Congress caused the Opioid crisis

There is not an Opioid epidemic, there is a stupidity epidemic in this country. This applies to many aspects of life.

Does look that way. It's seems to be more of it's always some other person's fault.

a reply to: zeta55

"My personal anecdote applies to every person in the world!" That's you right now. I hope you realize how absurd that statement I just put in quotes sounds.

One could blame the addicts themselves, but regardless, several states have declared emergencies it's that bad. Trump is even going to call a national emergency. I think the point is, that this stuff is cheaper than beer and obviously millions of people are getting hooked through these dodgy, unregulated pop-up pharmacies. I would imagine the vast majority of those 9 million pills that went to Kermit, WVA, went into crack or something like it.

A real, clear problem is that private Pharma companies are poaching the best DEA agents and then using them to defeat the government controls. The exaact same thing happened in the financial sector when the SEC over looked what the big banks were doing because they wanted high paying jobs....see The Big Short movie.

There should be laws(probably are) for a person to move from those positions to private firms.

a reply to: lakenheath24
One COULD blame addicts, but blaming addicts is why we've allowed our government to criminalize use. Addiction is a disease. Do you blame someone suffering from diabetes for having diabetes?

a reply to: DAVID64

Could be a little of both, although dead nerves have a tendency to send a constant pain signal in some cases. Not all cases, but some. That can be an absolute mind breaker.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: DAVID64

Could be a little of both, although dead nerves have a tendency to send a constant pain signal in some cases. Not all cases, but some. That can be an absolute mind breaker.

Neuropathy doesn't generally respond well to narcotics. Stuff like baclofen would be a more normal course of treatment.

The bill in question is 7 pages long, so for any congressmen to suggest they were misled when they voted for it, they should probably be removed from office for failing to do their job. They're either lying, or completely inept.

The bill can be found here.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I'm not blaming addicts at all, I am just saying one can blame anyone, but we have to find the root cause of WHY so many people are hooked. It's not just prescription users, it's school kids, old peeps, rich, poor, white, black, etc. The thing is, too, that they are freaking everywhere on the streets now.
I do disagree on your comparison of diabetes though, as nobody forces you to pop a pill knowing what it is, and what it could do.

a reply to: face23785

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not find the bill, does it name the sponsors? All 23 need to be named and shamed. Hmmm, 60 minutes mentioned 23 co-sponsors. I really winds me up that it was passed by unanimous decision, so nobody looked at it.

Marco Rubio of Florida was on it as well and Florida has declared a state of emergency!!!!

The government call a state of emergency over Zikka, but wont do crap when 200k of its own citizens die. Shameful

Trump wont say it....
www.statnews.com...
States that have declared emergencies...

www.pbs.org...

a reply to: lakenheath24

Just because the comparison isn't a 1:1 metaphor doesn't mean it doesn't apply here. Anyone who has ever tried to quit smoking cigarettes can attest to this. It may have started as a choice, but by the time you want to quit it isn't much of a choice anymore.

Also, what we NEED to do is start treating addiction as a disease and offer treatment for it. Then we need to decriminalize all drugs just like Portugal. We also need our politicians to catch up with the rest of the country and start more readily supporting legalization of cannabis. Over 60% of the country wants that plant legalized and likely less than a third of Congress wants to actually make any movement on the issue. And this includes both sides of the partisan aisle here. Not trying to single one over the other. Also we should probably get rid of the DEA.

originally posted by: lakenheath24
a reply to: face23785

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not find the bill, does it name the sponsors? All 23 need to be named and shamed. Hmmm, 60 minutes mentioned 23 co-sponsors. I really winds me up that it was passed by unanimous decision, so nobody looked at it.

Marco Rubio of Florida was on it as well and Florida has declared a state of emergency!!!!

The government call a state of emergency over Zikka, but wont do crap when 200k of its own citizens die. Shameful

Trump wont say it....
www.statnews.com...
States that have declared emergencies...

www.pbs.org...

Why just the sponsors? Literally the entire Senate voted for it. Including the ones now trying to distance themselves from it. They either completely failed to do their job and voted yes on something they didn't read, or they passed it because they were fine with what's in it and they're lying now. It's one or the other.

originally posted by: kurthall
a reply to: lakenheath24



Its not just Pharma, people buy opioids on the street. I take Oxys for extreme pain, I get 120 pills per month which I have to jump through hoops now to get, legally. My 10/325 pills have a street value of $10 per pill. Most of the deaths are not caused by prescribed medication, but from people getting the drugs on the street. The Opioid "epidemic" is not just because of prescribed medication, Heroin and synthetic fentanyl make up a huge portion of that. That is where the problem really is, yet whenever its talked about somehow legally prescribed medication gets thrown into that.

