We have a new president and a new number one problem in this country….with Trump it is the opioids abuse.
He has put Kelleyanne Conway as the Opioid Czar and her take on preventing the abuse is for addicts to eat ice cream or french fries…..a sound medical advice from another Trumpian that has NO clue about the world around them.
I read an article written in “The Cipher” on this problem…..
Americans are facing one of their deadliest foes in recent history: not ISIS, but opioids, painkillers that are highly addictive and killing thousands of Americans annually. Drug overdoses took the lives of 64,000 people in 2016, with two-thirds related to opioids.
Congress has taken a good first step, providing the federal government an additional $3.3 billion to fight the opioid crisis in its fiscal year 2018 spending bill with a focus on public health efforts. Most of the money, $1.4 billion, will go to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for a new State Opioid Response Grant program and also for the Mental Health Block Grant, according to Vox. The second highest chunk of funding, $500 million, is for the National Institutes of Health for more opioid addiction research.
https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column/expert-view/targeting-one-americas-deadliest-foes-opioids
Interesting thoughts from an agent of the DEA….I would like to hear from my readers on their ideas on the opioid abuse situation.
I agree that abuse is on the rise but on the same token opioids do good for people that suffer with chronic pain.
The trouble with opioids is that you need larger and larger doses to have the same painkilling effect, and that’s where the trouble starts. Long term use of opioids also causes menopause-like hot flushes in men, as it causes a reduction in their testosterone levels.
my pain is never relieved I only manage it so that I can function daily….chuq
I think that people with addictive personalities will always abuse something. Many people drink alcohol sensibly, others become alcoholics. Some people need pain killers to live a normal life, others use them to forget about reality. The problem arises when and if such things are tightly controlled. Not only do those in real need either face difficulties, or higher charges, those seeking them for other reasons turn to drug dealers, or unreliable and dangerous online sources.
It seems that tighter regulation of prescriptions might be the only way, but then that will force more people onto the black market. It’s a vicious circle indeed.
Best wishes, Pete.
That is why I worry about the Trump plan it will make many of use turn to the black market….chuq
Black TAR market, surely?
Mind you, between Big Pharma heroin dealers and illegal heroin dealers…it’s a photo finish in the race to the bottom.
Sad ix it not? chuq
Jesus!!! I can’t believe it took me so long to bring up this very appropriate 1983 Canuckistan classic.
While this performance is not an official video, it supposedly was requested by a band member. Shockingly, the band is somehow still alive and touring. So maybe there’s hope for all opioid users!
Surfin on heroin…..LOL chuq
I probably should have pointed out the video was recorded in front of a drug rehab in Hamilton, the band’s hometown..and probably where those damn punks should have spent most of their career drying out.
I also figure your old tin ears might not have caught the lyrics, even with your ear horn.
I’m surfin’ on heroin. I’m surfin’ on heroin
Get a needle gonna stick it in
I’m surfin’ on heroin
I’m so drugged up, I’m so fucked up. I’m surfin’ on heroin
Annette and Frankie went to junkie beach
Lots of smack was so close to reach
Shot up at a luau down at Waikiki
Freakin’ at the sunset now they’re hap-happy
Met Eric Zipper, introduced him to me
Now I’m surfin’ on heroin
Chorus:
I’m so fucked up I can’t remember my name
Tried it once, I’ll never feel the same
I’m swimming in a sea of puke
Lend me a quarter play myself on the juke
Got my kid brother hooked yesterday
Pimping him pays for my habit today
Chorus then repeat 2nd verse: then Chorus:
That was their biggest “hit”, but they have a lot of intentionally offensive…and yet funny…songs that you can “elbow somebody in the face to”. ie Fuck Me Dead (Necrophilia) Hockeynite (Paedophilia) I Wanna be a Nazi, etc.
Needless to say, (aside from their “Hey, we could actually sell some records” phase) they appeal to me. I’ve got one song saved up for your next “Attack Iran” story, which ought to be any day now.
THe dance was memorizing…….the guy really needs to find some rhythm….LOL chuq