Sorry . . . if these people were adults it was their responsibility to be aware of the potential for addiction.
Using opiates for chronic pain requires a person to accept the fact of addiction, given the inability to live and cope with that pain. It is a good trade-off in my estimation, if there is no way to alleviate the source of the pain through surgery and/or the usual physical rehab process. The chronic pain and depression that hits many in old age, for example, is a good instance of when extended opiate use becomes a boon, a godsend. I know this from personal experience.
The only real problem with opiate addiction is the lack of legal supply. The fantastic con job, the absolute boondoggle of the Methadone clinic scam is one for the books. Imagine if anyone told the truth about Methadone at the beginning of the creation of legal clinics. The fact is, Methadone is stronger than morphine by a factor of about two, not quite as strong as heroin but with a half-life far longer, making withdrawal from Methadone much more prolonged than withdrawal from heroin or morphine or oxycodone (the common opiate present in the "evil" Oxycontin. The effects are identical, as is true with all opiates, with some subtle differences.
Doctors who took a pharmaceutical company's advice for dosing Oxycontin committed a breach of ethics and their blaming the pharma company is the height of hypocrisy and irresponsibility, given that a doctor should be aware of an opiate's effects, regardless of a salesman's brochure or sales pitch. If the makers of Oxycontin faked study results and published bullshit data in the medical journals, that's another problem altogether. Doctors actually taking $ from Purdue to lie to their patients about the duration of effect and dosage is something else. I've never heard of this before. I cannot imagine that this payola was very common.
Finally, the horrors of opiate withdrawal have been totally exaggerated. It is the anxiety preceding withdrawal that is the major roadblock. That and, of course, the addict's genuine desire to quit, or lack of it.
I don't like to defend Big Pharma, given their overall horrific history of malfeasance, but I oppose the paternalistic treatment of MDs as wise, knowledgeable saints who always put the interests of their patients first.
.
Caveat Emptor!
Sorry . . . if these people were adults it was their responsibility to be aware of the potential for addiction.
Using opiates for chronic pain requires a person to accept the fact of addiction, given the inability to live and cope with that pain. It is a good trade-off in my estimation, if there is no way to alleviate the source of the pain through surgery and/or the usual physical rehab process. The chronic pain and depression that hits many in old age, for example, is a good instance of when extended opiate use becomes a boon, a godsend. I know this from personal experience.
The only real problem with opiate addiction is the lack of legal supply. The fantastic con job, the absolute boondoggle of the Methadone clinic scam is one for the books. Imagine if anyone told the truth about Methadone at the beginning of the creation of legal clinics. The fact is, Methadone is stronger than morphine by a factor of about two, not quite as strong as heroin but with a half-life far longer, making withdrawal from Methadone much more prolonged than withdrawal from heroin or morphine or oxycodone (the common opiate present in the "evil" Oxycontin. The effects are identical, as is true with all opiates, with some subtle differences.
Doctors who took a pharmaceutical company's advice for dosing Oxycontin committed a breach of ethics and their blaming the pharma company is the height of hypocrisy and irresponsibility, given that a doctor should be aware of an opiate's effects, regardless of a salesman's brochure or sales pitch. If the makers of Oxycontin faked study results and published bullshit data in the medical journals, that's another problem altogether. Doctors actually taking $ from Purdue to lie to their patients about the duration of effect and dosage is something else. I've never heard of this before. I cannot imagine that this payola was very common.
Finally, the horrors of opiate withdrawal have been totally exaggerated. It is the anxiety preceding withdrawal that is the major roadblock. That and, of course, the addict's genuine desire to quit, or lack of it.
I don't like to defend Big Pharma, given their overall horrific history of malfeasance, but I oppose the paternalistic treatment of MDs as wise, knowledgeable saints who always put the interests of their patients first. . Caveat Emptor!