Every time I get my meds filled, I have to see my dr, get a physical prescription which will not be filled if its too soon. If I go to another Dr. for a narcotic prescription and try to fill it, its all in a national data base, and I can be banned from purchasing the meds. I also get random drug tests at my pain management dr, to make sure I am legitimate.

I need my medication, I think its ridiculous that soon it will be easier to get my meds on the freaking street.

You hit the nail on the head.This is the big issue IMO.Some years ago I had a tooth pulled and the doc gave me an rx for 30 percoset(I can't remember the dosage).It cost me 5 bucks.I never used any,but when I was telling my story to some of my coworkers,they were offering me 5 bucks per pill!Needless to say I tossed the pills.

I sure am glad Trump's pick of Drug Czar Tom Marino Withdrew Due To Conflict Of Interest

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.

….The new law makes it virtually impossible for the DEA to freeze suspicious narcotic shipments from the companies, according to internal agency and Justice Department documents and an independent assessment by the DEA’s chief administrative law judge in a soon-to-be-published law review article. That powerful tool had allowed the agency to immediately prevent drugs from reaching the street.

….Besides the sponsors and co-sponsors of the bill, few lawmakers knew the true impact the law would have. It sailed through Congress and was passed by unanimous consent, a parliamentary procedure reserved for bills considered to be noncontroversial. The White House was equally unaware of the bill’s import when President Barack Obama signed it into law, according to interviews with former senior administration officials. Apparently the law was essentially written by a former DEA attorney who went to work for the drug industry in 2011. Read the whole thing for more, including the 18 months of stonewalling from DEA and the Justice Department when the Post requested records related to the law.

source

originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: TheOnlyBilko

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic.....But Oxy is just that. I am disabled and have been on just about every narcotic pain med you can name. Morphine, Fentanyl, Demerol, etc, etc, etc and Oxy was the most useless, ineffective and addictive one I've ever had.
I tapered off/stopped all meds a while back, with Oxy being the last I was on and I'm still not quite back to 100%. It is taking what seems like forever for my body to ....recalibrate? from all that crap. The thing that makes me the maddest? I'm actually in less pain than I was on all that and any I do have is fairly easily managed with Advil or a hot shower.

Big Pharma is no better than the Cartels who traffic in Cocaine and meth. It just so happens they can get you hooked legally.

No I wasn't being sarcastic David, I was being very truthful. I feel sorry for you if you were on Oxycontin. I too got put on Oxycontin. I had a weightlifting shoulder injury back in 2000. My doctor put me on Oxys. I had never heard of the drug before. My doctor called it "a wonder drug"; "non addictive" etc. He had me on it for over 8 years. I abused the drug and at my peak was using 10 80mg OXYS per day. For people unfamiliar that's the equivalent of 160 perks a day. Took me years to get off and even when my got off felt like crap for a few years after

a reply to: face23785

Senate, HOUSE, AND PRESIDENT! But they never read it. The sponsors were the ones getting a share of the over $100 million in bribes,,,,errr...campaign donations.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: lakenheath24

Just because the comparison isn't a 1:1 metaphor doesn't mean it doesn't apply here. Anyone who has ever tried to quit smoking cigarettes can attest to this. It may have started as a choice, but by the time you want to quit it isn't much of a choice anymore.

Also, what we NEED to do is start treating addiction as a disease and offer treatment for it. Then we need to decriminalize all drugs just like Portugal. We also need our politicians to catch up with the rest of the country and start more readily supporting legalization of cannabis. Over 60% of the country wants that plant legalized and likely less than a third of Congress wants to actually make any movement on the issue. And this includes both sides of the partisan aisle here. Not trying to single one over the other. Also we should probably get rid of the DEA.

The Opiooids being discussed ARE decriminalized and 200k people are dead and several states have declared an emergency. The DEA was doing fine until big pharma had enough and this bill was passed. Read the article in the OP.

Govt crackdown on prescription abuse funnels people in pain to turn to street drugs such as heroin (of course made available via CIA/Afghan invasion).

Not hard to connect the dots here.

a reply to: CheckPointCharlie

Then when they need to cull the "Junkie herd" They simply introduce a good batch of analogous fentanyl dope. 1000x the potency..1000x the herd thinning effect..and its no skin off their backs because you were not using their good old pharma dope therefore you deserved it.

a reply to: lakenheath24

Misusing opiates is not decriminalized at all. Plus there are multiple things that I said need to happen. Not just the decriminalization thing. Read my words.

a reply to: lakenheath24

Thread- heroin deaths outnumber gun deaths
I hope this works I am mobile but I'm trying to link in a thread I did awhile back I live in West Virginia yes it is this bad! And yes the government did this!