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Opioids: The Crisis of Our Lifetime
Townhall.com ^ | Dec 19, 2017 | Salena Zito

Posted on 12/18/2017 9:09:58 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom

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Just what America needs, another war on drugs, because we did so well in the last war.
1 posted on 12/18/2017 9:09:58 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

Bull$hite - The crisis of our lifetime is that our great Country is being destroyed right before our eyes by the progs and FEW are even raising their voices.


2 posted on 12/18/2017 9:14:26 PM PST by snooter55 (People may doubt what you say, but they will always believe what you do)
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IMHO, this is a symptom not a cause.


3 posted on 12/18/2017 9:14:40 PM PST by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

[[Opioids: The Crisis of Our Lifetime]]

Correction- illicit drug use and SOME doctors abusing prescription handouts is the ‘crisis’ of our time- But since we can’t get illegal drug use stopped- guess it’s just easier making life miserable for 1000’s of folks that legitimately need effective pain relief


4 posted on 12/18/2017 9:16:21 PM PST by Bob434
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

The MSM-Democrats hung AIDS and Crack around Reagan’s neck.

Somehow, the opioid epidemic got hung around no one’s neck.


5 posted on 12/18/2017 9:17:32 PM PST by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrat's John Dean])
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

The government (and most corporations) are incapable of managing ANYTHING unless is is a crisis. This war on drugs is actually a war on people who suffer from chronic pain. They are being lumped in with all of the IV heroin/fentanyl drug users/losers out there.

Over 40 years ago when I was in college I was working as an orderly in an ER in suburban Detroit. There was a heroin “epidemic” going on and I saw lots of dead, OD’d young people. Same thing I’m seeing today as an ER provider.

There is no substitute for opioids for people with chronic pain and they are NOT the problem but our masters haven’t figured that one out yet.


6 posted on 12/18/2017 9:18:55 PM PST by 43north (Drive the scenic route and take the dog (no pit bulls please).)
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To: D-fendr

Don’t be so humble.


7 posted on 12/18/2017 9:20:56 PM PST by MortMan (I can resist anything, except temptation. /sarc)
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To: Bob434

There have been investigations that show some of these doctors operating out of strip malls and other shady areas are nothing more than drug dealers. All day gang members wheel in their grandparents and other relatives and walk out with a stack of prescriptions.


8 posted on 12/18/2017 9:22:36 PM PST by LukeL
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

I understand that opioids cause constipation. How do
opioid addicts deal with that? ExLax a smart stock
investment er, what?


9 posted on 12/18/2017 9:28:04 PM PST by Sivad (NorCal red turf)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
I have no idea how this problem can be fixed. Opioids are incredibly addictive, and also apparently medically useful for the treatment of severe pain. A lot of opioid addicts are people with medical conditions who started with prescriptions for Oxycontin or Percocet. And then there are the people who tried heroin once or twice, became addicted and now can't stop.

I don't know how declaring a war on something this addictive can work, or how it can be eliminated from medical treatments without something just as effective in pain relief.
10 posted on 12/18/2017 9:30:05 PM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: LukeL

i do think some docs had a tendency to overprescibe years ago- and folks did end up getting addicted as a result- however- it was not a ‘crisis’- and reeducating docs on the proper prescription procedures would be far better than telling surgery patients, cancer patients who are dying- spinal injury folks etc that they can’t get adequate pain relief WITHOUT the dang hassles they get today


11 posted on 12/18/2017 9:30:25 PM PST by Bob434
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To: 43north

[[This war on drugs is actually a war on people who suffer from chronic pain. They are being lumped in with all of the IV heroin/fentanyl drug users/losers out there.]]

Exactly- While some folks can and have become addicted while on prescription drugs- usually it was because doctors were prescribing them for too long i n the case of folks addicted after surgeries or temporary pain- when taken for short periods they are used by 10’s of 1000’s of people without becoming addicted- and in the case of Chronic pain- one has to ask what does it matter if they become addicted if they have to live with pain so bad they can’t move without the drugs? That would be no life- these drugs at least give them a little bit of life back-


12 posted on 12/18/2017 9:38:32 PM PST by Bob434
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To: LukeL

That who was supplying our family member. A pediatrician who had a line outside his office in a strip mall in s. FL. 100$ for an script.


