressed with both places.
I found that generally the people there were much more sophisticated than those back East. In Nebraska it seemed that all the children played golf. and in Overland Park south of Kansas City they had hundreds of restaurants that that were packed seven days a week. Not at all what one would think of back east.
I remember driving into Kansas City, Missouri in winter and coming over the hill looking down on the University area, which was entirely built in Spanish style, every building was outlined in small colored lights - it was absolutely amazing. I wish I had take a photograph of it but in those days we did not carry digital cameras around with us.
Flyover country truly is America. The coasts are infested with the descendent dregs of early-mid 20th century European socialists/communists who polluted our society first through unions, then through local governments until gaining enough clout to destroy academia.
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