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Doped Up America

BS, opiates are an essential medication for maximizing the healing process and for pain management. What you argued was for LESS healthcare in general...it was an insane argument.

More or less healthcare aside, not taking that part of the argument on (being Canadian you should know where I stand on that one...hehe), but you have to admit that opiates are highly over prescribed. In Canada it is being scaled back - used to be that I could get OxyContin after getting a filling at the dentist. Just had a root canal, and the best they would give me was Tylenol 3...and they were *fine*. Over prescribing creates addictions and ruins lives, and so while I don't think it's a direct line to suggesting there is too much healthcare, there is too much prescribing of highly addictive narcotics, and I think it is profit driven.

And to be clear, in the case of extreme pain management, of course you should use the best available, especially in terminal cases.

Meanwhile everyone wants to pooh pooh medical pot, which does just as good a job, if not better, for low to medium management requirements, with far less side effects...why? Because I can grow it in my backyard, no one profits but me.
 
My sig/other has 2 open surgical wounds, a drain and temp ostomy while her colon is healing, I cant stand it when arguments about "access to health care" causes "abuse" are made.

It is sick and wrong.

I wish her well.

I know more than a few people who would be dead today if not for the healthcare system. There is no way 90% of us could ever afford full on cancer treatment without insurance footing the bill. And, the average surgery for simple things would probably bankrupt almost all of us as well.

I'm with you re: disdain for the arrogant ones who say, "Let them pay for it themselves."
 
More or less healthcare aside, not taking that part of the argument on (being Canadian you should know where I stand on that one...hehe), but you have to admit that opiates are highly over prescribed. In Canada it is being scaled back - used to be that I could get OxyContin after getting a filling at the dentist. Just had a root canal, and the best they would give me was Tylenol 3...and they were *fine*. Over prescribing creates addictions and ruins lives, and so while I don't think it's a direct line to suggesting there is too much healthcare, there is too much prescribing of highly addictive narcotics, and I think it is profit driven.

And to be clear, in the case of extreme pain management, of course you should use the best available, especially in terminal cases.

Meanwhile everyone wants to pooh pooh medical pot, which does just as good a job, if not better, for low to medium management requirements, with far less side effects...why? Because I can grow it in my backyard, no one profits but me.

Yes. Pharma has been taking advantage of the system. Oxy is a perfect example of where they probably did intentional harm for a few dollars more in their pockets. Ironically though, it is the same people who fight to avoid fierce regulation who also want to end gvt healthcare. It's nuts.
 
opiates are highly over prescribed.
Possibly, nut that is not the fault of opiates, that is a problem of Dr/Ins/Patients misuse.

Meanwhile everyone wants to pooh pooh medical pot, which does just as good a job, if not better, for low to medium management requirements
No, that's a generalization, for me it does not work for my lower vertebra/nerve pains, opiates are FAR more effective.
 
I wish her well.

I know more than a few people who would be dead today if not for the healthcare system. There is no way 90% of us could ever afford full on cancer treatment without insurance footing the bill. And, the average surgery for simple things would probably bankrupt almost all of us as well.

I'm with you re: disdain for the arrogant ones who say, "Let them pay for it themselves."
Thanks, she is healing for part one, part two is yet to come.....and I'm learning all sorts of new nursing skills, unpaid of course.
 
I don't have a problem with pain management, even if it lead to addiction as a trade off for a useful life.

I had a doctor after a surgery follow up. I told him "No pain at all. It's good. I take Ibuprofen if I need it."

At the end of the visit, "Would you like some more pain pills?"

Hell, I could have taken them and sold them. Talk about not listening.

Sometimes pain meds are essential, even if it leads to addiction. Agreed. I do not think I would want to go through cancer without strong opiates. I also know people who have chronic conditions like RA and OA. For them, addiction to drugs like Tramadol is a minor inconvenience compared to trying to live with joint pain.
 
Possibly, nut that is not the fault of opiates, that is a problem of Dr/Ins/Patients misuse.

