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Synthetics now killing more people than prescription opioids, report says
Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have overtaken prescription opioids as the No. 1 killer in the opioid epidemic, according to a new report.
The report, published Tuesday in the journal JAMA [DOI: 10.1001/jama.2018.2844] [DX], calculated the number and percentage of synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths in the United States between 2010 and 2016 using death certificates from the National Vital Statistics System. The researchers found that about 46% of the 42,249 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2016 involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, while 40% involved prescription drugs.
That's more than a three-fold increase in the presence of synthetic opioids from 2010, when synthetic drugs were involved in approximately 14% of opioid-overdose deaths.
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(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 02 2018, @01:43AM (15 children)
You don't have to take any of these drugs.
It comes down to personal responsibility, regardless of whether the drugs are legal or not.
Respect yourself enough not to do bad things to yourself. That also goes for tobacco and alcohol.
( cue the replies from people who don't understand that all of life is the summation of choices we make for ourselves ; these people would have you believe that someone else is responsible for stupid things people do to themselves. )
(Score: 3, Funny) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday May 02 2018, @02:06AM
Man you are so missing out.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday May 02 2018, @02:11AM (4 children)
You DO know that many people who get addicted start out taking opoids for legitimate medical reasons, yes?
(Score: 5, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 02 2018, @02:31AM (3 children)
And, we also need to point out that "many people" is not "all people", or even "most people". Those addicts with whom I am personally acquainted all CHOSE to get high that first time. One brother in law is a possible exception - he's had health problems all his life, including being a bleeder. He *maybe* accidentally got addicted to the stuff he abuses. None of my other immediate acquaintances were addicted while under a doctor's care.
The idea of getting addicted while undergoing treatment for life threatening illness/injury has always existed. But, only in very recent years has it become a wide ranging, very serious problem. Washington listened to some lobbyist's bullshit, and relaxed regulations on opioids, and within a decade, we had an opioid crisis.
I have already related how I was given morphine by an ambulance crew, when there was simply no need for morphine. Pain? What pain? If I were in pain, I'm pretty damned sure that I would have known all about it. I can recall all of my injuries from six decades of life that involved severe pain. I exclude the first year or two - I DO NOT remember breaking my arm as a baby.
Maybe we need to do some research, to learn why people get high the first time. I suspect that peer pressure plays a greater role than just about anything else.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sjames on Wednesday May 02 2018, @04:31AM (2 children)
Sure, many people are the author of their own addiction, but I was replying to a post that offered no exceptions. I pointed out that there ARE exceptions.
The problem is many fold. Part of it is that the restrictions are too tight. Doctors cut patients off cold turkey so the DEA doesn't breathe down their necks and then the addicted patient has little to no way to deal with it that doesn't involve admitting to a crime. The FDA dropped the ball in a few cases letting manufacturers get away with claiming that some of the riskier opioids were practically risk free.
And part of it is just fluffing the figures. The hospice care patient that ODed 20 years ago would be said to have died of whatever terminal condition was causing all the pain in the first place. Now it's called an opioid death.
As for your case in the ambulance, there are possible explanations. First, pain doesn't always set in right away. They might have anticipated that it was about to get really bad. Two, sometimes even when you aren't experiencing the pain consciously, there is an undesirable physiological reaction that opioids might stop. There may be others, but not knowing the exact circumstances it's hard to say. I know I once got quite a dose of demerol in spite of not being in much pain so the surgeon could get my muscles to relax enough to reattach a tendon.
If the feds were serious about actually fixing the problem there would be a push to legalize at least medical marijuana since it is known to reduce the need for opioids.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday May 02 2018, @06:54AM (1 child)
Ah, what planet have you been vacationing on where you haven't heard that the majority of states already have legal medical marijuana?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by sjames on Wednesday May 02 2018, @07:13AM
I said the *FEDS*. On what planet are the feds anything but entrenched against legalization?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 02 2018, @02:20AM (3 children)
Are you serious? A person isn't forced to take this shit?
All these years, I thought the cartels sent high squads into the inner cities, kidnapped unsuspecting citizens, and shot them full of addictive drugs.
Are you telling me that's not how things are?
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: -1) by fakefuck39 on Wednesday May 02 2018, @04:44AM (2 children)
For some reason I see this retarded comment and have this weird feeling of "oh, this is one of those regular people who thinks they're smart. Finally figured out why. this thyme the guy reads the 1st line, pretends the rest of the post doesn't exist. How dumb do you have to be. Then I finally remembered. This dude, a few months ago, was confused about the difference between an atom and a molecule. I gave the example of Splenda and elemental Cl, table salt and Cl, nothing. Still kept saying quarts is a transparent metal or some shit like that. The true definition of faggot. Have you met cdreimer from greenville? kick the bit bucket buddy, kick that shit with your foot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 04 2018, @01:13AM (1 child)
"thyme"
(Score: -1) by fakefuck39 on Saturday May 05 2018, @11:54AM
that's the only error you noticed? you need to learn some grammar. I have this game I play here - it's called setting up people who think they're smart so they provide me with entertanement while I'm taking a shit. or, you know, I could not know how to spell "time" - that's certainly a possibility too. thanks for letting me know.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 02 2018, @06:22AM
It's so easy to be smug until it isn't.
First, you've got people who get seriously injured and become
physically and/or psychologically dependent. They didn't choose
get in a car accident, or have severe arthritis, or slip a disk. It just
happened. Next thing you know the pills run out and they go through
physical withdrawal. This is how too many people find out that they're
prone to addiction.
Secondly, some people are more prone than others. There
are probably foods you like and don't like. Why? Hard to say.
Same deal with drugs. Me, personally, I've had morphine once several years ago.
It was a really good pain killer. That's it. I actually didn't like the
rush at all. I liked not being in severe pain; but that's it. Other people?
They get that first hit and it's like they found God.
Are there people who are jackasses who tried these things
just for thrills and became addicts? You bet. That's not everybody
though.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday May 02 2018, @09:38AM (2 children)
How am I responsible for the stupidity of your comment and how can I chose to avoid it without leaving S/N?
'cause certainly your comment killed some of my neurons.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 02 2018, @05:02PM (1 child)
Can't handle the political ideologies that ignore reality in favor of sound-bites that make people feel better about their "fuck you got mine" mentality? Sheesh, what a little emotional sand flea you are!!/s
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday May 02 2018, @10:00PM
But of course you were going to miss the point in favour of an ad hominem.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday May 02 2018, @06:05PM
You don't have to take any of these drugs.
Sometimes they don't even know they are!
Prince being a recent example. [latimes.com]