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America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

economist.com

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Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#271

Post by magic_beans »

trome wrote: post #256
pfortuny wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, as long as you are willing to wait about six months for knee surgery, yes, it is free. Or for any other type of intervention.

Uhh, hate to break it to ya, but even with insurance its not all roses and sunshine in the USA, you can easily go 6 months waiting for a knee replacement here. Watched a family member go through 4 over the past decade, and its a slow process no matter the insurance provider. Plus, hospitals here on the West Coast have amped up doing a bunch of skeezy stuff recently, you could easily end up with a non-functional leg a…

How does one person need 4 knee replacements in 10 years?

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#272

Post by hvidgaard »

dagw wrote: post #269
hvidgaard wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a 3 month gurantee. If they have not diagnosed you, and started treatment within that periode, you're free to go to a private clinic or hospital, free of charge.

At least in wife's case there was an additional 4 month gap between "starting treatment" and actual surgery.

And with expected times like that, you are entirely free to use a private hospital/clinic. Both myself and my wife have done so twice.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#273

Post by edraferi »

jasonmp85 wrote: post #166
M_Grey wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I think people are taking away the wrong message here. It's the "easiest" as in "on the lowest shelf". It's easy just as it's easy to grab undocumented immigrant parents in pickup lanes at schools. There's doing what's hard (either politically, or by effort) but "best", and there's being lazy and incompetent and just doing what comes easiest. Our current administration does the latter.

Perhaps "lazy," "childish" or "naive" are more accurate words. Current policies are designed around bluster / posturing rather than effectiveness.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#274

Post by martinald »

3131s wrote: post #201
Kluny wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It's actually pretty hard for legitimate patients to get opioids in many circumstances. My mother has chronic pain from a surgery and has been on a very low dose of oxycodone for years now (10mg a day, I think), and she regularly is subjected to urine and other tests to prove that she's not an addict. My grandpa just had an operation and later at home ended up in a lot of pain, but he could not get oxycodone for two…

10mg of oxy is not a low dose. That's equivalent to 75mg hydrocodone (Vicodin) or 150mg codeine.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#275

Post by misja111 »

dep_b wrote: post #64
jbooth wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you give them free H, they'll be a lot less desperate and a lot less violent, presumably. And.. why not? I've got multiple friends in my age group prematurely dead from overdose. It's not like prohibition is accomplishing anything.

Addicts in The Netherlands get free heroin. Without the daily hustle to find the next high people have time to think instead. A lot of them find the peace to actually quit. Actually it's really hard to keep the program going as the government doesn't like to be associated with free heroin.

Only very serious cases can get free heroin in The Netherlands. Some of the criteria: you have to be at least 5 years addicted, you need to have tried methadon to get over your addiction first, you need to be a daily user and need to have bad physical or mental health.

None of those people quit after having been admitted to the program. But they do get a better life and are not forced to be criminals anymore.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#276

Post by sbarre »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #244
pfortuny wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, as long as you are willing to wait about six months for knee surgery, yes, it is free. Or for any other type of intervention.

Vs in the US where specialists just tell you that your problems are chronic, are pre-existing so not covered by insurance, and that nothing can be done for you.

and prescribe you Oxy for the pain...

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#277

Post by chillydawg »

M_Grey wrote: post #203
taurath wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Up to a point, yes. Then it becomes a mess for everyone.

If there's more crime, that means you can shout louder about law and order next election cycle. It doesn't matter that the crime was your fault and that you're going to make it worse. What matters is that you buy the police more guns and shake hands with local police chiefs a lot.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#278

Post by peteretep »

zkms wrote: post #262
peteretep wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Actually, in UK you can get actual > opioids (as co-codamol) behind the > counter, without a prescription. > Funny how they don't seem to have a > disastrous and deadly opioid epidemic > like the US has. Cocodamol is 8mg of codeine to 500mg of paracetemol. To get 240mg of codeine -- equivalent to 10mg of oral oxycodone -- you'd need to take 30 cocodamol pills, which is 15g of paracetemol. If you present at a hospit…

Opioid users know about cold-water extraction. It's not rocket science. https://www.vice.com/en_dk/article/uk-codeine-addict-729

They certainly do. And yet people still buy heroin. Keep Googling...

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#279

Post by ekianjo »

hvidgaard wrote: post #233
pfortuny wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, as long as you are willing to wait about six months for knee surgery, yes, it is free. Or for any other type of intervention.

There is a 3 month gurantee. If they have not diagnosed you, and started treatment within that periode, you're free to go to a private clinic or hospital, free of charge.

for certain conditions 3 months wait can be very serious.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#280

Post by DanBC »

goatsi wrote: post #181
DanBC wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The spice epidemic is mostly prison related though. Prisons should stop testing for cannabis; and should consider prescribing cannabis of known strengths (and higher CBD rather than THC content). (Also, they need to start providing a lot more mental health support and meaningful activity).

Artificial cannabinoids are also highly used in homeless populations because of how cheap and powerful they are. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/synthetic-weed-is-a-scour...

Sure, but that's the US, not the UK.
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