No, that's a generalization, for me it does not work for my lower vertebra/nerve pains, opiates are FAR more effective.

Sentence one: Agreed.

Sentence two: Would you consider lower vertebra/nerve pains low to medium pain? Because I wouldn't!! :) That's not what I was talking about. As I said, in the case of heavy to severe pain management, of course you take the best available to you. But also as I said, I was given an Oxy prescription for a tooth filling. In fact, I believe the script was for ~30 pills - this was a few years ago. I didn't take them all (I think I had two or three), they expired, I threw them out. Could have sold them for $35 a pill up here...easily. I'm glad they are getting this under control.
 
BS, opiates are an essential medication for maximizing the healing process and for pain management. What you argued was for LESS healthcare in general...it was an insane argument.

I think it's important not to throw the baby out with the bath water here. Yes, obviously there are legitimate uses for opioids; people can die from uncontrolled pain alone. Things like your SO's open surgical sites, my dad's cancer, and things like that, are the sorts of things opioids where made for. They've saved lots of our soldiers, who've lost limbs in the field. For EXTREME pain, nothing works better or saves people from going into shock more effectively.

But do you really believe half of all Americans have EXTREME pain which is uncontrollable by anything but the most powerful drugs on earth? Because that's how many Americans have an opiod prescription.

Come on. Get real.

I alone have been given opioids three times, for minor key hole surgery so small it only required a drop of body glue to close the incision. After the first time, I didn't take it. I felt just fine taking ibuprofen alone, just like EVERYONE did before pharma companies made a big media push to put an opioid prescription in every American's medicine cabinet.

How is it that the rest of the West, which has more access to health care, doesn't consume anywhere near as many opioids?

Might it be because our system is profit-driven, and nothing brings in more profit than something which is addictive? Or do you believe Americans just have more uncontrollable pain than anyone else on earth, by sheer random chance?

Why do so many Americans have opioid prescriptions for stuff like back aches, non-cluster headaches, and minor surface-level surgeries (getting a funny mole removed, that sort of thing)?

You know, it can simultaneously be true that access to health care is not good enough, AND opioids are over-prescribed. I don't see how those two things conflict. I also don't see how shoving people full of brain-numbing, highly addicted drugs they DON'T NEED counts as health care.

Opioids are like chemo. Harmful, and even potentially deadly for some people, but they can also be life-saving when everything else fails (or at least make end-of-life easier). Good health care would be weighing the pros and cons and making careful decisions about how we balance quality of life, options for care, and drugs that are potentially very dangerous, but maybe also life-saving.

What America does is just money-grubbing, life-wrecking pseudo-care.
 
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I think it's important not to throw the baby out with the bath water here. Yes, obviously there are legitimate uses for opioids; people can die from uncontrolled pain alone. Things like your SO's open surgical sites, my dad's cancer, and things like that, are the sorts of things opioids where made for. They've saved lots of our soldiers, who've lost limbs in the field. For EXTREME pain, nothing works better or saves people from going into shock more effectively.

But do you really believe half of all Americans have EXTREME pain which is uncontrollable by anything but the most powerful drugs on earth? Because that's how many Americans have an opiod prescription.

Come on. Get real.

I alone have been given opioids three times, for minor key hole surgery so small it only required a drop of body glue to close the incision. After the first time, I didn't take it. I felt just fine taking ibuprofen alone, just like EVERYONE did before pharma companies made a big media push to put an opioid prescription in every American's medicine cabinet.

How is it that the rest of the West, which has more access to health care, doesn't consume anywhere near as many opioids?

Might it be because our system is profit-driven, and nothing brings in more profit than something which is addictive? Or do you believe Americans just have more uncontrollable pain than anyone else on earth, by sheer random chance?

Why do so many Americans have opioid prescriptions for stuff like back aches, non-cluster headaches, and minor surface-level surgeries (getting a funny mole removed, that sort of thing)?

