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posted by martyb on Friday August 11 2017, @11:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-say-emergency dept.

After some initial confusion about the White House's plans earlier in the week, President Trump has followed the recommendation of the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, headed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and declared the opioid crisis to be a national emergency. He has promised to spend "a lot" of time, effort, and money to combat the problem:

Among the other recommendations were to rapidly increase treatment capacity for those who need substance abuse help; to establish and fund better access to medication-assisted treatment programs; and to make sure that health care providers are aware of the potential for misuse and abuse of prescription opioids by enhancing prevention efforts at medical and dental schools.

President Trump also decried a slowdown in federal prosecutions of drug crimes and a reduction in sentence lengths. Activists and policy experts are wary of an enforcement-heavy approach:

Bill Piper, senior director for the Drug Policy Alliance, told CNN Tuesday that stricter enforcement "has never worked" and the President would be "better focusing on the treatment side of things." "A supply side approach to drugs has never worked," Piper said. "That is what has been tried for decades and it has failed for every drug it has applied to, including alcohol during Prohibition. As long as there has been and[sic] demand for drugs, there will be a supply." Trump would not be the first administration to crack down on drug use by focusing on enforcement, but Piper said doing so would play into a desire to "sound tough," not actually solve the problem. "It makes it look like they are doing something even when they are not," Piper said.

Trump also advocated for more abstinence-based treatment to combat the opioid crisis. "The best way to prevent drug addiction and overdose is to prevent people from abusing drugs in the first place. If they don't start, they won't have a problem. If they do start, it's awfully tough to get off," Trump said. That sort of strategy advocates for targeting kids and young adults with anti-drug messaging, evocative of the "Just Say No" ad campaign of the 1980s and early 1990s.

This crisis is serious, folks:

"It is a serious problem the likes of which we have never had. You know when I was growing up, they had the LSD and they had certain generations of drugs. There's never been anything like what's happened to this country over the last four or five years. And I have to say this in all fairness, this is a worldwide problem, not just a United States problem. This is happening worldwide. But this is a national emergency, and we are drawing documents now to so attest."


Original Submission

Related Stories

Congress Reacts to Reports that a 2016 Law Hindered DEA's Ability to go after Opioid Distributors 22 comments

Congress has responded strongly to a joint investigation by CBS and The Washington Post (archive) about Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) employees becoming lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry, and the passage of a bill in 2016 hobbling the DEA's ability to go after opioid distributors and suspicious drug sales:

Lawmakers and the Drug Enforcement Administration are facing tough questions following an explosive joint investigation by "60 Minutes" and The Washington Post that says Congress helped disarm the DEA.

Drug overdose deaths in the United States have more than doubled over the past decade. The CDC says 188,000 people have died from opioid overdoses from 1999 to 2015.

Joe Rannazzisi used to run the DEA's diversion control. He told "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker that the opioid crisis was aided in part by Congress, lobbyists and the drug distribution industry. The DEA says it has taken actions against far fewer opioid distributors under a new law. A Justice Department memo shows 65 doctors, pharmacies and drug companies received suspension orders in 2011. Only six of them have gotten them this year.

[...] [The] DEA's efforts may have been undermined by the so-called "revolving door" culture in Washington. At least 46 investigators, attorneys and supervisors from the DEA, including 32 directly from the division that regulates the drug industry, have been hired by the pharmaceutical industry since the scrutiny on distributors began.

From The Washington Post:

The chief advocate of the law that hobbled the DEA was Rep. Tom Marino, a Pennsylvania Republican who is now President Trump's nominee to become the nation's next drug czar. Marino spent years trying to move the law through Congress. It passed after Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) negotiated a final version with the DEA.

Opioid Commission Drops the Ball, Demonizes Cannabis 23 comments

Opioid commission's anti-marijuana argument stirs anger

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, head of the presidential commission on opioids, warned of the dangers of marijuana in a letter to President Donald Trump earlier this month about the panel's findings, saying the current push for marijuana legalization could further fuel the opioid epidemic.

"There is a lack of sophisticated outcome data on dose, potency, and abuse potential for marijuana. This mirrors the lack of data in the 1990s and early 2000s when opioid prescribing multiplied across health care settings and led to the current epidemic of abuse, misuse and addiction," Christie wrote in the letter, which was released with the commission's final report.

