A Deep Dive into the Opioid "Crisis"
Posted by freedomforall 6 months ago to Business
Excerpt:
"doctors saw the public swilling down heroin and berated their fellow physicians for not sounding the alarm.
“The patient comes to look on heroin as a harmless sedative for his cough,” wrote one such physician in 1912, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, because too many doctors think it’s safe:
“A patient who came under my observation told a physician, who was called to treat him for an attack of laryngitis, not to give him anything that contained opium, because he had formerly been a slave to this drug. The physician replied: ‘I will give you some heroin; there is no danger of habit from that’.”
Ordinary Americans weren’t buying it, and by 1906 we had established the federal Food & Drug Administration, because moms want to know if it’s got heroin. Cure-alls like the morphine-and-alcohol-based Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup definitely did quiet fussy babies, but it’s believed thousands never woke up again.
President Teddy Roosevelt appointed an “Opium Commissioner,” who looked around and saw track marks on the arms of everyone from aging Army of the Potomac vets to high society ladies, and declared, “Americans have become the greatest drug fiends in the world.” It was our first Opioid Crisis. It had been driven by genuine ignorance and a lack of good alternatives — but tellingly, also by the inappropriate use of heavily marketed and physician-endorsed treatments. In response, the nation went on a scorched-earth campaign against all addictive substances, starting with new anti-narcotics agencies staffed by G-men in trench coats, and culminating in the U.S. Constitutional amendment to ban alcohol. Again: We rewrote the Constitution to outlaw alcohol. That we once went so far suggests how bad things had gotten.
This all seems like a glaringly obvious cautionary tale for the House of Medicine. Yet somehow, not 70 years after the nation had walked away from the Prohibition experiment, medical schools — medical schools! — were abruptly teaching that opioids weren’t necessarily addictive.
When my attending said a patient wouldn’t get addicted if a doctor gave morphine for pain, he was simply channeling what all the best people were saying. For example, in 2000, the Joint Commission — an independent non-profit that sets accreditation standards for hospitals — published a book for physician education that claimed:
There is no evidence that addiction is a significant issue when persons are given opioids for pain control.
No evidence. And if the medical students ask about morphine-enslaved Civil War veterans? The Joint Commission’s book dismisses such concerns as “inaccurate and exaggerated.” "
"doctors saw the public swilling down heroin and berated their fellow physicians for not sounding the alarm.
“The patient comes to look on heroin as a harmless sedative for his cough,” wrote one such physician in 1912, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, because too many doctors think it’s safe:
“A patient who came under my observation told a physician, who was called to treat him for an attack of laryngitis, not to give him anything that contained opium, because he had formerly been a slave to this drug. The physician replied: ‘I will give you some heroin; there is no danger of habit from that’.”
Ordinary Americans weren’t buying it, and by 1906 we had established the federal Food & Drug Administration, because moms want to know if it’s got heroin. Cure-alls like the morphine-and-alcohol-based Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup definitely did quiet fussy babies, but it’s believed thousands never woke up again.
President Teddy Roosevelt appointed an “Opium Commissioner,” who looked around and saw track marks on the arms of everyone from aging Army of the Potomac vets to high society ladies, and declared, “Americans have become the greatest drug fiends in the world.” It was our first Opioid Crisis. It had been driven by genuine ignorance and a lack of good alternatives — but tellingly, also by the inappropriate use of heavily marketed and physician-endorsed treatments. In response, the nation went on a scorched-earth campaign against all addictive substances, starting with new anti-narcotics agencies staffed by G-men in trench coats, and culminating in the U.S. Constitutional amendment to ban alcohol. Again: We rewrote the Constitution to outlaw alcohol. That we once went so far suggests how bad things had gotten.
This all seems like a glaringly obvious cautionary tale for the House of Medicine. Yet somehow, not 70 years after the nation had walked away from the Prohibition experiment, medical schools — medical schools! — were abruptly teaching that opioids weren’t necessarily addictive.
When my attending said a patient wouldn’t get addicted if a doctor gave morphine for pain, he was simply channeling what all the best people were saying. For example, in 2000, the Joint Commission — an independent non-profit that sets accreditation standards for hospitals — published a book for physician education that claimed:
There is no evidence that addiction is a significant issue when persons are given opioids for pain control.