You know, it can simultaneously be true that access to health care is not good enough, AND opioids are over-prescribed. I don't see how those two things conflict. I also don't see how shoving people full of brain-numbing, highly addicted drugs they DON'T NEED counts as health care.

Opioids are like chemo. Harmful, and even potentially deadly for some people, but they can also be life-saving when everything else fails (or at least make end-of-life easier). Good health care would be weighing the pros and cons and making careful decisions about how we balance quality of life, options for care, and drugs that are potentially very dangerous, but maybe also life-saving.

What America does is just money-grubbing, life-wrecking pseudo-care.

I was given an opioid prescription when I got a tooth pulled last year. I barely even took any ibuprofen for it. So yeah, I agree with you; it's over-prescribed.
 
I was given an opioid prescription when I got a tooth pulled last year. I barely even took any ibuprofen for it. So yeah, I agree with you; it's over-prescribed.

Yup. I think, with our easy lifestyles, a lot of people also don't understand what "EXTREME pain" really means, and how much even our non-opioid medications are capable of dealing with.

After my first surgery, I developed adhesions as a complication, which I had to live with for a while before getting them corrected. The pain from that springs on you sort of suddenly from time to time, and it is BAD. It was so bad that the first time it happened, I actually thought I had appendicitis. I was throwing up and everything. Couldn't even stand.

All that pain was completely wiped out by ibuprofen, only a slightly higher dose than normal (I took a "doctor's dose," which was 3 tabs instead of 2). Even for pain so bad it can make you lose your lunch, you still probably don't need opiods.

Opioids are for getting your arm blown off. Very few of us will experience pain like that -- at least not before we're at the very end of our lives.
 
I agree with this. I also believe it is why so many young people seek out drugs. Growing up in this society just sucks. It really does. It took me 20 years (after age-20) to come to terms with what was expected of me, and I did not go easy--rebelled by kicking and screaming the whole way there.

I have 4 kids. I've told them over and over don't listen to me and your mother when we talk about how it was when we were growing up, because it was a lot EASIER then. It was easier to get a good job, you didn't need 4 more years of schooling then which usually puts you in major debt before you even have a job. You could break away from mom and dad easier then. I lived ALONE for 11 years before I got married. ALONE, all by myself. I had a good job, but it wasn't spectacular. But prices for rents, and utilities were fair then. Now? Unless an apartment is on fire you couldn't touch 1 around here for less than $1,400. And never mind talking about car insurance and payments.

All 4 of my kids when they moved out needed/had a boyfriend to live with or a room mate. And they all have pretty damn good jobs. They couldn't go it alone.

It's tough nowadays, a lot toughed than it was for me.
 
Yup. I think, with our easy lifestyles, a lot of people also don't understand what "EXTREME pain" really means, and how much even our non-opioid medications are capable of dealing with.

After my first surgery, I developed adhesions as a complication, which I had to live with for a while before getting them corrected. The pain from that springs on you sort of suddenly from time to time, and it is BAD. It was so bad that the first time it happened, I actually thought I had appendicitis. I was throwing up and everything. Couldn't even stand.

All that pain was completely wiped out by ibuprofen, only a slightly higher dose than normal (I took a "doctor's dose," which was 3 tabs instead of 2). Even for pain so bad it can make you lose your lunch, you still probably don't need opiods.

Opioids are for getting your arm blown off. Very few of us will experience pain like that -- at least not before we're at the very end of our lives.

Agreed with all of this.
 
I think it's important not to throw the baby out with the bath water here. Yes, obviously there are legitimate uses for opioids; people can die from uncontrolled pain alone. Things like your SO's open surgical sites, my dad's cancer, and things like that, are the sorts of things opioids where made for. They've saved lots of our soldiers, who've lost limbs in the field. For EXTREME pain, nothing works better or saves people from going into shock more effectively.

But do you really believe half of all Americans have EXTREME pain which is uncontrollable by anything but the most powerful drugs on earth? Because that's how many Americans have an opiod prescription.

Come on. Get real.

