Seems to be the source of the “extra pills” are the people who manufacture and distribute without looking any further than whether the check clears.
Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses
There’s a tad less than 2 million people in WV. God damn the pusher man!
Your take makes sense to me. And it sounds like ‘way to go’ as well.
It might get worse:
There’s no official talk yet, but if they change the schedule on gabapentin we know what the result will be: patients won’t be able to access it.
What the idiots don’t realize is that if you take away opioids then doctors will turn elsewhere. Gaba is generally considered a much safer and more effective for long term use drug for chronic pain(although it’s not very effective for acute pain). What happens when you take away Gaba?
Medical marijuana is legal in both states, though, so at least there’s that, though it looks like they’re still making it hard to get. States with legal medical marijuana have lower death rates from overdoses.
Do doctors even prescribe that stuff if you don’t ask?
I was at a party she was supposed to attend. I caught one host groping his sister. Couldn’t blame him. Looked like Nastasia Kinskie.
Do you mean “her” (Hynde’s) sister?
Or the host’s own sister? (Yuck!)
I’m no inmate yet, but the only way I can imagine getting a “high similar to cocaine” from snorting an anti-seizure drug that causes drowsiness and fatigue is the “cocaine” in prison is complete garbage. And in Florida, no less! Cruel and unusual, indeed.
I’ve been watching the mounting panic over opioid abuse for some time, growing ever more certain that the next time I need major surgery they’re going to discharge me with two aspirin and a stub of rope to bite on, while the junkies simply move on to Krokodil or whatever research-chem analog mystery death powder is shipping en masse from shadowy Chinese lab-factories that year.
That does seem alarming! But, although I do NOT want to defend drug companies, these shipments should all have been in response to a chain that began with physician-written prescriptions, no? How firm are the legal checks to prevent Joe the Plumber from pretending to be a pharmacist? Or a licensed pharmacist from forging a document trail?
Great article. I honestly don’t think the epidemic is caused or even visibly assisted by doctors that prescribe a dozen pills too many that might be eventually be stolen or given away. Really - do drug dealers go around buying pills from individuals 2 and 3 at a time? It seems like a lot of work.
I think the pharmacy (in a town of less than 400 ) that sold 9 million pills in two years might have been a greater source of diversion.
The new law seems to place the blame everywhere except where it should. Go after the people that are making huge legal profits from these drugs.
And then there is the problem of HOW OxyContin was described and prescribed. It’s supposed to last 12 hours. You’re not supposed to take it anymore often.
But the problem was it didn’t last 12 hours. And since it is closely related to heroin, when it wore off the patient experienced intense cravings and began to go into withdrawal. This exacerbated the addiction potential.
But the market dominance and high price were justified only if the 12 hour promise was real. So Purdue Pharma stuck to the claim and continually pushed the doctors not to prescribe more frequent doses. Instead, doctors were instructed to prescribe higher doses at 12 hour intervals and to continue to raise the dose if patients complained about the drug wearing off.
This explains why OxyContin users were more likely to become abusers than people that were prescribed Percocet or Lortab, for example
A, O, this is the Pit! I’m pretty sure it’s against the rules to not shit on Big T.
I take gabs for nerve pain due to herniated discs and am amazed it’s a drug of abuse - just how much is required to get high? I take a fairly high dose and all it does is help a lot with this type of pain. Zowks.
I’m bothered by the having to pick up a new RX every five days. I can work and do normal activities with pain mgmt drugs. I also have three cars and a retired wife, so visiting the doc’s office once a week for a script is, in reality, just an irritation. This legislation fucks over folks without resources, especially poor Af-Ams in this area. Not that Christie has ever given an iota of shit about Trenton, Camden, or Newark folk.
I’d rather that an addict score a few pills from gramma’s house than gramma having to spend five hours on public transport to reach her doc. As always, the histrionic War on Drugs hurts those with the fewest resources.
