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from prescription drugs to meth


Dirtyhip

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Drugs are ruining lives with out a doubt. The government's response is to make tougher laws and sentencing but this doesn't address the cause behind the epidemic. We need to identify and treat the source not symptoms. Lives are being ruined. And the addicts I saw on the PBS newshour last night look like the walking dead. Huntington WV is slipping into a zombie ghetto. twenty-five percent of emergency calls are for overdoses.

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9 minutes ago, Old#7 said:

Drugs are ruining lives with out a doubt. The government's response is to make tougher laws and sentencing but this doesn't address the cause behind the epidemic. We need to identify and treat the source not symptoms. Lives are being ruined. And the addicts I saw on the PBS newshour last night look like the walking dead. Huntington WV is slipping into a zombie ghetto. twenty-five percent of emergency calls are for overdoses.

The opioid crisis is largely due to docs overly prescribing pain meds.  We were led to believe that they were safe. 

I'm just taking my meds, right?  The doctor gave it to me.

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56 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

The opioid crisis is largely due to docs overly prescribing pain meds.  We were led to believe that they were safe. 

I'm just taking my meds, right?  The doctor gave it to me.

I stopped taking them and the rest are in the medicine chest.............aren't they?

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1 hour ago, Old#7 said:

Drugs are ruining lives with out a doubt. The government's response is to make tougher laws and sentencing but this doesn't address the cause behind the epidemic. We need to identify and treat the source not symptoms. Lives are being ruined. And the addicts I saw on the PBS newshour last night look like the walking dead. Huntington WV is slipping into a zombie ghetto. twenty-five percent of emergency calls are for overdoses.

That's a pretty broad generalization.  Certainly, different layers & levels of government and administrations have done different things. Traditionally, it is easiest to just ramp up the criminal side of things (with a focus at the lowest level offenders), since those folks don't really have any way to push back against those changes. The PBS Newshour showed how the WV town had to adapt to the problem - from the police/fire groups, to the courts, to the medical system, etc.. It certainly won't be solved by locking more users up in jail.

So, we have an undeclared National Emergency and an undeclared Public Health Emergency, but eventually, we might have those moved into the "official" column where we can start working to reverse the trend with more clout & support from the Feds. Of course, losing Secretary Price recently might hurt or potentially help this effort.

Tom

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Drug abuse is tough and I've had to deal with it growing up with my brother and as a cop.  I know from first hand experience great people who's kids got wrapped up in drugs and drug abusing parents who's kids avoided them.  It's hard to point blame at any one cause or factor as many things are attributed.   just thank god my kids have stayed away from drug use and have made smart choices in that regard. However I also recognize that they could make unwise choices at any part of their lives so continue to talk to and educate them on the effect of drugs.  

One of the most tragic things I ever saw and had to do was arrest a young mom and put her child in protective custody.  She was in a Taco Bell and  was "on the nod" due to heroin use.  Patrons called us saying the child was in jeopardy so we rolled out.  I walked into the restaurant and there was a perfectly normal pretty young lady maybe in her early 20's holding this cute little girl about 10 months old.  Mom was fading in & out of consciousnesses but had a firm grip on the baby..... Until she didn't and the baby fell to the ground before I could catch her.  The sound her head made when it hit the tile made my stomach turn....  An older woman who was also there helped me comfort the kid while paramedics arrived.  Part of me wanted to leave the child there to avoid further injury but I couldn't let a crying baby lay on the ground so picked her up and had the lady comfort her while I dealt with mom.  

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This is JMHO, but I think the advent of drug advertising has a lot to do with it.  We have an entire generation now that's been conditioned to self diagnose and self medicate, and a drug industry that urges and incents docs to support that.  Narcotics for everyone, for every little nuisance.  And just LOOK at how happy those people are!

It's subliminal, and that's worse.  Makes it easier to drop ones guard against addiction.  Promotes all those little pills to happiness.

Every time I've told a doc I will not take the pain meds, I am told to just take them for a few days, I'll feel better and recover faster.  It was major surgery, I'm fine with feeling worse for a few days, and I'd rather take a few more days to recover than put that stuff in my body.  Tried ti twice, felt horrible - way worse than the pain!

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