I alone have been given opioids three times, for minor key hole surgery so small it only required a drop of body glue to close the incision. After the first time, I didn't take it. I felt just fine taking ibuprofen alone, just like EVERYONE did before pharma companies made a big media push to put an opioid prescription in every American's medicine cabinet.

How is it that the rest of the West, which has more access to health care, doesn't consume anywhere near as many opioids?

Might it be because our system is profit-driven, and nothing brings in more profit than something which is addictive? Or do you believe Americans just have more uncontrollable pain than anyone else on earth, by sheer random chance?

Why do so many Americans have opioid prescriptions for stuff like back aches, non-cluster headaches, and minor surface-level surgeries (getting a funny mole removed, that sort of thing)?

You know, it can simultaneously be true that access to health care is not good enough, AND opioids are over-prescribed. I don't see how those two things conflict. I also don't see how shoving people full of brain-numbing, highly addicted drugs they DON'T NEED counts as health care.

Opioids are like chemo. Harmful, and even potentially deadly for some people, but they can also be life-saving when everything else fails (or at least make end-of-life easier). Good health care would be weighing the pros and cons and making careful decisions about how we balance quality of life, options for care, and drugs that are potentially very dangerous, but maybe also life-saving.

What America does is just money-grubbing, life-wrecking pseudo-care.

Actually, an ibuprofen and Tylenol combo is nearly as good as your prescribed dose of Oxy.
 
Coke puts you in a manic state, basically. One toot and everything is great. You believe you are on top of the world. Problem is it also induces anxiety rushes as the drug wears off---like every twenty seconds. It really kills the buz. That's why Xanex, booze or some Vicadins go good with it. Which, come to think of it, may explain why so many intravenous coke heads like to mix a little heroin in with their cocaine shots.

And it is good to remember that cocaine mimics dopamine.

And dopamine is what drives the greedy and power hungry and risk takers.

So the next time you see the powerful acting like coke heads you'll know why.
 
Actually, an ibuprofen and Tylenol combo is nearly as good as your prescribed dose of Oxy.

I'll need to remember that for the next time I tear something up.
 
Yup. I think, with our easy lifestyles, a lot of people also don't understand what "EXTREME pain" really means, and how much even our non-opioid medications are capable of dealing with.

After my first surgery, I developed adhesions as a complication, which I had to live with for a while before getting them corrected. The pain from that springs on you sort of suddenly from time to time, and it is BAD. It was so bad that the first time it happened, I actually thought I had appendicitis. I was throwing up and everything. Couldn't even stand.

All that pain was completely wiped out by ibuprofen, only a slightly higher dose than normal (I took a "doctor's dose," which was 3 tabs instead of 2). Even for pain so bad it can make you lose your lunch, you still probably don't need opiods.

Opioids are for getting your arm blown off. Very few of us will experience pain like that -- at least not before we're at the very end of our lives.

I've had a couple bouts of kidney stones.

Last time I was given ibuprofen when I checked in.

By the time I saw the doctor I didn't need any more pain medication.

Nice to know relief is only as far as the medicine cabinet!
 
All the rage around these parts: Ohio; is the epidemic of overdose deaths. The spike in death really is a problem, but drugs are not really a new problem. In fact, when it comes to the USA, drugs are us.

Think about it.

How many people do you know that are 100% drug and alcohol free? Personally, I can count on one hand those who are not on some kind of prescription mood modifying drug or pain killer, people who do not drink at least 3 drinks more than 5 times a week or more than 5 drinks at least 3 times a week, pot heads, coke heads, pot and coke heads, etc. It seems to me almost everyone in the US has a drug problem.

Why is that? Is life that crappy? I would think the opposite. Life is good. But, the stats seem to suggest that maybe it is too good. After all, why else would everyone want to dope themselves up, or drink away their life?

Yeah, ain't our drug policy working great? ;)

Nat Geo many years ago showed pictures/video (can't remember which right now) of a mix of animals under a rather large tree on the African plain. It was fruit tree of some sort, and the animals would wait until the fruit dropped on the ground and spoiled to a certain point were natural fermentation had taken place. The animals would eat the fruit and get drunk enough to eventually fall asleep. Eventually wake up and leave the area.