"The Commission urges that the same mistake is not made with the uninformed rush to put another drug legally on the market in the midst of an overdose epidemic."

[...] But some experts say the commission's fixation on marijuana was bizarre and troubling, lending credence to outdated views of marijuana as a gateway drug. And these experts want to nip such thinking in the bud.

They emphasized that they support efforts to curb the nation's opioid epidemic, but not the demonization of marijuana in the process.

"I was surprised to see negative language about marijuana in the opioid report," said Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, a professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "Research that examines pain and marijuana shows that marijuana use significantly reduces pain. In addition, the majority of studies examining marijuana and opioids show that marijuana use is associated with less opioid use and less opioid-related deaths."

You had one job.

Previously:


Original Submission

Purdue Pharma to Cut Sales Force, Stop Marketing Opioids to Doctors 46 comments

Pain Pill Giant Purdue to Stop Promotion of Opioids to Doctors

Pain-pill giant Purdue Pharma LP will stop promoting its opioid drugs to doctors, a retreat after years of criticism that the company's aggressive sales efforts helped lay the foundation of the U.S. addiction crisis.

The company told employees this week that it would cut its sales force by more than half, to 200 workers. It plans to send a letter Monday to doctors saying that its salespeople will no longer come to their clinics to talk about the company's pain products.

"We have restructured and significantly reduced our commercial operation and will no longer be promoting opioids to prescribers," the company said in a statement. Instead, any questions doctors have will be directed to the Stamford, Connecticut-based company's medical affairs department.

OxyContin, approved in 1995, is the closely held company's biggest-selling drug, though sales of the pain pill have declined in recent years amid competition from generics. It generated $1.8 billion in 2017, down from $2.8 billion five years earlier, according to data compiled by Symphony Health Solutions. It also sells the painkiller Hysingla.

Oxycodone.

Also at Reuters, USA Today, The Verge, and CNN.

Previously: City of Everett, Washington Sues OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma
OxyContin's 12-Hour Problem
South Carolina Sues OxyContin Maker Purdue

Related: Opioid Crisis Partly Blamed on a 1980 Letter to the New England Journal of Medicine
President Trump Declares the Opioid Crisis a National Emergency
Study Finds Stark Increase in Opioid-Related Admissions, Deaths in Nation's ICUs
CVS Limits Opioid Prescriptions
Congress Reacts to Reports that a 2016 Law Hindered DEA's Ability to go after Opioid Distributors
Opioid Crisis Official; Insys Therapeutics Billionaire Founder Charged; Walgreens Stocks Narcan


Original Submission

U.S. Opioid Deaths May be Plateauing 19 comments

Opioid Deaths May Be Starting To Plateau, HHS Chief Says

The American opioid crisis is far from over, but early data indicate the number of deaths are beginning to level off, according to Alex Azar, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, citing "encouraging" results in overdose trends.

[...] In 2017, the number of Americans dying from opioid overdoses rose to 72,000 from 64,000 the previous year. However, according to new provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control, the numbers stopped rising toward the end of 2017, a trend that has continued into the beginning of this year. It is "finally bending in the right direction," Azar said. He added that the death toll flattening out is "hardly a victory," especially at such high levels. Current government statistics show that opioids kill over 115 Americans each day.

[...] On Wednesday, President Trump is expected to sign a bill recently passed by Congress that expands Medicaid opioid treatment programs and workforce training initiatives, and supports FDA research to find new options for non-opioid pain relief.

It's Too Soon to Celebrate the End of the Opioid Epidemic

While we don't know why deaths have begun to fall, experts say there are a few likely reasons. Doctors are prescribing fewer painkillers. More states are making naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses, widely available. And it's possible that more addicts have started medication-assisted therapies like buprenorphine, which is how France solved its own opioid epidemic years ago. Indeed, the states with the biggest declines in overdose deaths were those like Vermont that have used evidence-based, comprehensive approaches to tackling opioid addiction.

[...] Still, it's possible this is a "false dawn," as Keith Humphreys, an addiction expert at Stanford University, put it to me. "Opioid-overdose deaths did not increase from 2011 to 2012, and many people declared that the tide was turning. But in 2013, they began racing up again," he said. Deaths from synthetic opioids like fentanyl are still rising, as are those from methamphetamines.