13 posted on 12/18/2017 9:39:58 PM PST by Oldexpat
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

The reason there are so many overdoses is because these dealers are putting fentenyl in the heroin.


14 posted on 12/18/2017 9:42:24 PM PST by HollyB
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
There is a war for drugs. WTH do ya think we're in Afghanistan for? The scenery

Military Industrial doesn't have squat on the Consolidated Deep State. They control all the angles.

15 posted on 12/18/2017 9:51:48 PM PST by rawcatslyentist ("All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing")
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

If we are going to have a “war on drugs”, at least let’s have a real war, and start having public hangings of dealers.


16 posted on 12/18/2017 9:52:57 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Bob434
I blame patients who demand narcotics and don't listen to their doc about exercise,diet,anti inflammatories, etc

lets face reality....most people who go to their doctor expect a prescription...whether its because they have a scratchy throat or sinus pain or a sore knee....you want antibiotics and you want pain pills...

there's a reason we have drug resistant germs out there....same goes for narcotics...

massive massive overuse...

we need to become a little more sturdy people....a little more substance than what we are...

17 posted on 12/18/2017 10:06:36 PM PST by cherry
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

Opioids BS. More people die from Alcohol. Alcohol is involved in 50% of crime,50% of Murders, 50% of automobile deaths, destroyed families etc.


18 posted on 12/18/2017 10:09:20 PM PST by heights
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

Our Borders being flooded with Welfare cases and the destruction on the White Working Class America.


19 posted on 12/18/2017 10:12:46 PM PST by heights
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To: cherry

There is some truth to that, but, in some cases NOT taking opioids can cause more rapid deterioration of a joint than if they were taken.

A case in point is my Mom. She’s a little overweight, but not badly so. Arthritis began taking out a knee, eventually progressing to a point where (short of an opioid) NO treatment was effective enough for her to walk without debilitating pain. Her doctor felt she was a poor candidate for knee replacement surgery. (Actually, I suspect the leg is so deformed now, that at least a foot of bone structure on either side of the joint, plus the knee joint itself would have to be replaced.) My Mom resisted the idea of taking an opioid, because she did not want to get addicted, but eventually she agreed to take one. It caused hallucinations, so she went back off it, but then moving around was so difficult that she did even less and less physical activity — basically a negative feedback / downward spiral. This caused other problems such as congestive heart failure to worsen, and she ended up in the hospital. Long story short, a different opioid was tried, and it has been less problematic, but my Mom’s pain is still so great that she’s is only making very slight progress in Rehab. She is still mentally pretty sharp, and KNOWS* that unless she can “transfer” (to the toilet in particular), not only can’t she go back to her Independent Living Apt., she would not even be able to go to Assisted Living. She’d have to go to a Nursing Home and give up virtually all her remaining belongings, as well as be in an existence she would hate. So, she tries hard to do the rehab, but, only so much agony can be endured.

*Keeping one’s wits about them is not always best in all ways, I fear.

IF the 1st opioid her Dr. had prescribed had not presented such strong side effects, Mom might still be on her feet. But, there is of course no way to know for sure which side effects may occur in a given patient at relatively “safe” dosing levels...

I am trying to make some diet changes in particular, myself. But, you know, even with them, I may be lucky to do better than my Mom. After all, despite most of the family being reasonably healthy, she’s outlived all but 2 of her relatives of her generation that I know of. (One cousin had a considerably younger wife who’s still around, and my Dad’s younger sister is still going very strong. God, I hope I got some of those genes! She follows no special diet, and takes virtually no meds.) Ditto for almost all Mom’s friends going back to college or earlier. (I know only of one within 10 years of her, who is still with us.)

A real problem is the food at most homes for the elderly. As Mom’s heart specialist told her, most of these places are literally killing their residents...


20 posted on 12/18/2017 11:36:12 PM PST by Paul R. (I don't want to be energy free, we want to be energy dominant in terms of the world. -D. Trump)
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