Doctors and opioids, a troublesome connection.

[dre]

On 4/7/2017 at 7:38 PM, hernanday said:

We need to lock them up and throw away the key so they can get clean.  The problem is laziness and poor morals and a culture which has not taught these kids right from wrong so they engage in rampant drug use, lock them up, re-educate them.

Oh I see... youre just kidding. Sorry!

[H10]

On 4/10/2017 at 1:40 PM, dre said:

Oh I see... youre just kidding. Sorry!

No, I am serious, lock those thugs up, life in prison for druggies.

[blackbird]

On 2016-10-03 at 2:19 PM, Machjo said:

Perhaps it's time we required any prescription for a particularly addictive drug like an opiod to get two physicians' signatures? Just a thought.

That would cost the medical system too much.  Too many people visiting doctors already for very questionable reasons.

When I was visiting Manitoba last year, I found they had brought in a new regulation requiring anyone to get a doctor's prescription to buy 222s with caffiene & codiene.  So when you have a headache and need some 222s, you can't even walk into a drugstore and get them.  I was shocked.  This is costing Manitoba a fortune.   You must wait until the walk-in clinic opens and go sit there, maybe for a couple hours.  Glad I don't live in Manitoba.  How much does it cost the medical system in Manitoba for one doctor's visit?   Far more than the cost of a bottle of 222s.

[SpankyMcFarland]

http://archive.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/what-happened-to-the-poster-children-of-oxycontin-r65r0lo-169056206.html

http://www.cnn.com/specials/health/painkiller-opioid-addiction

Rather than saying 'I can handle it', supporters of prescription opioids need to look at the overall statistical risk of addiction in patients who have been prescribed these drugs. The risk of subsequent drug abuse is particularly high in young people.       

Edited May 2, 2017 by SpankyMcFarland

[SpankyMcFarland]

On 4/12/2017 at 3:38 AM, hernanday said:

No, I am serious, lock those thugs up, life in prison for druggies.

What about all the geezers who take massive doses of opioids for back pain?

BTW driving while stoned on opioids is commoner than we would like to think. Lots of older people are doing it. 

[SpankyMcFarland]

A quite extraordinary statistic:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/almost-2-million-ontarians-given-opioids-despite-calls-to-curtail-prescribing-1.3417156

 

 

[Guest]

8 hours ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

A quite extraordinary statistic:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/almost-2-million-ontarians-given-opioids-despite-calls-to-curtail-prescribing-1.3417156

 

 

It's off topic a little but so is this.  A lot of doctors lack a clue, it seems.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/antibiotic-prescriptions-1.4105460

[SpankyMcFarland]

1 hour ago, bcsapper said:

It's off topic a little but so is this.  A lot of doctors lack a clue, it seems.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/antibiotic-prescriptions-1.4105460

In both instances, doctors have an obligation to do what is right for the patient and the community even if it is not what the patient wants, and patients should not be going to their doctors demanding these things either. The threat from antibiotic resistance is terrifying. Bacteria have been at this game for many millions of years and adapt rapidly. Meanwhile, drug companies are spending their resources on all sorts of exotic medications when they really should be figuring out ways to stop us regressing to the Victorian era in treating infection. We need a new funding model where companies are paid to develop antibiotics that are used as sparingly as possible. 

Edited May 18, 2017 by SpankyMcFarland

[SpankyMcFarland]

I'm surprised the media have taken so long to wake up to this angle:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/opioid-pain-philpott-mcmaster-university-purdue-pharma-drug-industry-conflict-1.4121956

There's lots more where that came from. 

 

[SpankyMcFarland]

On 2016-10-03 at 0:27 PM, SpankyMcFarland said:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/us/ohio-sues-pharmaceutical-drug-opioid-epidemic-mike-dewine.html?_r=0

This is a major development. I'd say more states will follow. 

Edited June 1, 2017 by SpankyMcFarland

[SpankyMcFarland]

On 2017-05-02 at 11:11 AM, SpankyMcFarland said:

What about all the geezers who take massive doses of opioids for back pain?

BTW driving while stoned on opioids is commoner than we would like to think. Lots of older people are doing it. 

And not so old people. The drug results in this case will be interesting:

http://www.theroot.com/is-tiger-woods-addicted-to-pain-medications-1795727030

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/05/tiger-woods-is-the-new-face-of-americas-drugged-driving-problem/528525/

 

 

[eyeball]

Traffic under the control of computers are the only thing that will cure the problem of vehicles operated by drugged/drunk/distracted/or otherwise stupefied drivers.

Of course I expect conservatives not to mention the enforcement/judicial industrial complex of police, prosecutors, lawyers, prison operators, etc etc will need to be dragged kicking and screaming all the way towards this conclusion.

Automated driving will throw so many millions out of work they'll probably need drugs and alcohol to kill the pain.

[GostHacked]

23 hours ago, eyeball said:

Traffic under the control of computers are the only thing that will cure the problem of vehicles operated by drugged/drunk/distracted/or otherwise stupefied drivers.

Of course I expect conservatives not to mention the enforcement/judicial industrial complex of police, prosecutors, lawyers, prison operators, etc etc will need to be dragged kicking and screaming all the way towards this conclusion.

Automated driving will throw so many millions out of work they'll probably need drugs and alcohol to kill the pain.

That's been something Peterson has been talking about.  The psychology of loosing a job and getting on medication for depression and the mental state deteriorates which results in chronic pain meaning a total dependency on these drugs to get by. The more jobs lost to technology the less useful we as humans feel. It's the purpose in life which drives us, no purpose, no drive and welcome to Depression Town.

[eyeball]

More to the point it's the psychology of denigrating the unfortunately unemployed and rubbing their noses in the moral imperative to produce that does the most harm. Probably by people employed in the government or shareholders of companies that receive public subsidies.