Related: President Trump Declares the Opioid Crisis a National Emergency
U.S. Life Expectancy Continues to Decline Due to Opioid Crisis
"Synthetic Opioids" Now Kill More People than Prescription Opioids in the U.S.
Tens or Hundreds of Billions of Dollars Needed to Combat Opioid Crisis?
U.S. House of Representatives Passes Opioid Legislation; China Will Step Up Cooperation
The Dutch Supply Heroin Addicts With Dope and Get Better Results Than USA


Original Submission

FDA Approves Powerful Opioid in Tablet Form: Sufentanil (Dsuvia) 31 comments

FDA approves powerful new opioid in 'terrible' decision

The Food and Drug Administration approved a powerful new opioid Friday, despite strong criticism and accusations that it bypassed its own advisory process to do it.

The new drug, Dsuvia, is a tablet that goes under the tongue. It is designed for use in the battlefield and in other emergency situations to treat intense, acute pain.

Known generically as sufentanil, it's a new formulation of a drug currently given intravenously. Critics say it will be incredibly easy for health workers to pocket and divert the drug to the illicit drug market and because it is so small and concentrated, it will likely kill people who overdose on it.

"This is a dangerous, reckless move," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe senior adviser of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. He questions whether there's need for yet another synthetic opioid when the U.S. is in the throes of an opioid overdose crisis.

Sufentanil is described as 5 to 10 times more potent than fentanyl and 500 times as potent as morphine. Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, but is only approved for the veterinary use of tranquilizing large animals. Sufentanil is the strongest opioid painkiller available for use in humans.

Cannabis and kratom? Exercise caution!

Also at STAT News, NPR, and The Hill.

See also: People on front lines of epidemic fear powerful new drug Dsuvia

Related:


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 11 2017, @11:36PM (4 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday August 11 2017, @11:36PM (#552636) Journal

    It was an innocent time. They had the LSD. They didn't have the heroin.

    What will they snort next? Unbinilium?

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:17AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:17AM (#552657)

      Red-eye. Cardamine. Spice. Slam. WiDoW. Neon. Color. Each more deadly than the last.

      Well, anyway, I assume this means more persecution of peaceful cannabis users whose health is improved by the herb, especially people who used cannabis to help them end an opiate addiction.

      I feel less worse about my decision to vote for Hillary every day.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:18AM (2 children)

      by dry (223) on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:18AM (#552768) Journal

      The problem isn't heroin, which is actually pretty harmless when used correctly, it's the stuff that they're selling as heroin, due to profit and needing to avoid jail. Latest here is elephant tranquilizer, if you can see the grain, that's enough to kill you. Really easy to mail into the country.
      Best thing is to make heroin easily available. They've been experimenting here, have a clinic where the junkie goes for his measured hit of clinical heroin and suddenly you have these junkies becoming productive members of society.
      The other thing they're doing is having injection sites. Go to a place with medics around to shoot up or snort your drugs. If you OD, you get help right then. No deaths.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @11:37PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @11:37PM (#553029)

        A bigger problem is that the "opioid epidemic" isn't drug dealers selling heroin to junkies, it's pharma companies selling heroin equivalents to your mom, your neighbour, your brother. It's legal, state sanctioned sales of heroin equivalents to the public at large. Treatment is one thing, but a bigger one is to make it as difficult as possible to be prescribed the equivalent of heroin in the first place.

        • (Score: 2) by dry on Sunday August 13 2017, @01:21AM

          by dry (223) on Sunday August 13 2017, @01:21AM (#553061) Journal

          Yea, that's been happening here as well. The problem is that some people do have chronic pain and need opiates to function and they're getting cut off from their legal morphine etc, which forces them to suffer more or go to the street for their drug.
          It's a real problem balancing the fact that some people need heavy duty pain killers vs the pharmaceutical companies trying to maximize profits by overselling opiates.
          BTW, here is Greater Vancouver, BC,

  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 11 2017, @11:42PM (15 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 11 2017, @11:42PM (#552639)

    Don't go after the junkies. They are brain dead and pathetic. Mandatory death sentence for dealers of hard drugs would work. The dealers profit and destroy people, families, neighborhoods, and society. Serious and costly crime deserves serious punishment.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:00AM (5 children)

      by bob_super (1357) on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:00AM (#552643)

      Same as prostitution: regulate, license, take the criminal aspects out, help people get out/off, tax it to pay for the trouble.
      And yes, illegal dealers, like pimps, should be dealt with, rather than customers.

