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njdoo7Jun 10, 2011
I wonder how many prescription drug deaths there are total, and not just those from abuse as the article cites.
Additionally,
"According to the CDC's Morbity and Mortality Weekly Report, ER visits for abuse of the class of painkillers know as opioids, such as oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin) and methadone, increased 111 percent between 2004 and 2008 from 144,600 to 305,900, that includes a 29 percent increase between 2007 and 2008. "
http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/06/17/cdc-prescription-drugs-send-as-many-to-er-as-illegal-drugs/
This a big problem people.
But don't worry we are gonna get the cannabis users and keep it outlawed so these injured/dead people cannot avoid it by by using an alternative that has never killed one person!! /s
gluesniffinedJun 10, 2011
It's called Darwinism. The 'problem' as you call it will eventually sort itself out. Once the junkies kill themselves off they will eventually remove their genes from the pool.
njdoo7Jun 10, 2011
I guess it depends on how you define Darwinism.
Someone who is prescribed highly addictive drugs that kill and injure hundreds of thousands a year instead of a less addictive safer alternative is a victim.
I don't necessarily see how you consider this Darwinism, unless you believe sick or diseased people should be killed off as quickly as possible instead of cured. It's quite Malthusian, and would fit the original meaning of the word Darwinism as studied/theorized by the inbred ruling class of Britain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwinism
gluesniffinedJun 10, 2011
Well, in the PSA ad's I see on TV they claim that addiction is a disease and that there is a genetic component involved; kids of addicts grow up to be addicts...etc. So the way I see it, if these addicts kill themselves off the chain of passing on that 'addict gene' is nipped in the bud.
I was prescribed narcotic pain killers (fentanyl) for when I had surgery on my shoulder, I tore the labrum completely off the bone and stripped of a huge stripe of cartilage from the ball . I took the pain killers AS DIRECTED (one when I felt pain but not more than one every X hours) and ended up with half a bottle of narcotic pain killers left over to dispose of. The addicts are not using the pills as they were directed, they are using them socially to get a high. If you opt for using these drugs socially I feel that you get what you have coming to you.
shallahkJul 1, 2011
Oxy is a Gateway drug to heroin ( see Vanguard documentary http://current.com/shows/vanguard/episodes/season-five/gateway-to-heroin/ )
what is mj gateway to besides junkfood?
the4thaggieJun 10, 2011
No one cares as long as big pharms contribute greatly to politico campaigns.
natru3alJun 10, 2011
I'm originally from Kentucky and oxycodin has that place on lock down. Just about everyone and their momma is using it. In Eastern Kentucky they had to hire prosecutors/judges from New York to come down and prosecute the drug cases because of how thin the blood is there. I personally don't see any sort of end to it all either.
Yazz9299Jun 10, 2011
30,000 died last year from abusing pills... Anyone else think a lot of these people would have died from abusing something else, like huffing, had the pills not been available?
njdoo7Jun 10, 2011
Good question. Here's another.
What percent started using only after being prescribed that specific pill when an alternative could have been used?
That percent of 30,000 could likely have been saved.
goweigusJun 10, 2011
I imagine that makes up at least half of the people
goweigusJun 10, 2011
I think most people who would do something as stupid as huffing would abuse prescription drugs if they could. But I don't think most people who technically abuse (use more than told) prescription drugs would ever huff.
I agree with njd007. Probably mostly people who got hooked because of the nature of the drug they took (narcotic, addictive), not because they were the kind of people who abuse drugs before that.
brewbeauJun 10, 2011
There is also a shockingly high rate of health illiteracy. So, there are a lot of people, especially ESL and geriatric patients, who are unable to read and properly take their prescribed drugs. A good deal of research is being done now on how to overcome that.
pharmaphoxJun 10, 2011
Here's what I learned from a pain/hospice expert.
You get your first morphine pills and start taking them. You say, "wow, these are nice. My pain is gone and they really help me relax and feel good!" After a time, you go back to your doctor and you say, "I don't think these are working anymore."
"No? Well, how's your pain?"
"Oh, my pain is still gone, but they don't make me feel as good as they used to, I don't know. I think they're wearing off."
