Saw a great article in Politico on the state of the nation's treatment network (or severe lack thereof), the cost benefits of greatly expanding treatment for everyone, and a basic job/economic opportunities outlook for a strictly regulated treatment system that is available for all type approach. The cost benefit analysis doesn't go deep into the weeds, where many are usually lost, but it says enough, imo. My feelings on treatment for all are that in addition to saving hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars/year, it's also undeniably the caring/moral/Christian thing to do. Compassion, understanding, and real help for addicts instead of ostracization, contempt and lengthy jail sentences are exponentially more cost effective and successful in defeating drugs than the outdated, cruel, and according to scientific data, outright wrong views on addiction espoused by our current Attorney General, a supposed fiscal conservative and Christian, Jeff Sessions, ever dreamed of being. But by the grace of God, there go I.... Hope the article is helpful. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/21/opioids-treatment-politicians-media-219023 From the article:
If anyone feels this flirts with the political realm too much, feel free to move it. Despite speaking out against the current political mindset, a political figure was mentioned to simply highlight the vast chasm between what data on the subject shows and our current national policies on the subject. It's difficult to discuss what is needed without contrasting it with what we are currently doing. I assure everyone that politics was NOT my intention. Helping individuals who greatly need it was.
Medicinal marijuana for pain management. If you're caught with heroin, you get shot on the spot. That would stop it.
I'm not really being serious. You will have to do something about heroin if you take away the percocets. To stop it, you have to start with the pharmaceutical companies that push this shit on people. The next step would be doctors that prescribe it like candy to people with not so severe cases of pain. Then, you go after the people selling their prescriptions for cash.
The DOJ has been going harder the last 4 or so after criminal doctors that willfully push pills to people at rates they know are either abusive or fraudulent. Trump's DOJ has probably pushed even harder on that effort. It's a good place to start.
DOJ has been ramping up efforts. States are also cracking down. It's just an impossible task to some extent. Former doctor client had a former patient exchanging his pain meds in a nursing home to ladies for sex.
Shutting down "pain clinics" would be a good start too. Medicinal marijuana for pain is a must, in my mind, if you're going to stop opiates
I have seen, firsthand, people bragging about cutting a finger/toe/hand/foot off, getting government disability with a prescription of pills, selling said pills and living comfortably. This is happening a lot in rural areas.
I don't have a very high tolerance for people [itch bay]ing about pain when the pain is self induced. "I fell and broke my leg, gimme some of them pills!" kind of people piss me off.
Yup, and problem is Feds don't focus on rural areas. Do something like this in south Florida, and you are going to jail.
I was screwing around in the ER in an area of Montana I’ll call “Cali spell” and a guy came in looking for pills. He was addicted, had tried things like Suboxone, but he was going back to rehab next week, just as soon as his health insurance kicked in at his new job. And he got pills. And the attending told me “It’s safer this way. He’s going to go out and get it on the streets, or we can give it here, where we can manage it.” And I was just like “Dude.” I get it. I get the logic. But dude. That’s a lot of faith to support an addict.
And what was the guy's new job at which he would be either high or going through withdrawals? Ya, I dunno the answer on dealing with this.
20 something years ago, my first knee surgery, I had a button I'd push and I'd get IV morphine. I got all the pain pills I needed. I've had a couple more knee surgeries, my wisdom teeth pulled, and a couple of broken bones. I always got plenty of pain pills. My last shoulder surgery, they didn't give me shit what I needed, I was in pain a lot. I think they might have gone a little too far with taking away the pain pills. It was so bad with PT, I got depressed and anxiety, the Physical therapist told me I need to take pain pills, I said, they only have me 20, it lasted me a week.
I honestly don’t know how you change it. There’s just so much abuse in the system and I don’t see the demand for them changing.
It sucks working health and safety, trying to get your numbers down, and some jackass comes in to see your nurse talking about an injury and naming his pain pill of choice. Had a guy overinflate a wheelbarrow tire until it burst with his foreman and two general foreman yelling at him to stop. The first thing out of the guy's mouth when he got to the nurse's clinic was how some kind of painkiller would make his pain go away. He didn't get anything on that day. The next day it was a mysterious back injury that left him groaning in pain until his groaning turned to snoring laid up on the exam table. We had three guys who were similarly useless out of seven in the orientation class he attended. The other two simply had mysterious injuries that never seemed to go away unless there was easy overtime to be had. One got busted by a PI working around his house when he could barely walk at work.