      But lengthy prisons sentences for all is the way it's going to go, courtesy of the Prison Industrial Complex lobbying.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @10:48AM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @10:48AM (#552821)

        Why do the johns get a pass?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:11PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:11PM (#552847)

          Why should they be punished? They are paying for a service, and the prostitute supplies the service. It just needs to be legalised, so it can be regulated and made safe for both parties.

          • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @11:40PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @11:40PM (#553033)

            Reducing all human interactions to the level of buying a burrito does not a healthy society make.

            • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday August 14 2017, @04:14PM

              by bob_super (1357) on Monday August 14 2017, @04:14PM (#553737)

              Welcome to Raw Capitalism.
              For hints of social conscience, please consult the Socialism aisle.

      • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:10PM

        by wonkey_monkey (279) on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:10PM (#552899) Homepage

        Same as prostitution; ... help people get ... off

        Yes, I've heard that's how it works.

        --
        systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:02AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:02AM (#552646)

      Oh, a big tough guy! Yea man, maybe you can get to work and kill those dealers to help America. Don't worry, we'll wait.... Whats that? You don't want to do it? Of course you don't. Tough guys like you talk big but sit on your fucking worthless ass spewing nonsense online. Put up or shut up.

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:20AM (2 children)

      by Thexalon (636) on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:20AM (#552670)

      George Carlin raised a good point when he offered another potential target:

      And you know, in this country, now there are a lot of people who want to expand the death penalty to include drug dealers. This is really stupid. Drug dealers aren't afraid to die. They're already killing each other every day on the streets by the hundreds. Drive-bys, gang shootings, they're not afraid to die. Death penalty doesn't mean anything unless you use it on people who are afraid to die. Like... the bankers who launder the drug money. Forget the dealers, you want to slow down that drug traffic, you got to start executing a few of these f***ing bankers. White, middle class Republican bankers. And I'm not talking about soft, American executions, like lethal injection. I'm talking about f***ing crucifixion folks! Let's bring back crucifixions. A form of capital punishment the Christians and Jews of America can really appreciate. And I'd go a little further, I'd crucify people upside-down. Like Saint Peter, feet up, head down. And naked. I'd have naked upside-down crucifixions on TV once a week at halftime on the Monday Night Football game! Halftime! Monday Night! The Monday Night Crucifixions! You'd have people tuning in, don't even care about Football! Wouldn't you like to hear Dan Dierdorf explain why the nails have to go in at a certain angle? And I'll guarantee you one thing. You start execut- you start nailing one white banker per week to a big wooden cross, you're going to see that drug traffic begin to slow down pretty f***ing quick. You won't even be able to buy drugs in schools and prisons anymore!

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:54AM

        by kaszz (4211) on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:54AM (#552779) Journal

        And the justice system won't ever be corrupted by deep state nor be incorrect..

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:47PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:47PM (#552983)

        A new meaning for "hang time".

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by jmorris on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:21AM (3 children)

      by jmorris (4844) on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:21AM (#552744)

      Our "justice" system is now designed to protect the criminals from us. If Trump wants to end the drug problem there is one leader's example that he can follow:

      President Rodrigo Duterte

      The only question is whether we are desperate enough for that solution yet? Probably not. But it can't be argued that his methods are ineffective. He is taking a country that was on the edge of collapse into failed narco state and has the criminal element crapping their undies, the corrupt government officials running for cover and the people cheering his name. Not bad for somebody that probably really is batshit crazy. What can be expected when we live in the asylum?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:08PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:08PM (#552845)

        He gets labeled batshit crazy because corruption and profiting off addiction is something that isn't just relegated to drugs. Those that in power are wise enough to see very quickly that 'First they came for the drug dealers and I did not speak out...' For what it's worth Thailand went through the exact same thing. The country was getting overrun with drugs and drug related violence. A Thai PM took an extremely hardline stance not dissimilar from what Duterte is doing, and it was also a resounding success. The country still has drugs, but no longer has a drug problem. The tales of people before and after the drug crackdown are just night and day.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:16PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:16PM (#552885)

        It was just a matter of time. Get the fuck out of this country you traitorous piece if shit. You belong in a mental institution where you can get help before you go full meat head and start murdering people.

        People like you are the real danger in the US, sad you can't even see it. But sad or not you should be committed.