The theory is that many animal species, including humans, like to "alter their perception of reality" by "getting high". So the behavior is normal for the species. Obviously, there are exceptions to every rule.
 
How many people do you know that are 100% drug and alcohol free? Personally, I can count on one hand those who are not on some kind of prescription mood modifying drug or pain killer, people who do not drink at least 3 drinks more than 5 times a week or more than 5 drinks at least 3 times a week, pot heads, coke heads, pot and coke heads, etc. It seems to me almost everyone in the US has a drug problem.

I know very few 100% free if you're including anti-depression medication. But many regular folks smoke marijuana--not all but many.

Why is that? Is life that crappy? I would think the opposite. Life is good. But, the stats seem to suggest that maybe it is too good. After all, why else would everyone want to dope themselves up, or drink away their life?

If that were the case what accounts for Brazil having the second highest cocaine consumption in the world behind the USA?

Or Jamaican Rastafarians smoking marijuana for decades? They lived too good?

Or high rates of alcoholism in Russia for decades? Life was too good?

You can go on and on... like in Iran.





Or maybe life was too good for this young black boy in West Africa who gets high and rapes women. The Mexican cartels sailing ships to Liberia and the Nigerian Crime Circles trafficking in illegal drugs into Liberia.



Not Safe For Work or School Etc.

 
Because "good" is not measured in "stuff," or "easy," the way most Westerners seem to think it is. Sure, not being worried about your survival too much makes it easier to not be UNhappy, but it doesn't make you... happy.

There is a passage in the Bible that lists these together as not inheriting the Kingdom of heaven: drunkards, sodomites (homosexuals), and adulterers.

Apparently, drunkards (alcoholics) have been on this earth thousands of years before the United States of America was ever a flicker of a dream in some white person's eye.

What explains sodomy and adultery, too much of a good life? That's why women have affairs, because their husband was too kind, too loving, listened too well, too thoughtful, too good in bed, made too much damn money?

What makes humans happy consistently? A few things.

A good diet, high in fatty oils especially. Most Westerners -- apart from the famously jolly Mediterraneans -- don't have this.

A strong local community. Again, something most of us lack. Many of us have no local connections at all, let alone a community we feel we can depend on.

You must have been listening to Fr. Groschel. His credentials by the way were that he had been working since his childhood, became a friar (basically monks but they don't take vows "of stability" that keeps them locked in a monastery) and his order worked in New York City with impoverished single mothers and homeless drug addicted men whom they housed.



Fr. Benedict Groeschel - Isolation And Today's Culture



This was a damn good movie and based on a true story. The Black-American community--hell the country--would be all the better off if there were more ethnic Black-American young men maturing into men like the male (black) protagonist in this movie. Come to think of it he had a secret drinking problem. Also, the female (white) protagonist in the movie had a best friend (white female) who eventually married a rich man, lived in luxury, but was deeply sad and miserable inside.





 
There is a passage in the Bible that lists these together as not inheriting the Kingdom of heaven: drunkards, sodomites (homosexuals), and adulterers.

Apparently, drunkards (alcoholics) have been on this earth thousands of years before the United States of America was ever a flicker of a dream in some white person's eye.

What explains sodomy and adultery, too much of a good life? That's why women have affairs, because their husband was too kind, too loving, listened too well, too thoughtful, too good in bed, made too much damn money?

Um... Where did I ever say none of this stuff existed until America? Nowhere.

Also, not interested in your Jesus-spiel about people harmlessly having good relationships is some horrible thing.

Human relationships and failures are obviously complex. But you don't sound interested in that sort of answer.

You must have been listening to Fr. Groschel. His credentials by the way were that he had been working since his childhood, became a friar (basically monks but they don't take vows "of stability" that keeps them locked in a monastery) and his order worked in New York City with impoverished single mothers and homeless drug addicted men whom they housed.