This is where you have to understand what's happening. The high is a side effect that people get tolerant to, and if the patient or the doctor tries to chase that high with bigger and bigger doses, guess what that leads to?
On the other hand, if you target pain control with a realistic goal, (say 3/10 pain scale, something they can live with without being zoned out all the time), psychological addiction isn't likely.
The overwhelming problem, aside from the pill mills, I think, is a lack of patient-doctor communication. So many people are just given the script without having been asked about their pain or even told what the pills are for.
Yazz9299Jun 11, 2011
I understand the reasons for precaution, though I would like to interject that esspecially when doctors are trying to avoid addicts(or potential) from requesting/getting pain medications, those in serious distress not getting treatment are likely to do whatever they can for even a little bit of relief. Sure the cause needs to be discovered and treated, but that can take a long time while the patient can't perform day to day activities in the meanwhile. </vent></rant> lol.
googleGangStalkingJun 10, 2011
psychiatric meds ruined the last 2 and a half years of my life. forced to take them for a month and they wore off about a year later. sorta, I still feel them a little
boner79Jun 10, 2011
What pisses me off isn't stories like this every night on ABC World News but that these stories are typically sandwiched between commercial breaks of nothing but prescription drugs. I want to f**king stab that Restasis lady in her big buggy eyes with the Cialis guy's boner so bad.
rblancarteJun 10, 2011
I heard the stats last month about prescription drugs taking the top spot in the drug "problem" in the US. But this article really puts a face on it.
What I find really troubling is that you have a state with 98% of the doctors in the US handing oxycodone. And yet, they don't want to do anything to regulate on the situation, citing costs. WTF?!?!? This is the damn Tea Party at it's finest. Only looking at the costs of something, and not at the benefits or savings. They won't spend $1 to save $100 later. It is cases like this where I don't get how beating these guys in future elections isn't a slam dunk: "We have a drug crisis in our state and your current Governor condones it!"
Hopefully this is a problem that can be fixed and soon.
roddackJun 10, 2011
What a person consumes in their own choice and the government shouldn't be involved. If someone wants to take a fist fill of oxycodone then so be it as long as they are not violating the liberty of others the actions should be permissible. The price of liberty is that people can make costly mistakes and even run mortal risk.
rblancarteJun 10, 2011
In this case regulation would simply be keeping a list of who gets the prescription drugs and who gave them the prescription. When people are arrested for selling their drugs, it would allow the police to easily look up who they got them from & then look to see if those places (pharms or doctors) were illegally giving out drugs/prescriptions.
These drugs are regulated for a reason, used wrong, they are dangerous. This is why you need a prescription. I understand the desire to want to get high, but when something like this can so easily be abused, and it is already regulated, why not add a list to give an additional layer of security?
goweigusJun 10, 2011
Used right they are more dangerous than many illegal drugs used wrong. They could do a lot better with this if the DEA and such were more focused on prescription/legal drugs than harmless illegal ones.
goforthbillyJun 10, 2011
The Tea Party? Really? That's where you are going with this? The fact is that doctors hand these Narcotic medications out like candy. That is the problem. There is no-one forcing the doctors hand. They could easily prescribe non-narcotic medication that in many cases is just as effective. Ultram and Ultracet are very effective in managing pain, yet they are hardly ever prescribed. I understand what it is to be addicted to narcotic pain medication, hydrocode, oxycodone and oxycontin, xanax, valium. All the crap that the hand out so we as humans don't have to experience the slightest discomforts. Doctors are the problem, not the 'Tea Party'. I bet you are all on board with Obama's Health Care Plan Too. What a joke. Just so you know, recovering addict for five years. Personal responsibility goes a long way.
pharmaphoxJun 10, 2011
Thanks for realizing that blaming a problem that has existed for decades on a red-state movement two years old is quite the stretch.
It would be nice if Ultram were used more, but there are some good reasons why a lot of people shouldn't take it.
nikowolfJun 10, 2011
but prescription drugs can't be bad for you because they are legal.... /s
johnnysoftwareJun 10, 2011
It's legal to hit yourself in the hand with a hammer. Hard.
Good for you?