      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday August 13 2017, @04:11AM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday August 13 2017, @04:11AM (#553104) Journal

        Jumping Buddha, i was wondering if it was gonna be you or Uzzard who suggested emulating Rodrigo Dugoddamnterte first. Just...get the fuck out of the US, will you? You love Duterte Harry so much, ship your ass over to the Philippines and stay there.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:53PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:53PM (#552875) Homepage Journal

      The biggest drug pushers advertise on TV.

      --
      "Nobody knows everything about anything." — Dr Jerry Morton, Journey to Madness
  • (Score: 2) by Entropy on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:01AM (5 children)

    by Entropy (4228) on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:01AM (#552644)

    People like doing drugs. How about give them a safe place in order to do them?

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:14AM (4 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:14AM (#552654) Journal

      How about give them a safe place in order to do them?

      But they do have this place - it's called pharmacy.
      And it dispenses FDA-approved synthetic opioids.
      (grin)

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by Entropy on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:27AM (1 child)

        by Entropy (4228) on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:27AM (#552659)

        LOL, yes. I agree--But you're not supposed to have fun with them, and
        that's hardly an approved place to have fun with them.

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:53AM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:53AM (#552734) Journal

          LOL, yes. I agree--But you're not supposed to have fun with them

          In a country with deep roots in protestantism [olivercromwell.org], you're not supposed to have fun [wikipedia.org] FULLSTOP.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:16PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:16PM (#552848)

        The synthetic ones are can be more dangerous than the real thing. If they dispensed pure heroin, you'd have a valid point. Unfortunately drug dealers don't care about the quality of what they supply, so could be contaminated with who know what, or even something else entirely.

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:14PM

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:14PM (#552917) Journal

          Heroin [wikipedia.org] is synthetic:

          Heroin was first made by C. R. Alder Wright in 1874 from morphine, a natural product of the opium poppy.

          [...] Heroin is derived from opium through a process involving various chemicals such as acetone and acetic anhydride.

          [...] Diamorphine was first synthesized in 1874 by C. R. Alder Wright, an English chemist working at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He had been experimenting with combining morphine with various acids. He boiled anhydrous morphine alkaloid with acetic anhydride for several hours and produced a more potent, acetylated form of morphine, now called diacetylmorphine or morphine diacetate.

          Heroin is about two times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl [wikipedia.org] is up to 100 times more potent than morphine, with some of its analogues, like carfentanil [wikipedia.org], being even more potent.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by c0lo on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:11AM (9 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday August 12 2017, @12:11AM (#552651) Journal

    Crisis - Trump's attitude towards survival as a president.
    He passed "Presidency 101" and learned the "wag the dog" technique. Now he's shaking that dog as hard as he can.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:20AM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:20AM (#552669)

      This will probably be serious.

      I'm expecting armed stand-offs outside of recreational cannabis dispensaries. It ought to be fun.

      There will probably be fewer and fewer places around town selling glass pieces. Tobacco shops sell them now, in addition to places geared more towards cannabis consumers. Then nobody around here will be selling them, and then they'll be illegal to buy over the internet as well.

      Cannabis legalization was nice while it lasted, but it's over. I will never have the experience of buying recreational cannabis, browsing the buds, talking to a budtender about what I bought last and getting a recommendation for something new, having 20 different kinds of bud to choose from, in my life.

      A legalization ballot initiative in my state got shut down by Republicans pulling horseshit, and now it's all over.

      I hope that Trump starts World War 3. I want to see the nuclear apocalypse. I want to see humans wipe themselves off the planet.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:34AM (3 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:34AM (#552679) Journal

        There is no way Republicans are going to shut down the cannabis initiative states. And the guy in the Administration most in favor of doing it, Jeff Sessions, is about to be pushed off a cliff by Trump.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:47AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:47AM (#552707)

        I'm expecting armed stand-offs outside of recreational cannabis dispensaries. It ought to be fun.
        hyperbole and bullshit.

        There will probably be fewer and fewer places around town selling glass pieces
        Yeah.... right. 'head shops' have been around forever and will be here long after we are gone.

        I will never have the experience of buying recreational cannabis
        boo fucking hoooo. You are making shit up. You were never going to do it in the first place.

