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Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

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Re: Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

#71

Post by LinuxBender »

HeyZuess wrote: post #70
savant_penguin wrote: post #58

Should you be free to use whatever drug you want? Do doctors hold any responsibility over getting you addicted by drugs they prescribe? (Aren't doctors the experts?) Now that marijuana is legal, should you sue the legal stores if you get addicted?

> Should you be free to use whatever drug you want? Your body, your choice? There are many ways to answer this, and no matter how it is answered there will always be a group of people who disagree. This is why as a society we have a framework for making those decisions which sometimes gets it right and sometimes gets it wrong. If we legalized all drugs and let people do what they want, do we stop a 10 year old from t…

I want every drug to be on the shelf at the store, but depending on what it is you may have to show your ID to prove you are at the age of majority or emancipated. A pharmacist may still exist to answer questions but nobody is filling pill bottles. Every bottle has the factory safety seal. Scan the label with your phone to locally validate what risks are specific to you without the use of a cloud.

Re: Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

#72

Post by HeyZuess »

LinuxBender wrote: post #71
HeyZuess wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Should you be free to use whatever drug you want? Your body, your choice? There are many ways to answer this, and no matter how it is answered there will always be a group of people who disagree. This is why as a society we have a framework for making those decisions which sometimes gets it right and sometimes gets it wrong. If we legalized all drugs and let people do what they want, do we stop a 10 year old from t…

I want every drug to be on the shelf at the store, but depending on what it is you may have to show your ID to prove you are at the age of majority or emancipated. A pharmacist may still exist to answer questions but nobody is filling pill bottles. Every bottle has the factory safety seal. Scan the label with your phone to locally validate what risks are specific to you without the use of a cloud.

In some ways I agree. I believe while there are still huge issues with the manufacturing, cultivation etc of drugs, that there are still a multitude of issues which we need to deal with first. That's why I am an advocate of decriminalization, so we sort those issues first.

I have had first hand experience of dealing with immediate family members and friends who have been addicted to legal drugs like alcohol, and illegal drugs like meth. The impact that addiction can have on others who are not addicts is quite disturbing and I have had a mild experience to say the least. I have even struggled with my own addictions.

I think drugs like marijuana is ok, but a drug like meth oh no that's just not good at all. Even alcohol I question a lot, even a quick google search suggest 40% of murders are committed in the USA while under its influence.

Also there are questions about how drugs can be legally sold, I read an article the other day that San Francisco was stopping tax hikes on marijuana stores because of the rise of the illegal marijuana trade. When governments get involved the outcomes are not always as expected. Would legalizing and taxing cocaine for example really stop the mass murders and gang violence in South and Central Americas.

Decriminalize, treat the people with addiction rather than locking them up for possession, educate, etc. That's my thinking.

Re: Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

#74

Post by rand_r »

brennebeck wrote: post #45
rand_r wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that opioids are addictive is a myth. People taking them are treating “pain” that isn’t diagnosed in the medical system. For example, joblessness. It’s an easy scapegoat for politicians to let them avoid dealing with harder structural problems.

>The idea that opioids are addictive is a myth. They have literal physical withdrawals. The body becomes dependent on them. What else would you call that?

Withdrawal from opioids is overrated. It’s unpleasant, but that’s it. Unlike alcohol or benzodiazepine withdrawal, which can literally kill you, opioid withdrawal is like a bad cold.

So, yes there’s adaptations, but it’s way overrated compared to the media hype.

Re: Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

#75

Post by stathibus »

ejb999 wrote: post #30
stathibus wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may have been a valid argument some decades ago. Greedy doctors killed my aunt by selling her all the drugs she asked for. This is commonplace in the US.

I agree - goes on still, all day everyday all across the USA. Easiest thing for a doctor to do to not have to deal with a problem patient (i.e. a drug seeker - not saying your aunt was one of them), is give them what they want, and send them on their way. Doctors should be held accountable - every script they write, is tracked - it would not be hard to find the doctors that are outside the range of normal. Insurance…

It is greedy doctors; they would prefer to keep the patient and keep collecting payments for their visits than to call them out on their addiction, or god forbid actually treat them for it.

Re: Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

#76

Post by LinuxBender »

HeyZuess wrote: post #72
LinuxBender wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want every drug to be on the shelf at the store, but depending on what it is you may have to show your ID to prove you are at the age of majority or emancipated. A pharmacist may still exist to answer questions but nobody is filling pill bottles. Every bottle has the factory safety seal. Scan the label with your phone to locally validate what risks are specific to you without the use of a cloud.

In some ways I agree. I believe while there are still huge issues with the manufacturing, cultivation etc of drugs, that there are still a multitude of issues which we need to deal with first. That's why I am an advocate of decriminalization, so we sort those issues first. I have had first hand experience of dealing with immediate family members and friends who have been addicted to legal drugs like alcohol, and ille…

I can see where you are coming from and it makes sense to me. I personally am not a fan of decriminalization as it keeps the control and power of drugs in the hands of the pharmaceutical and medical industries. They can still abuse that power. I personally would prefer to move that power and the potential abuse to the individual at their own legal discretion.

I believe an alternate solution to somewhat mitigate the risks you mention would be an insurance system whether private or public funded that incentivizes good health. Not just good health in the sense of getting off of and staying off of opiates, but also things like sugar, alcohol, starchy processed foods, etc... People that prove they are making progress towards being and staying healthy get lower insurance rates, lower federal income taxes and probably some other realistic benefits. But again, I can see where you are coming from. I have lost people I care about to drugs and alcohol and I empathize for others that have also lost people they care about. It is a vicious cycle that seems to be never ending. I hope that some day we start doing different things to try to break those cycles.

Re: Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

#80

Post by fallingknife »

ejb999 wrote: post #30
stathibus wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may have been a valid argument some decades ago. Greedy doctors killed my aunt by selling her all the drugs she asked for. This is commonplace in the US.

I agree - goes on still, all day everyday all across the USA. Easiest thing for a doctor to do to not have to deal with a problem patient (i.e. a drug seeker - not saying your aunt was one of them), is give them what they want, and send them on their way. Doctors should be held accountable - every script they write, is tracked - it would not be hard to find the doctors that are outside the range of normal. Insurance…

Why do they take 32 15 min appointments a day instead of 16 x 30 mins? It's not rocket science.
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