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Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

vox.com

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Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#11

Post by user_0001 »

What are the rates like compared to other countries?

Does the US just over prescribe painkillers, meaning more flood to the blackmarket?

Is it people are getting it from the Dr and accidentally ODing?

Are the Drs prescribing without care, so those who want the drug for a high and no medical reason can?

I never knew painkillers to be used as party drug / fun drug in the UK (outside of the heroin using demographic) nor ever heard of some one ODing on prescribed painkillers.

Seems strange it is such a big issue in the US

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#12

Post by teslabox »

user_0001 wrote: post #11

What are the rates like compared to other countries? Does the US just over prescribe painkillers, meaning more flood to the blackmarket? Is it people are getting it from the Dr and accidentally ODing? Are the Drs prescribing without care, so those who want the drug for a high and no medical reason can? I never knew painkillers to be used as party drug / fun drug in the UK (outside of the heroin using demographic) nor…

Some of the prescription opioids are contaminated with Tylenol, which is very toxic to the liver when consumed in excess.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#13

Post by user_0001 »

user_0001 wrote: post #11

What are the rates like compared to other countries? Does the US just over prescribe painkillers, meaning more flood to the blackmarket? Is it people are getting it from the Dr and accidentally ODing? Are the Drs prescribing without care, so those who want the drug for a high and no medical reason can? I never knew painkillers to be used as party drug / fun drug in the UK (outside of the heroin using demographic) nor…

I probably should have read the article

------- Since the 1990s, doctors have been under more and more pressure to treat pain as a serious medical issue. Pharmaceutical companies took advantage of this desire, marketing opioid painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin as a safe, effective solution to pain. ------

privatised health care and the profit incentive to prescribe high cost pain kills. I believe the Drs get a kickback from the companies for pushing a particular brand (could be wrong on that though).

Also, who put the pressure on the Drs to treat pain as such? Politicians? Why would they? I imagine leant on (or the term is "lobbied" by big pharma. Would be interesting to see the "donations"* paid to politicans from big pharma right around that time and who profited from this.

* I always find this funny who we in the west call this "donations" but when reporting on third world countries it is termed a "bribed". Paying money to get what you want from government so you can make more money....

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#14

Post by haroldp »

mc32 wrote: post #2

So painkillers used against prescription kill more people than any individual illegal drug and since people demand painkillers to treat chronic pain physicians are looking to treat chronic pain with alternatives one such is using MJ as one of those alternatives because misuse doesn't result in fatal overdoses, generally. Vox, stop with the hyperbola.

19,000+ dead people a year is a astounding fact, not hyperbole.

If I were being hyperbolic, I'd call that "Over Six 9/11s per year".

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#15

Post by krschultz »

I've never taken an illegal drug in my life. I've smoked a cigarette about 5 times. I drank in college but lately I've cut that out of my life as well. I had a security clearance with drug testing requirements for a while and now I just don't like the feeling of a hangover from alcohol or the risk of ingesting random plants/chemicals made by shady people.

In short: I'm the most vanilla, square, anti-drug person you can find. I don't want to use them, and I think other people would be better off if they reduced their usage as well.

Yet I can not for the life of me understand why drugs are illegal. Not just pot, all drugs. I'm totally onboard with making it our public policy that we want to reduce the use of drugs. That makes perfect sense to me. It does not make sense to me why anyone still believes that using the criminal justice system as the mechanism for getting to that goal is the right path. We are spending insane amounts of money on a failed approach while also generating huge negative side effects by creating an enormous group of people with criminal records. It's probably the worst thing this country has done to our own people since segregation and it seems like all of the policy people understand this. Why can't we get political will to do something different?

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#16

Post by beamatronic »

krschultz wrote: post #15

I've never taken an illegal drug in my life. I've smoked a cigarette about 5 times. I drank in college but lately I've cut that out of my life as well. I had a security clearance with drug testing requirements for a while and now I just don't like the feeling of a hangover from alcohol or the risk of ingesting random plants/chemicals made by shady people. In short: I'm the most vanilla, square, anti-drug person you c…

>> insane amounts of money

I think you said it yourself - not to be snarky or anything. But someone has found a way to get rich, and they use their funds to lobby to keep the current system in place.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#17

Post by mikeash »

haroldp wrote: post #14
mc32 wrote: post #2

So painkillers used against prescription kill more people than any individual illegal drug and since people demand painkillers to treat chronic pain physicians are looking to treat chronic pain with alternatives one such is using MJ as one of those alternatives because misuse doesn't result in fatal overdoses, generally. Vox, stop with the hyperbola.

19,000+ dead people a year is a astounding fact, not hyperbole. If I were being hyperbolic, I'd call that "Over Six 9/11s per year".

That wouldn't even be hyperbole, that's still just factual, with an emotionally loaded comparison. Hyperbole would be like, "painkillers kill a trillion people a year!"

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#18

Post by FussyZeus »

Is this really surprising? All the benefits of illegal drugs without the risks involving prison time and public disgrace. All you need to do is figure out what things to tell your Doctor to make him think you need one of these things, and you have a legal (and probably insurance funded) supply.

Not saying of course that everyone who gets these doesn't need them, I'm sure many do, but we have something like 90% of the worldwide consumption occurring in the States, so something is clearly up.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#19

Post by bryanlarsen »

cpfohl wrote: post #3

Knowing what I know about opioid painkillers, I don't think I'd ever accept a script for them. I'd accept them in the hospital, but never in a bottle that goes home with me...

Knowing what I know about pain and how well that opiod painkillers combat that pain, and knowing that what I've experienced isn't anywhere close to what some people have experienced, I'd absolutely accept a script for opiod painkillers if I needed one.

Re: Painkillers now kill more Americans than any illegal drug

#20

Post by maxerickson »

user_0001 wrote: post #13
user_0001 wrote: post #11

What are the rates like compared to other countries? Does the US just over prescribe painkillers, meaning more flood to the blackmarket? Is it people are getting it from the Dr and accidentally ODing? Are the Drs prescribing without care, so those who want the drug for a high and no medical reason can? I never knew painkillers to be used as party drug / fun drug in the UK (outside of the heroin using demographic) nor…

I probably should have read the article ------- Since the 1990s, doctors have been under more and more pressure to treat pain as a serious medical issue. Pharmaceutical companies took advantage of this desire, marketing opioid painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin as a safe, effective solution to pain. ------ privatised health care and the profit incentive to prescribe high cost pain kills. I believe the Drs get a k…

It's not entirely doublespeak, campaign funds aren't simply a personal slush fund.

(it's probably even useful to speak of legal campaign contributions, because then when illegal bribes happen, they still get attention)

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