40 Deaths Per Day

[Letterhead954]

I was looking up info on arthritis when I came across this article. http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20111101/40-us-deaths-a-day-from-prescription-painkillers

I have a friend who has some serious pain issues (but doesn't like the effects of mj) who gets relief from small, occasional doses of vicoden. But because of this abuse problem he literally can't get a prescription in our town. He has incredibly high pain tolerance but needs a small dose in the morning in order to function. As a result he has had to turn to the black market. He hates doing that but sees no other choice.

I know a lot has been written here about prescription painkillers, but this really shows one of the major differences between opiates and mmj.

 

Oops. That's 40 deaths per DAY. Anyone know how to change the heading?

[Timmahh]

title fixed.

[Croppled1]

Opiates are very , very dangerous but a tool that can help people survive longer with higher quality of life too . Heroin is legal in some countries it is just a opiate formula and when controlled in dosing effective and as safe as comparable products like Hydromorphone , fentanyl . It was first introduced by Bayer in the 1890's as a cure for morphine addiction , Doctors promoted it and distributed it freely and many became Dependant or addicted - it was never forgotten ,hated by those who saw the suffering any opiate use can cause . Because of this Heroin was removed from legal substances but the danger is not the formula but street dosing , dependance and those whom would abuse that to enslave people to abuse . In 1995 Purdue sold a new drug oxycontin as safe as aspirin that was promoted and prescribed for moderate to severe chronic pain - now you have suboxone and methadone as the Heroin of 1890 . 1 in 20 people cannot take them but the drug war constantly causes force , fear and anger responses toward patients that need love , understanding and help not hate . Very few people know or accept the truth . Many do not understand or even believe the pain others feel especially among patients whom either have or develop hormonal issues from a multitude of causes like a brain or spinal injury for example .

 

Nobody should be a slave to any drugs if they can get by without it . Everyone should understand dependence vrs the subjective and often abused term of addiction . Were in the infancy of understanding about permanent changes to body chemistry that can occur . Opiate tolerance is thought to be caused by full receptors and withdrawal by the salt effect on cell water retention . Cannabis use actually promotes more cannabinoid receptors as we understand things now unlike opioid which are constant . Patient choice and access after being properly educated on the possible consequences , benefits and with full support not tough love is what is needed . Pain patients are fighting discrimination from all sides . Then on top of it you have thieves attempting to profit and or steal under the cover of the chaos created by peoples illness thru hatred and confusion from a war on drugs .

 

I have never taken or even seen heroin in my life other then what is on TV . Everything I stated is verifiable in searches .

 

It is terrible what the war on drugs has done to the Doctor patient relationship as well as how egos effect patient care . We cannot fix everything and compromises are a constant . It is purely shameful how dependant patients are abused and treated in our society . Even how drug offenders are treated . From my experience as a patient I know our drug policies are barberic and punishment does not result in long term behavioral changes nor the advancement of knowledge .

[Letterhead954]

Thanks for taking care of that, Timmahh!

[purklize]

Both are essential. Mj helps with some pain better than opiates. Unfortunately opiates help me a lot more than mj with migraines, though the mj helps stop the vomiting. (I'd like to hear Schuette tell me how I look young and healthy when I'm projectile vomiting in his face! I have literally puked so hard from migraines that the toilet water splashed back all over my face, it can be so miserable!!!). Mj should be the first resort, opiates the last.... since I'm young an dhave no health insurance I am now cut off entirely from Percocet, which used to be my lifesaver, and it has been difficult... my head is clobbering me as I type this.

[puffaway]

I caught a show on National Geographic (or one of those type channels last week) called "The Oxycontin Express". It showed how screwed up Florida is. They said that 85% of the Oxy sold in our country is from prescriptions written by Florida doctors. They said the top 50 doctors for writing Oxy scripts in the entire nation are in Florida, and most of them in Broward County. They showed people obtaining oxy scripts and pills in these "pain clinics" that are all over the state. They must've had a hundred people waiting to see the doctor in one of them. All you had to do was bring in an evaluation of your MRI and statement from whoever read it that you have pain as a result of whatever the MRI is showing, and you walk out with up to 240 Oxy pills! They take nothing but cash, and dispense the pills to you onsite (again, cash only).