No evidence. And if the medical students ask about morphine-enslaved Civil War veterans? The Joint Commission’s book dismisses such concerns as “inaccurate and exaggerated.” "
With that said, an avenue must be provided for the HANDFUL of people that really NEED relief from pain to be able to receive it. What we have now isn't working as well as it should.
Big pharma and their shills, the AMA and BPh-funded-university trained greedy golfers
pretending to be doctors, have addicted millions of people. Some really have severe
pain that requires a lot of care to be productive and enjoy life. Many more have been
addicted when they should have been advised toward non-addicting treatment.
The medical care "industry" (BigPh and doctors) are guilty of this and should bear the
costs of getting the millions off the addicting drugs.
My feeling is most addicts have been enabled to be dependent on the "kindness of stranges" as they grew up, the babies, the I need just a little help, the parents who were reality deniers, and they ate it up. My aunt died of alcohol piosoning, after 5marriages, and a mom who took her child to raise at age 3. You can recognize their type in "Atlas Shrugged." Most docs are not as honest as my friend, they like handing out the easy fix, and often getting perks from the drug companies. I was lucky, dad always told me life is tough, he was not a user, and get used to it. He did all he could to aim me toward independence and self sufficiency. I was lucky. My nephew was the favaorite child who could do not wrong, life was too hard for him.
including the major scourge of our time, pot
but as long as there is money to be made
no one really cares
The FDA should be limited to enforcing labels and making sure Drugs have been TAXED. NOT Limiting which drugs are available. (Burzynski would be a national hero for his cancer therapies).
Now, I am only against drugs (esp addictive ones). Because I am a food addict. But we should be fighting the ROOT Cause of addictions (mostly childhood traumas, stress and trauma). I knew that if I did it ONE TIME, I would not stop until I was dead. (Lucky me).
That said. My proposed Solution was simple. The government should be allowed to POISON the (addictive) drugs they collect, and put them back on the street. use the money they make selling them to fund any programs to rehabilitate people.
As insane as this sounds. They would have to advertise that this is what they are doing. And the Media would have to publish the odds of you dying from one dose of any given drug, based on the poisoned % of drugs out there ready for sale.
Here's my argument. In that environment. If you are still doing drugs, and not seeking treatment (which should be mostly free)... Then GOOD BYE. You will quickly be a statistic. Consider it Euthanasia for those with nothing to live for. (Which, for me, is the definition of a Heroin/Crack/Drug Addict that is NOT SEEKING HELP)
I propose that there will be MILLIONS of deaths. And that very very few people will EVER want to try one of these drugs... Because the tainted ones are out there. And quite frankly, those that decide it's worth the risk are making their decision.
Does it seem harsh? No more harsh than making me pay for the DEA, all the police, judges, jails, rehab, and homelessness (tied to drug addiction)... With the one exception that we push the COST onto the CONSUMER.
Once there are no consumers left. I think the demand goes to Zero. And the suppliers leave because they have no one to sell to.
Prove me wrong!
would be cheap testing kits available to any addict to find the poison and avoid it.
It would add a bit to the cost for the addict.
Another free market solution to government intrusion.
I like to think outside the box...
I suggested we could help the Veteran Homelessness by giving them a gun, and a tiny home along the Southern Border. And a "Bonus" for every illegal they shot crossing over.
We'd fix the homelessness problem among vets. Give them a sense of duty. A chance to build community. Maybe even setup a web site and gamify the kill ratios? (Hunger Games, Southern Border Edition?)
ROTFLMAO
Personally, I am seriously looking for a foreign
country to move to that is affordable and with
a less offensive government. I have no confidence
that the US will solve the obvious problems
and restore freedoms peacefully.
For the entire medical, pharmaceutical and insurance industry, give the money to the patient receiving care, and let them spend it as they chose, absent any government interference. This will end doctor's ridiculous stranglehold on salaries through the AMA; drug pricing issues, and silly costs of insurance, which are a complete non-governmental (but government instituted) socialist/communist disaster.
People pay for what they want. high cost? DOA.