My dad (who lives in Ohio, just like me) uses a Fentanyl patch and takes Vicodin for his chronic pain. He already has to go to the doctor every 30 days for his Fentanyl and it’s a pain in the ass for him because, well, he’s in pain. It’s about 30 minutes away to the doc.
I heard some about this new bill on NPR this morning and the reasoning behind it. I agreed with the idea that you don’t want someone having a tooth pulled and going home with 30 days worth of Vicodin. But that was about the end of me agreeing that this bill makes any sense.
I do worry about my dad and his dependence on opioids. My friend lost her 25-year-old brother last year to his post-back-surgery dependence. Just this week I heard that a guy who did some carpentry at my house over the past two years died of a heroin overdose - because of addiction for back pain. All I can say I guess is that thankfully however hard it is for my dad to get his Fentanyl because of his hermit-like lifestyle, it’s that much harder for him to get heroin.
I did hear on NPR that there were “loopholes” in the law. I was hoping they would be people with established histories of prescriptions who have not caused any problems and are following the laws. One would think that could be a valid loophole. But from what I heard it seems like the only loopholes are for palative care, cancer patients and hospice.
I really hope that doctors and patients can find a way to push back here.
ETA: Thanks for the info steronz. You typed while I was typing. Hoping my dad can qualify for the looser dosing regs. It won’t, however, stop the amount of bitching I will need to hear about this for the next month. ha!
These people who go from pharmacy supplied opiates to heroin…well, how? As a physical fact, how do they take their heroin? Do they take on online course in shooting up? Where do they get their needles?
Which leads to the next question: how many of these OD’s are directly attributable to the incompetence of the user? Pretty sure bet the average American has little to no idea how to inject themselves intravenously.
And where do they get it? They got a connection they know from the PTA, or the Antioch Baptist Church?
Once your prescribed pills run out, you get pills from a dealer. Dealers aren’t hard to find, especially in small towns where everyone knows everyone. Becoming a dealer is pretty easy too, since lots of people have extra pills they’re willing to sell. It’s trivial to become the guy who just collects and re-sells everyone’s extra pills. It’s also hard to resist selling those extra pills when jobs are scarce.
Once your money for pills runs out, you ask your dealer if they can point you to another dealer where you can get heroin. That dealer, I’m sure, has clients who can help you learn how to shoot up.
I’m not really sure what your point is. The problem with opiate addiction is real. Prescription pills are a common gateway to heroin. Is any of this in dispute?
I should point out that in Ohio, there was a law working its way to the legislature that didn’t have the support of doctors and medical associations because it didn’t give doctors leeway in overriding the limits. Kasich’s regulation does. It seems like a fine compromise given the drug problem here. What’s the issue?
This Tren’un chick is grateful she has hoarded (legally prescribed) Percocet for the really bad pain days. Not that three herniated discs and spinal stenosis is, ya know, that bad . . . yah, not painful at all
Fucking stoopid bastid Christie & his Truckload of Sycophant Deplorables.
Where do these people get extra pills they are willing to sell if the new rules make it really hard to get any pills at all, let alone extra ones that they are willing to sell?
From a non-fully used prescription. I think I’ve still got 4 or 5 Vicodin floating around the house somewhere from a kidney stone episode a few years back. Didn’t need them because Motrin seemed to work much better, and the stones passed fairly quickly.
But I suspect they’re too high to notice. :dubious:
Again, from the Dispatch article:
" The limits apply to acute pain, such as after surgery, dental work, broken bones, sprains and other ailments that heal. They will not apply to cancer patients, palliative and hospice care and medication-assisted treatment for people dealing with addictions."
I suspect that this law will unnecessarily inconvenience a lot of people with serious pain for an acute nature. But it’s not as if cancer and other chronic pain patients are targeted.
I Truly Honestly Feel for you. I Hate that this is happening. I don’t support it, I don’t condone it. Christie has always been like a foaming-at-the-mouth McGruff-with-a-Schmeisser concerning anything tangentially related to even the perception of reasonable use of any pain medication.
Not that he does anything smart about it though. Drug dealers still drive in circles around at least one school in my town. I think having one headlight out means “open for business” (I can’t honestly think why college aged kids in crappy sub compacts would keep circling and circling a middle school with one headlight out otherwise).
A lot of us didn’t vote for him and hate him. Some people joke that the only reason he isn’t going to jail with Kelly and Baroni is to prevent overcrowding in prisons.
The Governor is a moron, but not all the people here are. I mean, Op… you wouldn’t want people calling you a Trump Supporting Moron just because you live in the US, right?
Not at all sure, didn’t think I had one, but apparently I have, and its one you appear eager to rebut. I will shrug and accept, as I have nothing to compare with your encyclopedic knowledge and expertise.
It makes no sense at all. She knows where Ohio is. She’s there! It’s the city that’s gone. It’s a sarcastic comment. ‘Way to go, Ohio’ for letting this happen to the city would be the same as ‘Smooth move, Exlax’.
Heroin gets taken various ways. It’s widely available in capsule form, that can be used like prescription pills… and is usually cheaper than prescription pills.
IV use is the easiest way to overdose. Instructions for everything are on the web, but my guess is that an acquaintance will demonstrate technique at some point.
ODs are commonly due to:
Using after a period of abstinence–tolerance drops off quickly, so if the person uses the same amount they shot 10 days earlier, it’s likely to be too much.
And inconstant drug strength. Fentenyl is dozens of times more potent than heroin, and it’s often added to street heroin to bump the strength.
What ‘extra’? 1 pill 4 time a day for 5 days, and here’s a few more ‘just in case’? They doing things different in Ohio pharmacies?
And I just listened to the song again and am now sure that El_Kabong was pulling my leg.
They doing things different in Ohio pharmacies?