A daily flight goes to West Virginia and nearly everyone on the flight had been in Florida to get the pills. The people in the states surrounding West Virgina are being destroyed by the avaiilability of these strong and dangerous drugs. Their jails are full, their crime rates are insane, and as the sheriff they interviewed said "the people in Florida are making all the money from this problem and we are the ones who have to deal with all the costs of it all (both financially and morally)". He said there is not a family in his county who has not been affected negatively by it either thru addiction of a famiily member, or a family member being in the legal system as a result of it.

 

So you can see how one screwed up state can cause numbers like this to be so high. And we have the feds kicking in our door over MJ? WTF?????

[Croppled1]

I caught a show on National Geographic (or one of those type channels last week) called "The Oxycontin Express". It showed how screwed up Florida is. They said that 85% of the Oxy sold in our country is from prescriptions written by Florida doctors. They said the top 50 doctors for writing Oxy scripts in the entire nation are in Florida, and most of them in Broward County. They showed people obtaining oxy scripts and pills in these "pain clinics" that are all over the state. They must've had a hundred people waiting to see the doctor in one of them. All you had to do was bring in an evaluation of your MRI and statement from whoever read it that you have pain as a result of whatever the MRI is showing, and you walk out with up to 240 Oxy pills! They take nothing but cash, and dispense the pills to you onsite (again, cash only).

A daily flight goes to West Virginia and nearly everyone on the flight had been in Florida to get the pills. The people in the states surrounding West Virgina are being destroyed by the avaiilability of these strong and dangerous drugs. Their jails are full, their crime rates are insane, and as the sheriff they interviewed said "the people in Florida are making all the money from this problem and we are the ones who have to deal with all the costs of it all (both financially and morally)". He said there is not a family in his county who has not been affected negatively by it either thru addiction of a famiily member, or a family member being in the legal system as a result of it.

 

So you can see how one screwed up state can cause numbers like this to be so high. And we have the feds kicking in our door over MJ? WTF?????

 

 

Here is a link to the show you speak of but remember there are honest patients whom need their pain controlled and went into this in good faith that have to be maintained for life now . The DEA claim that everyone can be restored to normal is not true from my experience . It also makes no sense for people whom were in more pain then they could stand before to even attempt it . Patients need protections to continuance of care in their home States so they do not feel compelled to go to Florida " pill mills ." . Our substance abuse programs need a total revamping . Professional fee's increase costs and more days in voluntary supportive care with love , good food and slower weaning would often be more preferable . Long before oxycontin people were selling medication into black market demand . We need better support for patients whom have problems and protections that guarantee access in home states for those who have taken them for over a year for instance . It is traumatic when a Doctor or Patient moves now . .

 

http://www.hulu.com/watch/100279/vanguard-the-oxycontin-express

[purklize]

Their jails are full, their crime rates are insane,

 

The first is because a crime has been invented where none existed (possession or sale of oxycontin), and the second the same, as well as due to secondary effects of people trying to rob their way into enough money to afford blackmarket prices...

 

I can't criticize any pain clinic where the patients know what they're getting into. If the doctor tells an opiate-nieve person to try oxycontin, that it's benign etc, then that's dirty. But if they know, and want it, let them have it. I paid the price for the stereotypes about drug seeking pain faking young people. I got labeled a drug seeker because I tried over 16 different migraine drugs, none of which worked, and started begging for oxycontin, as Percocet had been the only thing to date that had killed a migraine. Not even Vicodin had done so. I haven't had access to it in 5 years and it's been very rough at times... let the "drug seekers" have their drugs, because when you try to cut them off, those with legitimate need like myself are the ones that pay the price. "Drug seekers" will ALWAYS find their sh1t, one way or another. Law abiding citizens, however, will not.