I have no damn idea what you're on about. What I said is not some sort of secret or anything. I didn't need anyone else to tell me that. I just have working eyes.
 
Um... Where did I ever say none of this stuff existed until America? Nowhere.

I never said or insinuated you did. I was referring to texts written thousands of years ago. Has nothing to do with whether one is Christian or Jewish. It's an ancient text that gives evidence that alcoholism existed thousands of years ago. My point was not against you but agreeing with you, and challenging post #1's insinuation that substance addiction is a unique thing only found in either the USA or "First World Nations."

I'm saying substance addiction was something even ancient man dealt with.

Also, not interested in your Jesus-spiel about people harmlessly having good relationships is some horrible thing.

Again, you inferred something I did not imply.

I said the Bible lumps drunkards (alcoholics), sodomites (homosexuals), and adulterers together as not inheriting the Kingdom of God. Again, pointing out substance addiction was known among the ancient authors of the Bible.

There is a high rate of HIV among ethnic Black-American males that have sex with other males--in the City of Milwaukee that is. About roughly 40% of them are statistically said to have HIV. For say... crack cocaine smoking males that don't have have sex with males their rates of HIV might be more or less close to that of non-drug addicted, heterosexual, Black-American males.

IV heroin use and male homosexuality both greatly increase the odds of one getting HIV. So, from an epidemiological aspect neither are mere "childish fun that are completely harmless." I've run into some Americans who think crack cocaine smoking is "harmless" because as they say, "It's not what you do but how you do it." A very common phrase on the streets. Many things have risks... but some more so than others.

Human relationships and failures are obviously complex. But you don't sound interested in that sort of answer.

No, I'm aware of their complexity. And I find nothing at this time to disagree with professor Jordan Peterson about "complexity" overcoming individual people at times. That was in fact my point about adultery. That people are not happy. Or if some prefer, they don't have "joy." In those relationships that disintegrate at least.


That said... as complex as life is one has to try to simplify some aspects of it or they will become overwhelmed by it. So, for example, one might try to recall their wedding vows in certain times of difficulties. One might make a habit of leaving their problems from the stress of the work day at the door of the car as they exist it, before they walk into the house to their wife and children. Whatever, I'm saying one has to try and come up with ways of simplifying things for the sake of practicality in life. For some people the odds of that happening may be slim to none given the weight of things in life falling on them or burdening them.

He speaks (in the video below) about drug use being one potential outcome of individuals becoming overwhelmed by the complexities in their lives.






I have no damn idea what you're on about. What I said is not some sort of secret or anything. I didn't need anyone else to tell me that. I just have working eyes.

Again, I was agreeing with you. I was making a point that Fr. Groscehel (who was financially responsible for some single mothers, female drug addicts, and male addicts) had in the past made a point that although life today in the USA has brought more ease for some, it has also caused greater isolation for many. He was an old man making this observation. He worked among the poor in New York City. He was not "high on his horse."

Albeit, I think Fr. Grosechel (he's passed away now) had a point about the ease of life (if it gets that way) potentially being a trap or bad thing per se. Joe Rogan a very secular and non-religious person has said something similar to that too.





Then again one could easily argue there is nothing easy at all about the lives of these crack addicted Brazilians in Rio:


Cracklands: Rio's deadly secret

USA TODAY Sports
Published on Jul 19, 2016

A mile from the site of the Rio Olympics opening ceremony hides a drug-riddled apocalypse. USA TODAY Sports' Martin Rogers reports on the Cracklands of Rio de Janeiro.
 
How can recreational drug (ab)use not be considered a sign of consumer choice? Folks simply have more money than good sense.

Not sure how true this is but according to this video, shot fairly recently, before Rio hosted the Olympics, 40% of those in Rios favelas smoke crack cocaine and apparently use has shot up (not declined). Is that because the poor in Brazil's shanty towns (originated as squatter camps, that's why they lack order and city planning in how they developed) are rolling in a bunch of disposable cash?


