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Blaming MDs for Opioid Crisis Is Malarkey
Townhall.com ^ | November 1, 2017 | Betsy McCaughey

Posted on 11/01/2017 9:14:33 AM PDT by Kaslin

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To: SMARTY

“Of all the addicts now, how many can say they were coerced into taking drugs?”

I think it’s more a matter of easy access. People don’t realize that “heroin” these days comes in a pill form ... and its cheap.

Back in the 80s-90s, when I was a kid, I only saw marijuana and the occasional cocaine or acid user here and there. I was never into any of that garbage (well, beer and the occasional weed hit). Anecdotal, yes, but the town I grew up in was basically a drug free zone compared to today.

I never saw heroin, and of my friends from back then that continued to use drugs, only two come to mind that found heroin later in life (one beat it, the other hasn’t ... and it is frigging sad). Most of us simply weren’t too into anything dealing with drugs and booze after hitting 18. Life was a lot more interesting than that garbage.
Moreover, while weed was cheap, coke wasn’t ... and I don’t think the other illicit drugs were exactly cheap.

These days, according to my stepson anyway, it is a piece of cake to get all sorts of pills for next to nothing. Doesn’t matter how poor or rich your neighborhood is ... there are drugs everywhere.

Today, there’s simply a higher probability that someone, regardless of their intelligence or how they were raised, makes a ridiculously stupid decision in a social situation that leads to a life of torture due to the abundance of these drugs. They are literally everywhere. The drugs are so damn cheap that you might have your drinks spiked with the crap and not even know it!

The drug problem in this country is more on the illegal supply side. There’s far too much out there. I won’t discount doctors being pill pushers, but fighting them right now is not the right battle. The scum that deal this crap should be dealt with ... I’d even advocate the death penalty for those that get caught dealing more than twice. Drugs like meth and heroin destroy entire communities these days.


41 posted on 11/01/2017 10:38:45 AM PDT by edh (I need a better tagline)
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To: zeestephen
Why should people who have severe pain be punished because 2% of the population wants to get high on opioids?

People seem to have an innate need to control other people because "I know what's moral/correct/healthy/best for you." This goes for people on all sides of the political spectrum.

42 posted on 11/01/2017 10:42:09 AM PDT by thesharkboy (Charter member of the Basket of Deplorables)
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To: Kaslin

I don’t buy the data presented by the author.

I’ve known 3 opioid pill addicts, and all of them got their start with prescriptions...AND MAINTAINED THEIR ADDICTION WITH PRESCRIPTIONS.

Yes, in the case of those three, doctors contributed and enabled their poor character and weakness of their addiction.


43 posted on 11/01/2017 10:42:15 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Kaslin

“Half of addicts who quit do it without treatment. “

Likely a higher number.

Those who quit on their own (taper down, then cold turkey) never hit the radar.

I know that was my case.


44 posted on 11/01/2017 10:46:35 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: jimmygrace

Tylenol is the biggest cause of liver disease.


45 posted on 11/01/2017 10:50:19 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Bob434

Well said.


46 posted on 11/01/2017 10:52:13 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: jimmygrace

I see a tremendous amount of people on chronic opioids for muscle skeletal pain, prescribed by pain clinics. Isn’t it interesting that the rise in opioid abuse coincides with the rise in pain management center, which do things extremely well.

1. They know how to prescribe
2. They know how to bill


47 posted on 11/01/2017 11:07:07 AM PDT by nikos1121 (Let's get Newt in there to help...)
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To: Bob434

‘and good people are suffering as a result-’

typical bureaucratic nonsense; why work something out reasonably, when you can overkill it...

I had oral surgery some years ago; pain from sliced gums is quite the exotic experience...naproxen (Aleve) did nothing; hydrocontin with acetominiphen (Norco) worked beautifully...


48 posted on 11/01/2017 11:11:58 AM PDT by IrishBrigade
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To: mplc51
Did you also demand the end of sales online and mail order of all alcoholic beverages? They are are a drug that is responsible for more deaths than pharmaceuticals. An addictive personality is going to get addicted to whatever they choose, food, alcohol, legal or illegal drugs, whatever, and they always will! This is not a condemnation, just a fact!

Forcing people to feed their addictions from illegal, unregulated sources always, always results in more crime and more death!

49 posted on 11/01/2017 11:13:33 AM PDT by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: xzins

’ I assume he’ll be going on short rest tonight.’

I thought Yu Darvish was going...if anyone should be rested, it’s he...