Probably not.
nikowolfJun 11, 2011
apparently you're missing the point.
kyzzyxxJun 10, 2011
greed = murder
kristen84Jun 10, 2011
I think it had to do with the 60's really. hippies was a gateway drug :P
pandaxrageJun 10, 2011
Decriminalize marijuana, it won't kill you.
mucha7012Jun 10, 2011
This is so true and so sad!
sniperhareJun 10, 2011
When I got my wisdom teeth taken out they gave me two refills of Oxycodone. After I was halfway through the first bottle I wasn't in much pain and called my dentist to ask if I needed to take them anymore. He told me to keep taking the pills until my mouth felt like it did before the surgery.
goweigusJun 10, 2011
I think that is what they gave me for when I had all 4 taken out at once, they even gave me laughing gas on the house (well they made it sound like that, but I never found out if the insurance paid for it or not). I don't think mine had a refill, but it was a full normal sized little orange thingy of it. I never even had to take any because it never hurt.
Passing losers in the hall at school, I can remember hearing them talk of the 'legal drug trade' in high school. Most of it was oxycodone, and some other heavy duty narcotic pain killers
barackalypseJun 10, 2011
So what? They died doing what they wanted to do and society benefits by ridding itself of the weak and the stupid.
goweigusJun 10, 2011
Just like innocent people in the electrical chair died doing what they wanted to do?
agmlauncherJun 10, 2011
Oh well. 30,000 people want to get high, that's the risk they take and the price they pay. 30,000 fewer druggies to drag the economy into a s**thole as far as I'm concerned.
God forbid they go off and learn a new skill, start a company, volunteer in their community, or work hard academically instead of trying to get high.
I doubt China has a problem like this. The Chinese actually give a f**k about their future both individually and collectively.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
4Herp2Derp0Jun 10, 2011
I feel you underestimate the power of addiction. Many people who are addicted to prescription pills got hooked after their doctors needlessly prescribed them. I was prescribed percocet after having a painful cyst drained. The draining alone took away all the pain. I was not even asked how much pain I was in after it was done, which was none at all, but the doctor just gave me the slip.
I doubt China has a problem as widespread as this too but you know what problem they do have? Widespread poverty. What a shining example.
I'm sure North Korea doesn't have a prescription pill problem as big as America either.
njdoo7Jun 10, 2011
I also want to know why these addictive pain killers are prescribed when there are less addictive safer alternatives. Oh that's right, the less addictive safer alternatives are illegal.
proprietarianismJun 10, 2011
Probably because just like Marijuana, big pharma pays to keep out the cheaper, less addictive drugs... Do we think that Lilly is going to make a non-opioid drug more available when they make a killing off of methodone?
agmlauncherJun 10, 2011
Fair enough, if they got addicted when they WEREN'T simply looking to get high because they think it's "fun", then I agree this is a massively serious problem.
But if you want to willfully take risks like abusing prescription drugs, I have no sympathy for you when those risks bite you in the ass. It means one less person with questionable decision making abilities to cancel out the vote of someone who's got their head on straight on election day.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
goweigusJun 10, 2011
When I got my 4 wisdom teeth pulled at once they gave me 'laughing gas' on the house simply because I asked if it would be involved at all (they hadn't planned on it). Then when it came time to assign me a narcotic pain killer, they too didn't ask me at all about how much it hurt or what I thought would work. I can't remember what it was called, but I'm 90% sure it way more up the list and completely inappropriate for wisdom teeth pain in normal people.
I never needed to use anything as they never hurt. Its almost as if doctors are paid to push drugs... Oh wait, they are.
rblancarteJun 10, 2011
Except that the costs fall back on all of us.
Let's ignore the costs of them getting help and treatment, or even their incarceration. Those are our tax dollars at work, which could be used on a lot more productive things.
Some of these guys are able to do this on their medical insurance. It is called FRAUD. And guess who get's hit with the impacts of medical fraud? The customers of the insurance companies.
No, you completely underestimate this, and their true impact on society as a whole. What is worse - you have doctors that are condoning this! WTF?!?!
njdoo7Jun 10, 2011
That's more of a problem with handling the situation, not the people themselves. It is impossible to rid society of these people, unless you plan on killing them all? Even then, I still submit not possible.
This same general problem (diseased and/or corrupt people) has plagued man for thousands of years; statism has yet to solve it.