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America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

economist.com

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Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#171

Post by eon1 »

Shivetya wrote: post #156
ribosometronome wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opioid prescriptions are declining: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/21/health/opioid-prescriptio... . And will hopefully continue to decline. Identifying the source of the problem is easy, though. Solving the problem for the masses who already find themselves in the midst of an addiction they might not even know they're in yet is much harder and what places like these injection sites are aimed to address.

People are harming pets in attempts to get medicines they can use to satisfy their own addictions. http://theantimedia.org/dogs-prescription-drug-veterinarians...

> People are

A person did. Not necessarily indicative of a trend..

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#172

Post by tylersmith »

pm90 wrote: post #13
savanaly wrote: post #4

Given that this article only touches on the supply of these drugs, is there a tacit assumption that the demand for opioids is driven by unemployment? If so, what can be done about the demand for these drugs in the long term? "Bringing back jobs" to those people whose comparative advantage is no longer manufacturing by taxing robots or imposing tariffs is a temporary stall, and to the degree it does work it amounts to…

There has to be a some kind of change in lifestyle. Like you said, trying to cutoff supply will only criminalize the activity and make it worse. I've heard, among other solutions, recommending yoga, physical therapy etc. instead of immediately prescribing opiod painkillers. This is certainly an important problem and I'm as interested as you are in what the solutions might be.

If yoga can help with the pain the person didn't need opioids in the first place.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#173

Post by girvo »

kilroy123 wrote: post #125

My sister is a heroin addict. To say this has devastated her life is an understatement. Her body is wrecked. She looks way older than she is, she has a pacemaker / defibrillator installed in her chest. And doctors keep saying she will die soon if she doesn't stop. Here is the most frustrating part. She has wanted to go to rehab a few times, but since she is poor and unemployed, she has no health insurance for rehab.…

I became a heroin addict at 16. I got clean, for free, with my governments help (Queensland, Australia) and opiate replacement therapy, after being an addict for six years. Ive been sober for 5 years this August. If it wasn't for that program, I'd be dead twice over by now, I'm sure of it. I'm sorry about your sister, it's horrible :(

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#174

Post by taurath »

M_Grey wrote: post #160
taurath wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the amount of pharmacetical money sloshing around every single congresspeople's coffers there will not be any meaningful reform or restrictions for a long while. The easiest path is to just go full-bore law and order against drug users.

That's then 'easiest' path on what planet? It's the absolute hardest path, and utterly defeatist.

Its the easiest way for politicians to stay elected while not upsetting their benefactors.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#175

Post by [deleted] »

kilroy123 wrote: post #125

My sister is a heroin addict. To say this has devastated her life is an understatement. Her body is wrecked. She looks way older than she is, she has a pacemaker / defibrillator installed in her chest. And doctors keep saying she will die soon if she doesn't stop. Here is the most frustrating part. She has wanted to go to rehab a few times, but since she is poor and unemployed, she has no health insurance for rehab.…

[deleted]

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#176

Post by tylersmith »

Kluny wrote: post #147
DanBC wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The guidelines currently say that if someone is in pain, give them as much painkiller as they want Can you point me to those guidelines please? I'm struggling to find them. I can understand the advice if it's relating to short term immediate pain - for example post-operative pain. Addiction is unlikely to result from pain medication use in that example. Here's the English advice: http://www.fpm.ac.uk/faculty-of-pai…

I went looking for you. The guidelines appear to have been updated since last I checked, and are no longer as irresponsible as I thought they were. Here's what I found: (easy version) https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdf/guideline_infographic-a... (hard version) https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/rr6501e1.htm

Giving people in pain opioids is irresponsible but spouting misinformation isn't?

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#177

Post by tylersmith »

cmdrfred wrote: post #116
lr4444lr wrote: post #103

I say this mostly tongue-in-cheek because I hate to apply one bad policy to fix another, but I bet if narcotic overprescription could more readily trigger medical malpractice, you'd see doctors thinking more judiciously about their use. Even if exaggerated by an order of magnitude, stats like this are just indefensible: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20160325/n...

What's funny is there is no evidence that these opioid pain killers are actually effective in the long term for the management of pain. If it wasn't for lobbying they likely wouldn't be legal to use in that way.

I've been taking opioids for nearly a year and they still work fine. Not sure how long-term you mean.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#180

Post by hackuser »

savanaly wrote: post #4

Given that this article only touches on the supply of these drugs, is there a tacit assumption that the demand for opioids is driven by unemployment? If so, what can be done about the demand for these drugs in the long term? "Bringing back jobs" to those people whose comparative advantage is no longer manufacturing by taxing robots or imposing tariffs is a temporary stall, and to the degree it does work it amounts to…

Unemployment has dropped quite a bit in the U.S. since the Great Recession, though how much that applies to affected areas is uncertain.
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