ladyfoxfyre >> step in please

The BBQ Pit
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[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
And that’s it in a thumbnail sketch. It’s really much more complicated than that, but we needn’t elaborate, since I’m not sure anyone will be reading this post with interest anyway.
[/QUOTE]

Not so. I didn’t know how methadone worked. Also, I always like to learn from someone who knows what he’s talking about, rather than just some boring text without a personality.

[QUOTE=chorpler]
I’ve noticed quite a discrepancy in the way people describe the euphoria they experience from opiates; some describe it as orgasm-like, but more say something like “It’s a pleasant warmth” or “It’s like being wrapped in a security blanket that makes your problems go away.”
[/QUOTE]

My experience (with Lortab): I fall asleep without any of the supposed euphoria or warmth. I’m a complete lightweight.

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[QUOTE=brazil84]

But I do admit that many of the societal problems from drug addiction are really the result of prohibition. A lot of the lying, cheating, and stealing by drug addicts results from the fact that drugs are difficult and expensive to obtain.

[/QUOTE]

In most places they are neither.

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[QUOTE=Loach]
In most places they are neither.
[/QUOTE]

Are you saying that in most places, opioids are easy and cheap to obtain?

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[QUOTE=brazil84]
Are you saying that in most places, opioids are easy and cheap to obtain?
[/QUOTE]

Most of the few opiate addicts I’ve known did not work regular jobs if at all, occasionally panhandled and barely had enough to eat most days. Yet, they rarely seemed to have much trouble obtaining their fix. I’d say that’s the very definition of “cheap and easy to obtain,” wouldn’t you?

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[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]
Most of the few opiate addicts I’ve known did not work regular jobs if at all, occasionally panhandled and barely had enough to eat most days.
[/quote]

Did it occur to you that they were spending all their money on food? Or that they were lying, cheating, and stealing to support their drug habits?

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[QUOTE=brazil84]
Did it occur to you that they were spending all their money on food? Or that they were lying, cheating, and stealing to support their drug habits?
[/QUOTE]

Actually, I just assumed that’s what they were doing. Your point being?

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[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]
Actually, I just assumed that’s what they were doing. Your point being?
[/QUOTE]

Two points: First, not having much to eat doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t spending much money on opiates.

Second, If you regularly lie cheat and steal to get drug money, you can easily spend a lot of money to feed your drug habit without appearing to be wealthy.

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[QUOTE=kidchameleon]
Don’t we have an obligation at some point to keep people from unknowingly killing themselves in the persuit of self happiness? Drug interations are serious and complicated issues requiring a lot of education which far exceeds that of the common person.
[/QUOTE]
I agree that in most cases, we have a moral obligation to do such interventions, especially when it involves friends or family. But a moral obligation ought not necessarily to be a civic one. Otherwise, what is to stop say, a right-wing Christian, from enacting his own moral imperatives as civil law?

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[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
Anyway, back from din-din, and I wanted to add a few words about harm reduction and opiates.

[…snip…]

And that’s it in a thumbnail sketch. It’s really much more complicated than that, but we needn’t elaborate, since I’m not sure anyone will be reading this post with interest anyway.
[/QUOTE]
I think your perception on that score is terrible skewed. Even though I disagree with you on the political implications of this and other problems, I never find your posts to be uninteresting. What would be uninteresting is nothing but posts that say, “Yeah, Lib, that’s pretty much how I see things as well.” You hang in there, and keep cranking them out.

(And Samclem, I know you didn’t mean this, but you actually implied that his posts are worth half of what he paid to subscribe. People read for free. :))

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[channelling Sally Fields]You like me! You really like me![/channelling Sally Fields]

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[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]
Most of the few opiate addicts I’ve known did not work regular jobs if at all, occasionally panhandled and barely had enough to eat most days. Yet, they rarely seemed to have much trouble obtaining their fix. I’d say that’s the very definition of “cheap and easy to obtain,” wouldn’t you?
[/QUOTE]

I have to disagree – if drugs are so expensive that you have to spend all or almost all of the money you can obtain from prostitution, panhandling, stealing, etc. on them, such that you can’t afford food and shelter, they’re certainly not cheap.

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[QUOTE=chorpler]
I have to disagree – if drugs are so expensive that you have to spend all or almost all of the money you can obtain from prostitution, panhandling, stealing, etc. on them, such that you can’t afford food and shelter, they’re certainly not cheap.
[/QUOTE]

I agree with you, and I think that one needs to distinguish between the price of 1 hit and the price of feeding your addiction to your heart’s content. If heroin were cheap, women (and men) wouldn’t prostitute themselves to get money to buy it. Attorneys wouldn’t steal money from their trust accounts to buy it. People wouldn’t risk years in jail to forge prescriptions to get it.

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[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
Without breaking the board’s rules about discussing drug use
[/QUOTE]

Board rules? Which one is that?

:confused:

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[QUOTE=Guinastasia]
Board rules? Which one is that?

:confused:
[/QUOTE]

The one where it’s not cool to give pointers on how to best get high.

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By the way, if anyone still thinks opiates aren’t that expensive, I invite you to do a web search for “heroin addiction stories” or “poppy tea addiction” or things like this. You will find story after story of people who blew serious money feeding their opiate addictions.

