I would recommend it if you could get an unlimited supply legally, for sure. I am convinced that this will eventually be the case one day too.
But take it from me being addicted to prescription opioids when they are illegal and not avaliable at every corner shop for pennies is not fun.
I got a scrip for Vicodin after getting all four wisdom teeth out at once, back in grad school. I probably still have the bottle sitting around somewhere (“just in case” … fuck off, my husband and I were both uninsured for a while) because I took them exactly twice and concluded that nausea + gaping oozing holes in mouth = bad.
What on earth is your basis for this belief? It’s not like the tide is turning that way.
Opiates are actually a large factor that holds me back from taking the stance that all drugs should be legalized. I could easily see myself becoming addicted to them if I had an easy-to-obtain unlimited supply. They feel *so *awesome and tolerance to them builds *so *quickly. Very dangerous combo.
(my bold)
So the illegality of the substance to which you are (were?) presumably addicted is the only negative factor at play here? Addiction itself isn’t inherently “not fun”? 
I have to back to work tomorrow. I’m a radio news anchor, so no more happy drugs for me.
Although it would make for the grooviest news since Carlin.
So because you feel you can not control yourself and not buy the legally available opioids, you have to screw it up for everybody else who can?
No, it’s because I don’t think I’m anywhere near alone in this. I don’t see how a large number of people wouldn’t be in a similar position.
Anyway, it’s just a feeling, not meant to be a reasoned argument. If it was my place to decide whether or not opiates should continue to be a controlled substance, I would be doing a lot more research and basing my verdict on that, not my feeling.
No fair! I took my prescribed doses of it for about two day after hand surgery and it did absolutely nothing for me but make me a bit drowsy. I gave it away to people who have more fun on opiates…
I’ve had Vicodin twice. The first time was after a minor wrist surgery. I took a few doses and disposed of the rest.
The second time was after having my tonsils out. I was given a prescription for the maximum dosage in liquid form. Holy shit, that stuff took effect in 10 minutes, especially because I had an empty stomach.
IME, Vicodin does little for me except make me sleepy. It does nothing for pain, and certainly doesn’t give me any good feelings. Each time I didn’t even finish my prescription.
Next time I have surgery I’d like to ask for a non-narcotic pain reliever, but I’m not sure what that would even be. What do narcotics addicts take when they have surgery?
Ibuprofen, generally.
Only used it once, after I got my wisdom teeth removed. Didn’t really feel like anything except it made me really sleepy.
The anesthesia was what made me loopy. I kept trying to crack jokes to the nurses, but because of all the gauze and junk in my mouth it just sounded like gibberish, and they had a hell of a time getting me to swallow the pills.
Vicodin did very little for me, really. Certainly no better than OTC NSAIDS. I had Dilaudid in the ER when I had a severe diverticulitis episode. It made me feel all warm and goofy, but the pain was still there, even if I really didn’t care that it was. But I guess that’s the point of opiates.
Anything with codeine makes me puke. I thought it was the taste of the cough syrup until my doc prescribed it in pill form and I still honked.
I strongly believe the tide is turning that way, if you wish to debate that start another thread 
I find your stance that opiates shouldn’t be legalized peculiar if you think other drugs should be. Opiates are rougly twice as addictive as alcohol, the only difference being that those who get addicted to opiates get addicted sooner.
But the most important thing that should be considered when discussing opiate addiction is that the damaging effects from it [IN ITSELF] are basically nill - you’re talking constipation, and possible hormone imbalances. All the other nasty effects come either from illegality, or giving them up (which is an irrelevance if they were legal)
(but to be perfectly clear, please, no one get addicted to opiates. Unless you suffer from a lot of depression or significant pain, in which case you may as well try them, the pros will outweigh the cons* - but go in with your eyes open)
*if they don’t you’ll quite quickly stop taking them - it’s not as if you get addicted from one dose.
Depends on the substance, the only thing I’m familiar with having a physical addiction with is opiates, but while it is an inconveinece being physically addicted to opiates I don’t see why in an idea world where you could get them wherever you liked why it would be any worse than our current shared human state of being “addicted” to food or water. If you want to explain why it would be worse go ahead.
Not that it really matters because they are illegal and while they remain so, said addiction should be hugely discouraged.
Forget it.
I suffered your physical reactions and feel this way about it as well. The first time I took it, after abdominal surgery, it did help mask the abdominal pain. But lordy, the puking, the crushing headache, and the sweating dizzyness are so not worth it.
Because when you’re addicted to opiates, you don’t need the same dosage of opiates forever and ever. Frankly, if that were the case, there wouldn’t be a problem. And if you’re old enough or have a limited life span, so that it is effectively true, then they’re pretty free with the opiates - my grandmother just got put into home hospice care on Friday and, I shit you not, a little vial of morphine is part of their “welcome” packet that everyone gets. More will be coming from the pharmacy tomorrow - and she’s not even in a particularly whole lot of pain. No one cares if Grandma gets hooked on morphine at this point.
But when you’re addicted to opiates when you’re young and have some life ahead of you, you need more and more of them as time goes on, just to get the same amount of pain relief. Then you reach a point where you can’t have a bowel movement because of all the opiates you’re taking, and you can’t get pain relief at that dose anymore. So you take more and more and then you stop being able to think clearly, and you’re tired all the time, and it’s still not enough to keep the pain away. So you take more and more and then you stop breathing and you die.
Really, we’re not trying to discourage opiate addiction because we’re big meanies. It’s because they make people miserable if they’re not used in pretty strict moderation.
Yeah that’s what I did. Wrote a reply out then I got to that and thought, what’s the point.
Morphine, nothing. Vicodin, okay. But demerol is great. Unfortunately, it makes me itch like crazy. It starts with my nose and then goes to my scalp. I don’t think I’m allergic - the nurses weren’t too concerned - but it’s a strange feeling.