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Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

theguardian.com

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Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#131

Post by hollerith »

devjab wrote: post #43
nobodyandproud wrote: post #10

I see this as analogous to the Dust Bowl, where the politicians and coastal elite ignored or dismissed the growing problem until it was too big to ignore. - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1000-mile-long-sto... - https://mallhistory.org/items/show/274 100 years and more information than ever, yet we have’t figured out this out-of-sight, out-of-mind problem.

As a Scandinavian I find this an odd take on the situation. To me it seems like the US has a very, very, broken healthcare system that you’ve chosen to have by electing politicians who aren’t going to reform it into something reasonable. My wife and I presently had twins, and we spent 7 days living in the hospital with a lot of help from nurses and so on, and it cost us $130. Which was me paying for 3 days of living…

We are having a discussion about opiate addiction, and you have failed to explain why the US's broken healthcare system is an important contributor to that problem. I certainly don't see how your experience with childbirth is relevant -- or bipolar disorder or ADHD.

Do you imagine for example that the non-broken healthcare systems of the world are what is preventing opiate addiction there from becoming as severe as it is in the US?

Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#132

Post by insane_dreamer »

MSFT_Edging wrote: post #92
jmyeet wrote: post #56

Every part of this is made worse by capitalism. We start with over-prescription of opioids. Pharma companies make money selling them. Doctors may even make money in kickbacks (a practice that should be illegal). The disastrous War on Drugs that made opioids cheaper and easier to obtain (eg black tar heroin) than cannabis. Those who became addicts from a legal prescription turn to illegal products. Illegal pills are e…

They downvoted him because they hated hearing the truth. The Sackler family was shielded from any consequence solely because they have money and power. People will sometimes ask me why I sound so pro-China at times. It's not that I'm pro-China, its that I'm jealous of China. That if this happened in China, the Sacklers would have been executed by the state for the substantial harm they caused to society to make a buc…

In China, the Sacklers would have been a SOE (State-Owned Enterprise). The Chinese gov is no better than the Sacklers, but the big difference is they have to consider the social threat to their authority that the consequences of their actions would create.

I lived in China for years; it's the ultimate authoritarian state--the amount of control, and the degree to which it has been perfected, is astounding--far beyond what Russia or any other authoritarian gov has.

Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#133

Post by rsynnott »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #121
diamondap wrote: post #44

A few years ago, I talked to three retired federal law enforcement agents who had each spent 20+ years fighting the cartels that were bringing drugs into the US from Mexico and South America. All three felt betrayed by the US government. They said, essentially, "We put our lives on the line many times to try to stop the flow of drugs. Then the government turned around and basically gave the pharmaceuticals license to…

sounds like the only difference between the Columbian Drug Cartels (cocaine producers and street pushers distribution network) and the American Drug Cartels (Big Pharma and pill mill distribution network) is the latter paid taxes

Funny you should say that… https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/12/opioid-se...

Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#134

Post by insane_dreamer »

swayvil wrote: post #7

Just make high quality opioids easy to get already. It should be as common as beer. The present system is deranged.

> Just make high quality opioids easy to get already. It should be as common as beer.

wtaf? this is literally what caused the current crisis in the first place

Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#135

Post by Clubber »

TylerE wrote: post #37
swayvil wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider that 10% of the population is on antidepressants. And the world hasn't blown up. Given the choice between antidepressants and opioids, I'll take opioids.

Honestly I think much of the harm has been from overreaction to the first wave. People who could have been stable on a dose of OxyContin or some other moderate strength opioid, and instead are getting whatever on the street.

When people take prescription opioids, the dose is right there on the pill. People are going to take them anyway, wouldn't you prefer they know what they are taking? That will never happen in the US because we consider it a moral failing, but it's obvious that taking a drug with a dosage stamped on it is better than taking something mixed in a basement somewhere.

Let's take the moral failure out of it. Imagine if Tylenol was random dosages that ranged from fake to a dosage that would induce total liver failure. That would be absurd.

Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#136

Post by rsynnott »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #61
bloopernova wrote: post #23

I was in the care of a pain clinic when the fire hose was abruptly shut off. I wasn't being given oxycontin, but I still suffered from the sudden change. I went from sustainable maintenance to a drug that gave me serious side effects, but the doctors refused to listen. Even when a sleep study objectively showed the damage the buprenorphine was doing, I was told it's that or nothing. The doctors were terrified of new…

The harm to society of people who need them not getting pain drugs far outweighs the pain to society of those who don’t need them abusing them. I’ve had similar experiences with them not giving me proper painmeds are having all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed. They gave me 2 weeks of Tylenol #3 and some homeopathic bullshit and expected that to be good enough. Luckily my stepdad is a serious medical patient with lots of…

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I had wisdom teeth out recently, and took ibuprofen and nothing else (they did give me a prescription for a heavier-duty NSAID, but from past experience those are no fun). It was _fine_, there was some pain, but that’s par for the course.