Published on Jul 19, 2016

A mile from the site of the Rio Olympics opening ceremony hides a drug-riddled apocalypse. USA TODAY Sports' Martin Rogers reports on the Cracklands of Rio de Janeiro.

Here is a sociological question to ponder: Why are so many of Rio's crack cocaine addicts and Rio's transsexuals brown skinned and black?

I'm guessing the sociological phenomenon might have something to do with Brazil's history and it's racial caste system that once existed (but arguably still does in some ways--or at least the effects/affects are still seen from it).

I'm sure the issue is multilayered but I'm guessing history is one layer to it.


Could it be that more prescription drug (ab)use is due to more "access to" medical care?

Could be in the Punjabi farmlands of India too or in Syria and Lebanon.






Journeyman Pictures
Captagon, a highly addictive amphetamine, is the drug of choice for Syria's revolutionaries. We trace the drug trail, from its users on battlefields, along Lebanese smuggling routes, to the kingpins at the top of the chain.

"If the commander told me to attack a military barracks, I will do it with a brave heart and without any fear", a Syrian fighter describers the powerful and intoxicating effects of Captagon. Combatants on both sides are reportedly turning to the stimulant to help them keep fighting. Tracing the smuggling routes back to Lebanon and unique access to a factory where the drug is produced reveals the scale of the drug's popularity. Although they risk life sentences, workers at the Captagon factory are producing "half a million to a million pills per week", a large proportion destined for Syria's fighters. And at the very top of the chain, a wealthy kingpin explains how the "800 million dollar industry" is directly fuelling the Syrian conflict, as profits are funnelled back to militias on the front lines.
 
I do not understand that either, on both sides of the equation.

Sure, oxy was way over prescribed, and it was way under-warned. Doctors handed them out like candy and told patients it was just as safe. Obviously that was either an intentional lie or one of the worst medical mistakes in US history. We'll let the courts decide which it was. But, I vote for "A."

On the patient side, I never understood taking 30 pills when you only need 5. Due to my lifestyle choices, I've been seriously hurt more often than most. I've probably been prescribed enough drugs to kill a herd of elephants. I never took one pill more than I absolutely needed though. Maybe I was just lucky. Who knows?

Yeah, some people intentionally take more pain medication at once than they need to--knowingly--due to the fact they want to get high.

People act like this pain med and heroin problem in the US is just the doctors fault. Naw, not really, at least not most of the time.

And lets be honest... while you were injured and taking your pain meds in a needed and responsible way (pain meds are great when taken responsibly) there were plenty of young Americans out on the streets buying pain meds from someone simply for recreational high. They were never injured and had never visited a doctor. They just see it as a cool drug to take.

But like you said, even if you are injured and need pain meds, you know when you are ahead of your pain (you want to stay ahead of the pain) and you might be high as a side affect but not high to the sky. You kind of know if you can slightly cut your pain med doses back. But some people want to get as high as they can. That doesn't make them evil but probably unwise or flirting with danger.
 
There are a lot of unhappy people out there, so many day to day stresses, it takes it toll.

Some serious tragedies too. And it can follow whole families generation after generation like a curse. I'm not talking a few either, I've seen so many families with deep scars and tragedies it gets me depressed and I don't even belong to their exact family.

Some people can so fully embrace--not a matter of tragedy per se but sheer wickedness--that they become blind in a sense to their own depravity to the point it doesn't bother their conscience at all.

How do you end up in an American "Ripper Crew"? Member of sadistic Ripper Crew due for prison release, unless prosecutors can stop it - Chicago Tribune

The surviving family members of those girls are they all joy because Americans have larger houses than Europeans and the largest auto market on earth? I doubt it. Some of them might have been driven to drink from grief. Possible. Some likely have handled the sorrow and burden on them exceptionally well and dignified given the circumstances. But people can react differently to things, particularly in relation to how their personality and character traits developed. Parents, extended families, and communities can develop richer character traits or poorer character traits in their young. You need good character traits to get you through hell on earth without committing great evils to survive or feel good.
 
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