[Vision2020] Narcotics = Good, Marijuana = Evil?

[lfalen]

I will elaborate on this a little further. I am not advocating the suspension of  prescribing pain killers. In cases of severe pain they should be used. I am only saying that for lower level pain, live with it. My mother had a living will. She did not want any extra effort made to keep her alive, except for pain relief. When I had a hernia operation I did not take any pain killers, because I wanted to know when it hurt.
Roger

-----Original message-----
From: lfalen lfalen at turbonet.com
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:55:12 -0700
To: "Art Deco" art.deco.studios at gmail.com,  vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Narcotics = Good, Marijuana = Evil?

> This is a problem, but there is an over reliance on pain killers and they are too frequently prescribed. I have arthritis in my left hand. It hurts all the time but I live with it. I do not use any pain killers. I put a heat pad on it once a day. That helps quite a bit.
> Roger
> -----Original message-----
> From: Art Deco art.deco.studios at gmail.com
> Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:26:21 -0700
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Narcotics = Good, Marijuana = Evil?
> 
> > Painkiller sales spike, fueling addiction Overdose death toll from
> > opioids rising
> > Chris Hawley
> > Associated Press
> > 
> > NEW YORK – Sales of the nations two most popular prescription painkillers
> > have exploded in new parts of the country, an Associated Press analysis
> > shows, worrying experts who say the push to relieve patients’ suffering is
> > spawning an addiction epidemic.
> > 
> > From New York’s Staten Island to Santa Fe, N.M., Drug Enforcement
> > Administration figures show dramatic rises between 2000 and 2010 in the
> > distribution of oxycodone, the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet and
> > Percodan. Some places saw sales increase sixteenfold.
> > 
> > Meanwhile, the distribution of hydrocodone, the key ingredient in Vicodin,
> > Norco and Lortab, is rising in Appalachia, the original epicenter of the
> > painkiller epidemic, as well as in the Midwest.
> > 
> > The increases have coincided with a wave of overdose deaths, pharmacy
> > robberies and other problems in New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Florida and other
> > states. Opioid pain relievers, the category that includes oxycodone and
> > hydrocodone, caused 14,800 overdose deaths in 2008 alone, and the death
> > toll is rising, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
> > 
> > Nationwide, pharmacies received and ultimately dispensed the equivalent of
> > 69 tons of pure oxycodone and 42 tons of pure hydrocodone in 2010, the last
> > year for which statistics are available. That’s enough to give 40 5-mg
> > Percocets and 24 5-mg Vicodins to every person in the United States. The
> > DEA data records shipments from distributors to pharmacies, hospitals,
> > practitioners and teaching institutions. The drugs are eventually dispensed
> > and sold to patients, but the DEA does not keep track of how much
> > individual patients receive.
> > 
> > The increase is partly due to the aging U.S. population with pain issues
> > and a greater willingness by doctors to treat pain, said Gregory Bunt,
> > medical director at New York’s Daytop Village chain of drug
> > treatment clinics.
> > 
> > Sales are also being driven by addiction, as users become physically
> > dependent on painkillers and begin doctor shopping” to keep the
> > prescriptions coming, he said.
> > 
> > Opioids like hydrocodone and oxycodone can release intense feelings of
> > well-being. Some abusers swallow the pills; others crush them, then smoke,
> > snort or inject the powder.
> > 
> > The AP analysis used drug data collected quarterly by the DEA’s Automation
> > of Reports and Consolidated Orders System. The DEA tracks shipments sent
> > from distributors to pharmacies, hospitals, practitioners and teaching
> > institutions and then compiles the data using three-digit ZIP codes.
> > 
> > The AP combined this data with census figures to determine effective sales
> > per capita.
> > 
> > A few ZIP codes that include military bases or Veterans Affairs hospitals
> > have seen large increases in painkiller use because of soldier patients
> > injured in the Middle East, law enforcement officials say. In addition,
> > small areas around St. Louis, Indianapolis, Las Vegas and Newark, N.J.,
> > have seen their totals affected because mail-order pharmacies have shipping
> > centers there, said Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National
> > Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
> > 
> > In 2000, oxycodone sales were centered in coal-mining areas of West
> > Virginia and eastern Kentucky – places with high concentrations of people
> > with back problems and other chronic pain.
> > 
> > But by 2010, the strongest oxycodone sales had overtaken most of Tennessee
> > and Kentucky, stretching as far north as Columbus, Ohio and as far south as
> > Macon, Ga.
> > 
> > Per-capita oxycodone sales increased five- or six-fold in most of Tennessee
> > during the decade.
> > 
> > “We’ve got a problem. We’ve got to get a handle on it,” said Tommy Farmer,
> > a counterdrug official with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
> > 
> > Many buyers began crossing into Tennessee to fill prescriptions after
> > border states began strengthening computer systems meant to monitor drug
> > sales, Farmer said.
> > 
> > In 2006, only 20 states had prescription drug monitoring programs aimed at
> > tracking patients. Now 40 do, but many aren’t linked together, so abusers
> > can simply go to another state when they’re flagged in one state’s system.
> > There is no federal monitoring of prescription drugs at the patient level.
> > 
> > In Florida, the AP analysis underscores the difficulty of the state’s
> > decade-long battle against “pill mills,” unscrupulous doctors who churn out
> > dozens of prescriptions a day.
> > 
> > In 2000, Florida’s oxycodone sales were centered around West Palm Beach. By
> > 2010, oxycodone was flowing to nearly every part of the state.
> > 
> > While still not as high as in Appalachia or Florida, oxycodone sales also
> > increased dramatically in New York City and its suburbs. The borough of
> > Staten Island saw sales leap 1,200 percent.
> > 
> > The American Southwest has emerged as another hot spot.
> > 
> > Parts of New Mexico have seen tenfold increases in oxycodone sales per
> > capita and fivefold increases in hydrocodone. The state had the highest
> > rate of opioid painkiller overdoses in 2008, with 27 per
> > 100,000 population.
> > 
> > Many parts of eastern California received only modest amounts of oxycodone
> > in 2010, but the increase from 2000 was dramatic – more than 500 percent
> > around Modesto and Stockton.
> > 
> > Many California addicts are switching from methamphetamine to prescription
> > pills, said John Harsany, medical director of Riverside County’s substance
> > abuse program.
> > 
> > *
> > *
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> > art.deco.studios at gmail.com
> > 
> > 
> 
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