Opiods seem to be treated as almost essential for dental surgery in the US, and as a rare escalation path elsewhere.

Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#137

Post by rsynnott »

ofslidingfeet wrote: post #110
diamondap wrote: post #44

A few years ago, I talked to three retired federal law enforcement agents who had each spent 20+ years fighting the cartels that were bringing drugs into the US from Mexico and South America. All three felt betrayed by the US government. They said, essentially, "We put our lives on the line many times to try to stop the flow of drugs. Then the government turned around and basically gave the pharmaceuticals license to…

And funny enough, here I was just thinking about how these jerks are making it so that, after the midwit backlash against all the criminal behavior encouraged by the Biden admin, I'll get to just live in pain the next time I have an injury!

… Eh? Purdue Pharma’s downfall was long and protracted, but it started in 2007 and ended in 2019; presumably Biden was encouraging it using his time machine? Like, the US opioid crisis isn’t exactly _new_.

Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#138

Post by _heimdall »

lukan wrote: post #84
nsagent wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mom worked as an ER physician in Pennington Gap, VA during the early years of opioid abuse there (late nineties through through the early oughts) [1]. She would constantly complain about drug seekers there and refused to give out pain meds. According to her, she was the only doctor who would refuse to give out pain meds. Fast forward to 2022, she needed heart surgery and was in the ICU for three weeks afterward. S…

"though it was clear she was in pain" One can learn how to handle pain yourself. Some people went very far with this. While younger, I was a bit advanced in those technics - basically it is about accepting the pain and working with it. In my theory, pain was like a alarm sound - and a painkiller just deactivating the alarm, but therefore maybe stopping a adequate body response. Nowdays I got a bit softer as currently…

I'm not sure where I would have learned it in my life, but this is very similar to my experience with pain so far. I'll definitely feel it but I do experience it more like an alarm, and once I recognize what happened the pain signal seems to go away after about 30 seconds.

To this day I'm still surprised by it, and appreciative for whatever it is that allows my body to apparently recognize and then silence the pain signals.

Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#139

Post by rsynnott »

hollerith wrote: post #131
devjab wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Scandinavian I find this an odd take on the situation. To me it seems like the US has a very, very, broken healthcare system that you’ve chosen to have by electing politicians who aren’t going to reform it into something reasonable. My wife and I presently had twins, and we spent 7 days living in the hospital with a lot of help from nurses and so on, and it cost us $130. Which was me paying for 3 days of living…

We are having a discussion about opiate addiction, and you have failed to explain why the US's broken healthcare system is an important contributor to that problem. I certainly don't see how your experience with childbirth is relevant -- or bipolar disorder or ADHD. Do you imagine for example that the non-broken healthcare systems of the world are what is preventing opiate addiction there from becoming as severe as i…

I mean, if medical care were expensive and difficult to access, you’d certainly expect more use of opioids, because they’re a cheap solution to chronic pain relative to more measured approaches. And it certainly does seem that the US opioid crisis was worst in extremely poor areas with limited medical care available.

Re: Expert sounds alarm on new wave of US opioids crisis

#140

Post by deodar »

nicepplonly wrote: post #19
cyberpunk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drugs aren’t a solution, they’re just treating the symptom not the cause. It might help for a short while, but all you’re doing is delaying having to deal with your shit; it also gets harder the longer you leave it. Been there, got all the shirts, there’s no shortcut to getting out of it. You got this.

Drugs are great. You are entitled to your opinion, and so am I. There's nothing morally wrong with not wanting to participate in a society based on suffering and exploitation of poor people in far away places.

Hello, I suspect your first comment is flagged because of this second one. I do not agree with the flagging decision, you are definitely entitled to your opinion.

My opinion is that the world is not nearly as messed up as the news and the social media outrage cycle will lead you to believe. Humans have always inflicted suffering on others knowingly or unknowingly and the world has always been messed up to some degree.

Addiction replaces this existential pain with other problems, be it addiction to chemical substances, gambling or even internet addiction (which is likely the opiate of choice for a lot of us here including me).

IAC I hope you do take a break from news and social media at least and feel better. Best wishes.

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