What about people like me? What about people who stayed within the medical system and became dependent on opiates thanks to doctors who have no other way to deal with chronic pain?
After detoxing from dilaudid, I’ve got a few things to say about how addicts are treated.
It was the single most painful, agonizing ten days of my life. As bad as transition labor - only it went on for more than a week.
Addicts are afraid of that. And they should be. You cannot feel more pain than opiate withdrawal. You simply cannot feel more pain.
Give them the option of HUMANE detox and give them enough of a comfortable supply for them to consider taking the walk through the rehab door.
Treat them like people.
My doctors addicted me to opiates and I’m still fighting that battle (on my own). My pain was real and did require that amount of pain meds, but there does come an end for some of us and there is no end to opiates. They make you hypersensitive and create greater pain.
Be kind. Understand that you can’t understand. Accept that you cannot comprehend the pain of detox until you’ve felt it. Then understand the it’s so bad that YOU would do anything to avoid that pain.
He cares as much about you as he does about the Constitution, which sadly, is not at all.
Best of luck to you.
Treat them like people.
I have empathy for people who got stuck on drugs. I've known a lot of them, and it is very difficult to put your life right after this. As one Heroin addict told me, "I will always be craving that drug."
Again, the best answer is to never let someone get so strung out. Trying to repair damage after the fact is more difficult than preventing it in the first place.