        I hope that Trump starts World War 3. I want to see the nuclear apocalypse. I want to see humans wipe themselves off the planet.
        I know a guy who will sell you Vicodins at 2-3 a pill. I can hook you up and you can have your own little personal hell instead of dragging us all into whatever disorder you have.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:31AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:31AM (#552716)

          I don't want to mess with opiates. They sound pretty bad, though I've always been curious to try. I'll try anything except maybe jimsonweed at least once.

          I sometimes have back pain, usually lower back but sometimes upper back. I've found yoga an effective solution. Frog pose can resolve my lower back pain, so I suspect it's nothing serious. Upper back pain can be likewise resolved by going through sun exercises. Everybody else seems to have a medicine cabinet full of opiates. Cubicle-mate was having intermittent back pain, sounded a lot like mine, so I showed him an easy pose (1st sun exercise pose) that works for me. That wasn't good enough for him. He had pills to pop.

          I have a very reliable source for cannabis flower, but thank you anyway for the offer.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:39AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:39AM (#552705)

      Unlike last president, who ignored bad shit happening if it was happening to White people.

      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:59AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @02:59AM (#552710)

        affirmative inaction

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:22AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @01:22AM (#552672)

    The aspirin company. The opiod crisis has been around more than a hundred years.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by stretch611 on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:40AM (8 children)

    by stretch611 (6199) on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:40AM (#552718)

    First, I have a very high pain tolerance... Back when I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I had an ibuprofen that night and was fine the next day and didn't need anything else.

    I was in the hospital 20 years ago. After surgery, I woke up in my room attached to a Morphine drip. If I were to push the button I could have 2 ml of Morphine every 10 minutes. I asked the nurse to remove the IV with morphine... they refused. They told me I needed it for pain; I replied that I was in less pain after surgery than any day in the prior 6 months. Every 20 minutes or so, a nurse would come in and comment, "oh, you haven't taken any morphine, you really should." I said that I was in so little pain that I didn't need it and they replied, "well the physical therapist will be here later and you will need it then, its better to take it before you need it." Finally after repeated times, I finally hit the button once just to shut them up. (for the record, I only experienced dizziness from the anesthesia, no pain with the physical therapist.)

    Earlier this year, I was hospitalized again, though longer this time. Fortunately, I was not attached to a morphine drip, but if I said I was in pain they would give me morphine or any other narcotic based on how bad I said I felt. After a few days, I did have some minor pain and requested an ibuprofen. The nurse said that ibuprofen was not on the list of drugs I could take, and gave me Norco instead. Really?!? WTF!!! When I was released I went to the hospital pharmacy to pick up what I needed to leave. Not only was there a prescription of Norco filled and ready, but also another opiate that was even stronger (I can't remember the name). To top it off, the hospital Dr forgot to actually get me all of the prescriptions I actually needed, and I needed to call them and wait for it to be filled. I did refuse to accept the opiate scripts though. Seriously, I didn't want or need them while I was there, and you want me to take them with me when I get released?!?

    And if you think getting them from the hospital is easy, just try and go to a dentist... So many narcotics have been prescribed to me "just in case" I have pain later after the Novocaine wears off.

    If we want to stop the opiate problem, maybe we should have health care workers listen to people's needs and not prescribe them indiscriminately. The last Dr in the hospital seemed to be a shining example of what the drug companies wanted her to be, not what I would ever want in my own doctor.

    --
    Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:08AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:08AM (#552739)

      Also, if you live in the US and want ibuprofen, I am pretty sure it is over the counter now, at least in California. You can buy it in huge bottles at Costco.

      I don't use it very often but every once in a while when I have nerve pain (back, neck, shoulder, carpal tunnel, etc.) I will take them for a few days until the pain dulls.

      I find it utterly disappointing the way american hospitals are run. Most of the problems they are supposed to treat they create more from instead. I wish auto mechanics could get away with doing that, but they made laws against it, because mechanics are poor, while doctors are rich and often politically connected. Plus the auto repair industry has nothing on pharma as far as lobbying efforts go.

      • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:50AM

        by isostatic (365) on Saturday August 12 2017, @09:50AM (#552814) Journal

        Been over the counter for decades in the UK. Quite pricey, about 6c per 400mg pill.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:05PM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:05PM (#552914) Journal

        https://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/02/briefing/3882b2_04_wyeth-ibuprophen.htm [fda.gov]

        Since it became available to consumers in 1984, over 100 billion 200 mg tablets of ibuprofen have been sold OTC in the United States alone. Today, consumption of OTC ibuprofen accounts for approximately one third of the market for OTC analgesics. According to a 2002 study by Kauffman et al., ibuprofen continues to be one of the most commonly used drugs in the United States.