Oil workers often seem a little full of themselves too - oblivious to the subsidies their 'productivity' rests on.

[Cum Laude]

The so called opium epidemic is raging in Bernie Sanders' home state of Vermont. He doesn’t have to go to West Virginia or Kentucky to find it.

Junkies are amongst Sanders biggest supporters in the Green Mountain State. They line up behind the old hippies and lefties from Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, Boston and North Hampton who’ve moved into Vermont over the past 50 years and taken over the politics of the state, leaving Yankee natives unrepresented and out in the cold.

Sanders himself came up north out of the Bronx and has done pretty well for himself pedaling his 1930s style socialism. Have you ever noticed, lefty politics pays pretty good for the people on top? (the Castro’s with their $3 billion is Spanish and German banks, Sanders with his 3 houses) Orwell saw thru this BS in his book Animal Farm 70 years ago.

[SpankyMcFarland]

A grim story from the US about the power of the pharmaceutical industry to stifle the efforts of law enforcement:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/investigations/dea-drug-industry-congress/?utm_term=.c9fbe8a7101c

[eyeball]

On 8/24/2017 at 10:05 AM, Cum Laude said:

Have you ever noticed, lefty politics pays pretty good for the people on top?

What I've noticed more is that when right-wing politicians rule they likewise never do anything about the way power can be used to corrupt the system.

Quote

Orwell saw thru this BS in his book Animal Farm 70 years ago.

That's right, which is why his book concluded with the animals being unable to tell the difference between the pigs in charge and the humans they kicked out at the beginning of the story.  Animal Farm had nothing to do with ideology.  It was about the distribution of power not wealth. 

[SpankyMcFarland]

Looks like NL is going to get tougher on the overprescribing of opioids:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/new-prescription-monitoring-program-john-haggie-1.4402880

Doctors are going to be in a tight spot, especially the poor buggers who’ve just acquired an existing practice only to find a shed load of addicts therein. However, it is one step in the right direction. 

 

[SpankyMcFarland]

Great article in the New Yorker about the secretive family which owns Purdue Pharma and Mundipharma:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain

And one from Esquire:

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a12775932/sackler-family-oxycontin

From the beginning, Purdue knew that OxyContin was being widely abused by patients but covered this up and misled physicians about the risks. Medical experts and regulators were brought onside and used to convince skeptical practitioners that this time was different, that a safe opioid had actually been found, unlike all the others in over two thousand years of use, which could be given for a much wider range of painful conditions. 

Not surprisingly, a tsunami of addiction and death has followed, and then the lawsuits. Purdue has fought them vigorously, and has managed to settle these cases, thus avoiding trials which would involve the disclosure of potentially outrageous documents. Now that the jig is up in North America, the Sackler clan’s employees in Mundipharma are looking to pastures new across the world where they are plying the old lines just as shamelessly. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2018 by SpankyMcFarland

[SpankyMcFarland]

On 2017-08-24 at 2:35 PM, Cum Laude said:

The so called opium epidemic is raging in Bernie Sanders' home state of Vermont. He doesn’t have to go to West Virginia or Kentucky to find it.

Junkies are amongst Sanders biggest supporters in the Green Mountain State. They line up behind the old hippies and lefties from Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx, Boston and North Hampton who’ve moved into Vermont over the past 50 years and taken over the politics of the state, leaving Yankee natives unrepresented and out in the cold.

 

I’ve never heard of the ‘junkie’ vote before. Who knew they were so politically engaged? 

[dialamah]

On 20/03/2018 at 9:57 AM, SpankyMcFarland said:

I’ve never heard of the ‘junkie’ vote before. Who knew they were so politically engaged? 

If there's one thing you can count on a junkie to do, its getting to a polling station.  /s

[Penderyn]

On ‎03‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 2:00 PM, drummindiver said:

^^^^^^^ not off topic at all


The regulations are in place and there are very serious consequences to the few Drs abusing this for their own purpose. There seems to be this big kick on to blame Big Pharma and Big Medicine for a abuse issues. These medications are meant to relieve pain and auffering. If a person misuses them, that's on them. I've been in several serious accidents in my life where pain meds were necessary and was very thankful for them. I've also seen friends and family dying from cancer, and the pain meds were their only coping mechanism.

[moderator's note: the 'off topic' posts pointed to here were hidden by the mods]

 

On ‎04‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 4:04 PM, SpankyMcFarland said:

Some action in Ontario:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/narcotic-fentanyl-oxy-ontario-doctors-investigated-1.3834874

 

Making health subject to private profit is a recipe for disaster, always and everywhere.

[blackbird]

Now the federal government is approving giving prescription drugs to addicts.  How's that going to work or get people off drugs?  How much will it eventually cost.  This is will be another chunk of money taken out of the medical system which could be used to treat people with serious illnesses.  There is only so much money available.

[Penderyn]

13 hours ago, blackbird said:

Now the federal government is approving giving prescription drugs to addicts.  How's that going to work or get people off drugs?  How much will it eventually cost.  This is will be another chunk of money taken out of the medical system which could be used to treat people with serious illnesses.  There is only so much money available.

The UK used to do this until certain newspapers started squealing..   It was surprisingly cheap and, left alone, would have saved innumerable lives.   Newspapers prefer dramatic, squalid messes.  

[Guest]

21 hours ago, blackbird said:

Now the federal government is approving giving prescription drugs to addicts.  How's that going to work or get people off drugs?  How much will it eventually cost.  This is will be another chunk of money taken out of the medical system which could be used to treat people with serious illnesses.  There is only so much money available.

The only way to win the war on drugs is to give everyone what they want under government supervision. Might as well get on with it.