The problem is that there is no right and wrong anymore. If it feels good, do it. If you don’t agree with it, then you are a racist, homophobe, drugphobe, whatever crap they can come up with to justify a damaging and sick behavior. If everyone followed biblical Christianity, there would be no drug addiction, venereal diseases, abortions, murders, assaults, etc. Biblical teachings aren’t there to keep people from having fun and living their lives, it’s there to keep people safe, happy and out of trouble.
Pain is horrible. I've witnessed it first hand with my dad and my father-n-law. After a period of time, it'll wear a man down to nothing more than a whimpering shell.
Addicts make up a very small percentage of folks in the grand scheme. Knukka-heads who use not because of a specific treatment, but recreationally.
At the end of the day though, the hypocrisy is deafening. Legislators spend a day figuring out how to deny the population of needed medications and at the end of the day slap each other on the back for a job well done...then meet at the local pub to knock back a few scotch and sodas.
Alcohol...the deadliest, most abused drug on the planet. And it's perfectly legal. lol
“If everyone followed biblical Christianity, there would be no drug addiction...”
I’m sorry, but that’s just foolishness. People go into hospitals all the time with medical problems and come out addicted to painkillers. Are you going to say going to hospitals is forbidden by Christianity?
I agree with most of what you posted and make an exception on drug addiction. I do so because it stems from two different causes one of which anyone including yourself could become addicted at any time.
First is recreational usage. It has no medical purpose and is for the thrill of the pill. Biblical principle covers that well. It's pretty well cut and dry.
The second one can happen to anyone including preachers, doctors, elderly, children who have no idea as to what drugs are, etc. It didn't happen in an illicit way but rather happened in the past three decades because of several factors changing in modern medical technology as well as pressures from insurers to do what was once mandatory three day minimal hospital stays into a come in at 6:00am for surgery and go home at 2:00pm with very potent pain meds once only used in hospitals.
Persons are now surviving physical trauma which a few decades ago meant almost certain death. With it for some comes a life long dependence on pain medications. Others will be shorter term patients who physically heal after a few months but needed medication during that healing process. After being cut off from medications they have needed previously the addiction overtakes them and their judgement.
Although I am not on painkillers as I can not tolerate Opiates I am medically dependent upon an often abused prescription medication I have taken several times daily since 1994. I have to have it to function. For me it is safe and I get no utopian feeling many says it produces. The drug is Xanax. It tones down my sensory processing system and controls myoclonic seizures I have. For recreational use especially with alcohol benzodiazepines can kill and because of abusers it obtained a bad reputation making it difficult to get a doctor to prescribe.
If I took the protocol medications once prescribed me the so called safer antidepressants I would be dead now due to an adverse reaction that makes it as potent as LSD in some patients and I fall into that risk group. Ironically benzodiazepines are the counteracting protocol for such an adverse reaction.
Many curse the drugs without any discernment as too legitimate need or taking into account how one becomes addicted to some medications. The medication I take I am told by some doctors will stop working after a short period of time and I will require more and more of it. Well it's been 22 years and I'm on a half a MG 3-4 times a day same dosage as 22 years ago and by golly it still works fine LOL. Take me off of it and I would not be able to leave my home nor tolerate many sounds or optical stimulation.
The media hyped medication witch hunts done in ignorance aimed at everyone with no distinctions make it much harder for patients like me to obtain legitimate medication. I have Inner Ear and likely some Cerebellar Sensory Processing Damage. My Inner Ears are damaged and possibly a portion of my brain which it coordinates with. I was likely born with it in the late 1950's and in the mid 1990's, misdiagnosed as ADD ADHD in the 1960's & it reached a disabling point in 1994 with seizure and multitasking issues onset. I only understood it in about 1999 thanks to getting a computer and doing some research using my medical history. Now when I see new doctors I have to explain my condition. Ironically General Practitioners used to know about Inner Ear Disorders. Today an Internal Medicine Specialist is as close as you'll get to the old cradle to grave GP's as far as overall knowledge goes.
OK back to my point. You do not hear anyone saying Hey we should re-think One day Surgery and address pain in the hospital where it was addressed before you could be discharged because they dispensed the medication and addressed reasons for pain as well. My prescription pain med is Ibuprofen 800mg. I also take Tizanidine instead of Opiates for Sciatica I've had for years. 40 of those generally last me a year.