Again, it might not cost that much money to buy a couple oxycontins on the street. The problem is that an addict is not happy with a couple oxycontins now and then. And it’s extremely easy to wander from being an occasional user to being a serious addict.

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[QUOTE=Nutty Bunny]
I agree. If I were able to get pain meds as easily as tylenol, I would be right back into full-blown opiate addiction.

I used to be one of the addicts that ladyfoxfyre and Foxy40 are having a dandy time tittering and high-fiving about. :rolleyes: It’s the regulation of the drug (as well as the fact that I’m a mother now) that keeps me out of trouble. I’ll admit it, I do need “nannying” in this case. I never went so far as to forge scripts, but I was always at the pharmacy at 8:00 am the morning I was able to get it refilled, even if I had used it up daaaaays before.
[/QUOTE]

It isn’t about “tittering” more about commiserating. My practice is trying to treat patients, not be therapists and certainly not be detectives. Addicts take time away from caring for people we can help. An addict doesn’t want help, they want their fix and will manipulate in whatever way they think will work to get it. The point of my one post on this thread was the shame that the addicts behavior makes us distrustful of the legitimate sufferer that may be helped with an opiate but we’d rather not have to babysit suspicious behavior and so will rarely prescribed them.

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Quadop The Mercotan I never find your posts uninteresting.

As the wife of a former methadone addict, I’d like to back up what you said.

He started with a $25 pill. At the end, he was spending over $200 a day. He blew through his trust, blew through my pay, borrowed money, sold shit, etc.

I’ve often said he could go get methadone faster than he could get a burger at McDonalds. 24/7. Drug dealers are nice that way. My husbands dealer effectively ran a drive thru. Across the street from a hospital with a rehab clinic.

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[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]
Most of the few opiate addicts I’ve known did not work regular jobs if at all, occasionally panhandled and barely had enough to eat most days. Yet, they rarely seemed to have much trouble obtaining their fix. I’d say that’s the very definition of “cheap and easy to obtain,” wouldn’t you?
[/QUOTE]

Overall, opiates are rather easy to obtain, mainly schedule III narcotics like Lortab, Vicodin and other Hydrocodone products, simply due to the internet. Stuff like percocet, oxycontin and methadone is a little more difficult to get unless you know the right person.

But what’s really bothersome is that, in this country, I could go out and get a bag of heroin (I’ve never done heroin in my life, but have many friends that have done and still do it) easier than I can get a legal narcotic prescription to help me for pain.

Which brings me to my whole point. Pharmacies have too much authority in my opinion. When a person comes in with a prescription, if the medication doesn’t interact with anything else, they should smile, say thank you and fill it. No matter what the insurance company states, no matter if it’s a little too early, no matter what they think, period.

Now if the person just had some filled two weeks ago, I can see their argument. Sure, don’t fill it. But if they had 12 filled 3 WEEKS AGO, come on. I’ve even mentioned this to my doctor and he just shakes his head in disbelief. He knows how some pharmacies are when it comes to narcotics.

The prescription was written by a doctor for a reason. The Doctor wrote it because the person needs it, plain and simple. Yes, there are Doctor shoppers, yes there are less than trustworthy people out here, but for the most part, people need their pain meds.

I’m glad that the pharmacist is there to “look out” for the patient. But he/she’s not the Doctor. But what really gets me is, who the hell is the pharmacist assistant to “look out” for me?!$! No thank you.

Guys, living in excruciating pain is no joke. Sometimes I’m in so much pain that I can’t even have a bowel movement without yelping in pain. I have to take stool softener daily for fear of screaming in pain pushing out a turd. I can’t walk for any longer than a few minutes without sitting back down. I can’t do anything requiring any type of movement. I have a very limited life.

And then I go to a pharmacy to get my Lortab (which hardly does anything to relieve my pain) and I have some pharmacy assistant there writing all over my prescription because I’m a few days too early !?! Not right, not right at all.

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They were following the doctor’s instructions. If your doctor through his training and experience believes you should have more then it is an easy fix. He can change the prescriptions.

Your doctor is the one looking out for you. They are only following his instructions. If things are not working out for you, go back to the doctor. You are going to wind up in pain, with a tolerance to opiates so they don’t work, and addicted.

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[QUOTE=diggleblop]

Guys, living in excruciating pain is no joke. Sometimes I’m in so much pain that I can’t even have a bowel movement without yelping in pain. I have to take stool softener daily for fear of screaming in pain pushing out a turd. I can’t walk for any longer than a few minutes without sitting back down. I can’t do anything requiring any type of movement. I have a very limited life.
[/QUOTE]

You know that opiates create constipation and hard stools, right? I’m not sure that using the pain caused by opiate use as the reason you need opiates is the logical path you want to go down here.

As for the rest of it, I am sorry you’re in pain, and I do think you’re entitled to appropriate pain relief. I think the pharmacy as described in your thread was completely unprofessional in how they handled your case - especially the muttering, running away and not telling you what was really going on. I didn’t post the link to your methadone post to be nasty, or to say I didn’t believe you, but to try and develop a bigger picture of the situation.

You’re in pain. You need treatment. You’re also an admitted addict in methadone treatment. All three things are facts relevant to the story, not judgments.