50 posted on 11/01/2017 11:14:56 AM PDT by IrishBrigade
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To: Bob434
They already watch opioid prescriptions at all the big pharmacies, and when red flags go up then they investigate. On top of that some pharmacies if you go to another pharmacy then the one you regularly use they won't fill it.They tell you that you must go to your regular pharmacy. They have been doing that for quite some time. Pain management doctors are required to have their patients tested on a regular basis, like every three months. If you come up clean they want to know why your medicine is not showing up in the test.

All of this is making it harder for them to become prescription mills.

My first wife's uncle was arrested for trading prescriptions for sexual favors with women. But that was a long time ago now. He got caught because someone turned him in. Most likely an enraged husband or boyfriend.

Then we knew of a doctor in Virginia that looked down your throat and prescribed whatever opioid you said works for you. But that too has been 14 years or more ago.

So yes the problem is much smaller than it used to be. The major problem today is home brewed opioid concoctions that have no controls on the strength being created. Another problem is the theft of prescription drugs from others & pharmacies. Though I suspect those are pretty low as well.

51 posted on 11/01/2017 11:16:55 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: from occupied ga

‘The problem is the a$$hole druggies’

you’ve hit the nail on the head...exactly...


52 posted on 11/01/2017 11:22:35 AM PDT by IrishBrigade
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To: IrishBrigade

What did Kershaw pitch last time...4 or 5 innings?

I assume he can go again on 3 days rest.

Long relief?


53 posted on 11/01/2017 11:23:30 AM PDT by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Support our troops by praying for their victory. L)
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To: Rebelbase

No welfare.
No free government medical treatment.
Hospitals don’t have to take anyone who hasn’t paid, and can’t be sued for that.

Most people still knew someone who died of overdose even back then. They also knew that unless they went to the church nobody was going to resuscitate an addict with no job who did it to themself.


54 posted on 11/01/2017 11:24:45 AM PDT by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: xzins

‘I assume he can go again on 3 days rest.’

I doubt we’ll see Kershaw tonight; and maybe never again in a Dodger uni...


55 posted on 11/01/2017 11:30:06 AM PDT by IrishBrigade
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To: edh

For the most part-It’s a lifestyle choice.

Trouble is, these morons make a choice then can’t live with the consequences. The mark of a truly immature and stupid person.


56 posted on 11/01/2017 11:31:46 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Nearly all men can stand adversity...to test a man's character, give him power." A. Lincoln)
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To: Kaslin

Doctors are clearly getting kickbacks from drug companies to write prescriptions. I had a couple of root canals done last year. Moderately painful, but nothing i can’t handle knowing the danger of opiates. Yet two dentists insisted I at least take the prescription just in case. They were way to eager to give me the scripts even after telling them twice I didn’t want or need it.


57 posted on 11/01/2017 11:35:07 AM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: jimmygrace

My brother in law is a doctor and he blames Joint Commission and their regs and demands on hospitals and doctors to declare war on patient pain. In the last couple of times I was in the hospital the first words they asked me is are you in pain and what is the level of pain 1-10 scale.

I had hemorrhoid surgery last year and there was some major pain and I was prescribed an opioid. I took as prescribed the following day and part of another day and then went to Tylenol with some discomfort but it was easily manageable with ice packs and after another day or two I was sore but fine. But they wanted to make sure I had no pain if possible.


58 posted on 11/01/2017 11:51:52 AM PDT by sarge83
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To: sarge83

That being said I have had friends who have gone to the local ER with sudden stomach or back pains and the local ER doctor only wanted to prescribe opioids and send them home. One lady friend of mine went to the ER for continuing back pain which she had never had before and she was in her 50’s and the doctor ran no test, did no x-rays, just wanted to write a script for pain meds and send her home. She finally yelled at him. “I am not some pill head looking for a hit, my back has hurt me for two weeks and isn’t getting better I want to know what is wrong with me. Either run some test and try and figure out why this is happening or get out of my room and send me a real doctor!”

She ended up leaving the ER and tore the script up and threw it at the doctor and said I won’t be back here to you quacks and went to a bigger city hospital and found out she had slipped a disc. Easily detectable but not when you are just trying to clear an ER out.


59 posted on 11/01/2017 11:58:04 AM PDT by sarge83
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To: sarge83

Opioids for hemorrhoid surgery sounds terrible! They make me constipated. I avoid them like the plague.


60 posted on 11/01/2017 12:41:09 PM PDT by tuffydoodle ("Never underestimate the total depravity of the average human being.")
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