Addicted to Opiate Prescription Drugs
Prescription opiate pain killer addiction has been a huge problem in the United States for a long time and it is only getting worse. People from all walks of life are experiencing the dark realities of opiate-based drug addiction. A significant amount of these addicts are taking their dependency a couple steps further with heroin.
Unethical medical practices have been responsible for much the destructiveness of opioid addiction. Doctors over prescribe patients for whatever reason, seemingly either for money or because they may not have the resources to treat patients effectively.
When people have developed a tolerance to the effects of their opiate medication, they seek heavier drugs with the same chemical structure to satisfy their needs. Whether it be a doctor or a drug cartel, somebody is always there to meet that need, producing harder drugs that are potentially life threatening. Whatever the case, it’s costing lives, rich or poor, white or black, male or female, it is an epidemic of horrifying proportions.
Opiate Addiction Claims Slipknot Bassist, Paul Gray
Iowa Supreme Court is set to hear the case of late Slipknot bassist Paul Gray on Tuesday. Gray died in 2010 in a room at the TownePlace Suites Hotel in Johnston, Iowa, the band’s home state. The autopsy later revealed that the bass player’s cause of death was a morphine overdose as well as “significant heart disease”. Gray’s widow Brenna Gray filed a suit in 2014 which was dismissed because under Iowa state law, the suit was filed two years too late.
Now nearly six years later Gray’s attorney will be allowed to present their case in front of the Iowa Supreme Court, while attempting to sue Dr. Daniel Baldi for over prescribing her husband opiates in addition to eight other patients who died as a result of the Dr.’s alleged irresponsible practices. Paul’s band-mates reported that they tried numerous times to admit him into an opiate addiction treatment program with not luck. They held several addiction interventions with him as well that were obviously unsuccessful. Brenna revealed that Paul had finally agreed to enter a addiction rehab the day just before his death.
Opiate Addiction Does Not Discriminate
More and more people are getting addicted to prescription drugs that have potentially fatal side effects. Whether you are a famous rock star, an elderly person, teenager, housewife, etc., opioid addiction can and will affect you to the point of what can often seem like no return. This is not an issue that discriminates. Thousands of people in the United States are carelessly prescribed dangerous medications every day. It is a problem that the government is now attempting to control by passing laws that limit the amount of prescription drugs a doctor can prescribe in a designated amount of time.
Though this sounds like a good idea on the surface, people are already facing the issue of developing a tolerance for these medications. Because of its price, availability, and potency, heroin has become the alternative to prescription drug abuse. There is speculation that these laws would just drive people to heroin quicker. Heroin, though seemingly making a comeback, is still finite, while its demand is growing at a rapid pace. Where there’s demand, there will always be someone willing to take huge risks to provide a supply at the right price. While opiate-based drugs lose their effectiveness, due to their physical dependent nature, a new drug must enter the market legally or illegally in order to satisfy an extremely profitable demand.
Evolving Opiate Addiction
W-18 is a deadly street drug that has popped up in Canada. Its potency has been reported to being 10,000 times stronger than morphine, the drug that caused Paul Gray’s overdose, and 100 times stronger than fentanyl, a legal pain killer often used to treat breakthrough pain prior to a medical procedure or patients who suffer from chronic pain. This new drug has an even more dangerous aspect with respect to heroin due to the ability to being manufactured in a basement somewhere and not needing to be pulled from a plant indigenous to certain areas.
The best way to avoid being sucked into the dark world of opiate addiction is to not get involved in the first place. Many people have found healthier alternatives to these dangerous substances to treat chronic pain. If you are already in the grips of this terrible disease, there is help wherever you are. Intervention services are available along with detox facilities and inpatient/outpatient drug rehab programs. Far too many people have had their lives cut short because of prescription and street drugs. Do not be a statistic.
4 comments
its unforntunate that this article is so poorly written.the info contained within would have us all beleve that pain medication prescribing is a helter skelter operation where an M.D randomly writes ‘scripts for profit or because he can’t treat the patient adequitely. there is a whole regimen of hoops one has to jump through to qualify for any real narcotic pain medication, then before that is upped there is the specialists who want a crack at your pain problems then the pain management clinic where your more likely to get a ‘script to see a physical therapist than a script for drugs. when all else fails, there is the sit down with doc. the process listed here in this article is about as superfical as they come. i’m a trained drug and alcohol councilor as well as a chronic pain sufferer. i’ve had four spinal fusion surgeries performed and the last one has left me with damaged nerves, arthritis, hardening of the arteries , a permanent limp and i have been informed that i will be in pain for the rest of my life. the pain can get so bad that i conciously pray my life span is cut short in some natural way before i take my own life. yes is there abuse with these drugs going on, there has been opiate use going on a thousand years before the trojan war. one of the biggest discoveries made in archeology was the sheer amount of opium growing and usage in the eastern medateranean around four to five thousand years ago. where there is war, there is a need for pain medication. that pretty much sums up where this problem starts and ends. where there are accidents causing injury, or any type of pain. alcohol is as good a substute as any. you needn’t go to far back in time or for that matter go to far period to see the ramifications of pain on society. the american war between the states is a perfect example of all the reasons these drugs are not only used and abused but are in fact, absolutely neccessary.
There are new safer alternatives today like extended release morphine with abuse deterrent technology built in. This new drug is called Embeda. If someone attempts to manipulate the drug in any manner, it releases sequestered naltrexone basically neutralizing the effects of the morphine. Another new abuse deterrent drug called Hysingla with extended release hydrocodone was released around the same time. Hysingla is more difficult to manipulate like OxyContin. If these drugs were officially recommended first by the FDA, the abuse and misuse demand for opioids would decrease dramatically. Nobody wants to buy or steal an opioid that won’t get you high. It would also insure that patients are seeking these medications for the right reasons, to manage their chronic pain.
My mother was prescribed an opiate for her chronic back and leg pain. She used it once and all it did was make her sleep all day without managing her pain. She thought that it would improve her sleep, but to no effect. She also did not like the way that the drug made her feel and decided not to use it. I did an internet search and found out about the use of the spice tumeric with black pepper. To may amazement this simple spice worked wonders with her pain and she is also sleeping very well at night. Doctors are usually reticent to accept that some spices or other supplements will have any effect, but from experience she has found life-changing relief, even to the extent that she is suggesting that we can again travel, an activity that I liked to share with her. As for the tumeric combination, my search of the Internet informed me that this spice is an excellent anti-inflammatory which fits with my mother’s diagnosis of spinal stenosis. The spice appears to be decreasing her pain by reducing the inflammation. I would recommend that others research natural supplements before using opiates. Some spices actually do have positive effects and benefits that certainly out-weigh the use of powerful opiates that can be addictive and also loose effectiveness with continued use.
Anyone can abuse anything , I have been on Morphine for 24 years with no incidents of over taking the drug . it takes care of my pain and I do not have a euphoric feeling now I am limited by the pharmacy to just enough to keep me from climbing the walls thank all out there that can not control themselves . I am now treated like a criminal and have to jump through hoops and see the doctor every 30 days /