I’m actually for legalizing all drugs, but that’s a whole 'nother thread for me to get lambasted in 
I’m just amazed that there seems to be such a solid bipartisan consensus about keeping these drugs out of the hands of legitimate patients. Oh, they say that’s not their goal, but they’ve chilled pharmacies and doctors nicely so that getting access is extremely difficult. Go to any pharmacy with a n Rx: “Oh, we’re out of stock.” Go to the next ten, you’ll get the same answer. Not sure that a 7-day prescription makes a difference at this point, you’re not getting opioids anyway.
FWIW the HMO I subscribe to will renew my C-II med online, at least once so far. But then that’s for a stimulant, not an opioid.
I’m late to this thread … a bit a history, many years ago doctors were under heavy criticism for not doing enough to manage pain … “It’s all in your head” … so the DEA relaxed and we’re now allowing these opiates to be more frequently prescribed … perhaps we’ve been over-doing it and these new restrictions are just a knee-jerk reaction by these various State legislatures …
There’s a few things in the OP that don’t seem right … does it really take ten months to correct an iron deficiency, or it this something other than just a simple anemic condition? … and ten months on an opioid pain killer seems one hell of a long time … besides addiction, aren’t there negative consequences from such a prolonged use? …
Obviously if all other pain medication isn’t working, addiction might be preferred alternative to wrenching pain 24/7 …
Also a lesson for all the women out there over the age of ten years old … you gotta gotta gotta keep your Calcium and Vitamin D intake up to proper levels … failing to do so may well put you in a wheelchair the last 20 years of your life …
Let’s be clear: The pinheads responsible for this legislation are NOT conservatives - They’re reactionary control freaks with a serious disconnect from reality. They claim to be conservative, because that allows them to tap into a deep vein of intolerance and fear - i.e. “Power.”
A real conservative would’ve tried to leave things as much as they were before as possible, whilst experitmenting with small-scale solutions until something workable was found. All while spending as little money and creating as little new bureacracy as possible.
Yeah, I know - Tilting at a windmill. The word “Conservative” has been ruined more-or-less perminantly. 
This is what happens when people legislate from emotion, not data.
Over half of the addicts out there started by taking someone else’s medication. So, getting medications from the doctor for a legit reason isn’t the problem. A few percs after dental surgery isn’t the problem. It’s people taking drugs that don’t belong to them.
AND, it’s found that chronic pain patients taking opioids under physician supervision has an extremely low number of patients who show any indications of potential addiction at all. Something like 3%.
I just finished writing a detailed business proposal for my employer on this subject. Clients want some kinds of identification for members who might be showing risky behaviors, but we didn’t want to tag anyone who has been prescribed any opioids at all. That’s dumb and causes a lot of wasted time. So, lots of research led me to the above two bits of information.
The people who are against opioids for anyone who isn’t dying always say to take NSAIDS.
That advice and the desire to not take an increasing dose of opioids led to me taking prescription strength NSAIDS. I have chronic, inflammatory, early onset arthritis (exact type still undetermined), a heck of a 30-year-old back injury, and chronic migraine. NSAIDS rock.
They also have screwed up my esophagus. I had literal burns from the NSAIDS in my esophagus. I have had esophageal strictures and webbing; I could not swallow pills, bread, or steak. I nearly choked, literally, more than once.
Because of the damage from NSAIDS, I get to go in and have upper endoscopies where they stretch out any strictures and check me for damage. Five times last year.
NSAIDS also come with some major risks involving stroke and heart attack. No one ever remembers that.
But, hey, better than that 3% chance of addition. :rolleyes:
ETA: I miss being able to take Aleve, though. Damn that stuff works on inflammatory arthritis.
No True Scotsman.
Yeah, yeah.
This is a matter of definition, and yeah, I know no one in real life actualy sticks to definitions.
Too bad - I like definitions, and like to be as precise as possible.
Edit:
Also: This is the Pit, not GD.
Edit again:
And yeah, I know I’m ‘blowing hot and cold.’ Pit. So there.