[Vision2020] Narcotics = Good, Marijuana = Evil?

Fri Apr 6 19:55:18 PDT 2012

Roger,

I don't think many doctors prescribe hydrocodone and oxycodone for minor aches and pains. They usually prescribe them for severe pain. As the elderly population increases, the number of pain prescriptions will also increase. 

My left hand was crushed in an accident. I feel pain their a lot of the time and there is a major nerve that is pinched. I don't get any narcotics for it, just ultram, AKA tramadol, a mild pain killer. Taken with another OTC pain killer it works well, isn't addictive, and doesn't impact thinking. There are different levels of pain medications for different levels of pain. It isn't all or nothing. 

Pain killer is a misnomer. Hydrocodone would not have prevented you from feeling pain. it would just make the pain less bothersome. Being bothered by pain greatly after surgery can slow recovery because you will not be willing or maybe even able to move about as much as you should and get your body operating properly again. There is nothing to be gained by suffering. Some doctors will place a "block" (like a Novocain effect on a body part) on you during surgery that will last a few hours after surgery. They did this when relocating the parts in my hand. This is the only thing I know that prevents you from feeling pain or anything for that matter. 

 I have found, if the doctor tells you to take a medication, you should take it. If he tells you not to, don't. Don't try to be a better doctor than your doctor. If you have a doctor that doesn't work for you, get another one, don't try to play one yourself or second guess your doctor. If people did this, people would live longer healthier lives.  

Donovan Arnold

From: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
To: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>; Art Deco <art.deco.studios at gmail.com>; vision2020 at moscow.com 
Sent: Friday, April 6, 2012 7:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Narcotics = Good, Marijuana = Evil?

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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