        [...] Based primarily on its very favorable GI safety profile at prescription doses, ibuprofen became the first prescription NSAID to be approved by the FDA for OTC use as an analgesic in 1984. At the time of the deliberations that led to its switch, it was anticipated that ibuprofen would demonstrate an improved GI safety profile when used at lower doses over brief periods of time. Accordingly, it was approved for use at single doses of 200-400 mg, up to a maximum of 1200 mg per day. It is important to note that the OTC dose is 37.5% the minimum daily prescription dose. Like the other currently marketed monographed analgesics, the maximum duration for use was limited to 10 days (the duration of use for prescription NSAIDs is not limited).

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibuprofen#North_America [wikipedia.org]

        Ibuprofen is commonly available in the United States up to the FDA's 1984 dose limit OTC, rarely used higher by prescription.[51] In 2009, the first injectable formulation of ibuprofen was approved in the United States, under the trade name Caldolor.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:26AM (1 child)

      by Grishnakh (2831) on Saturday August 12 2017, @05:26AM (#552749)

      I have to agree. I had surgery a couple years ago to remove something in my neck, and like you said, they were eager to give me a scrip for some opioid (oxycodone? I forget exactly). I never took it, nor did I take anything else despite having a big 2" incision in my neck. I just didn't feel the need to. It does seem to me that they hand this stuff out way too readily.

      • (Score: 2) by boxfetish on Saturday August 12 2017, @07:07AM

        by boxfetish (4831) on Saturday August 12 2017, @07:07AM (#552784)

        There seems to be a different standard for inpatient/hospitals. They are able to give out opioids via IV or pill without much restriction or a second though. This has been my experience too.

        This ends right at the hospital door. You cannot get a doctor to prescribe opiods for pain, no matter how bad the pain, to save your life, once you are an outpatient. They act as if they are going to be severly punished if they give out scrips for opioids.

        I suspect their must be a different review standard for each, and doctors must have to justify every outpatient opioid prescription they make to some board or administrator.

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday August 12 2017, @07:04AM

      by kaszz (4211) on Saturday August 12 2017, @07:04AM (#552783) Journal

      Sounds like a "pharmacy consultant" has worked the hospital doctors and management. This need to be fixed but requires fighting the Pharma lobbyists.

      Are there other recommended pain killers besides ibuprofen? especially if the pain is severe as after a operation?

    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday August 12 2017, @10:42AM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday August 12 2017, @10:42AM (#552820) Journal

      See, I'm the other way. I mean, I have a high pain tolerance also, but gimme the opiates. They're lovely. Except, as has happened before, last week when I had surgery they gave me opiates and the first two days were phenomenal, but after that the drugs gave me headaches and nausea. Sure, you could up the dosage, but who could sustain an addiction where you had to up the dosage every three days? You'd be dead inside a month.

      I rather think they ought to more research into drugs to avoid that problem so we can all be free of pain and happy all the time.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:00PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Saturday August 12 2017, @04:00PM (#552878) Homepage Journal

      Had oral surgery a couple of years ago and prescribed 18 opiate pills. I took three, once when the local wore off, one before bed, and one more the next morning. The bleeding stopped, so I switched to aspirin and naproxen; those drugs make bleeding worse.

      --
      "Nobody knows everything about anything." — Dr Jerry Morton, Journey to Madness
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by digitalaudiorock on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:35PM (1 child)

    by digitalaudiorock (688) on Saturday August 12 2017, @03:35PM (#552868) Journal

    Question #1: Is an AG that wants to throw all the addicts in jail and confiscate their families belongings using asset forfeiture the best way to deal with a "national emergency"? Question #2: Being the ones who caused all this, is Big Pharma and the colluding health case industry going to pay for this...you know, like how Mexico is going to "pay for the wall"?...but I digress..

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @06:23PM (#552922)

      That's enough common sense, can't you just let jmo stir up some fearful rhetoric to get everyone on board with murder? /s

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @10:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 12 2017, @10:31PM (#553003)

    stupid pigs never learn. but they're going to, aren't they.

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