There is so much controversy about prescribing opiates for pain that it astounds me. The fact is that opium-based prescriptions are, by far, the best painkillers made. When pharmaceutical companies make opiates, they are regulated doses. There are no surprise overdoses, unless the patient takes more than is prescribed.
Does this happen? Well, human nature being what it is, there are people who are addiction prone. For the most part though, most people who are prescribed opiate painkillers are responsible as to the amount they take for pain.
All we hear about in the news is how bad the heroin crisis is. This could be true, but the people who use heroin to get high would be doing that anyway. The great majority of people with extreme chronic pain take their opiates as prescribed. If their physician has done his/her job, the patient is made aware of the dangers of overdose and abuse.
People who really need strong painkillers for various illnesses respect the drugs they take and don’t abuse them because they have been made aware of the dangers of the drugs they take.
Opium and opiod-related painkillers are the best painkillers for severe pain on the market. Nature, or God, knew what it was doing when it developed the opium plant for pain. The minor pain killers, such as acetaminophen, aspirin, Advil, & Ibuprofen, are exactly as described: minor pain killers with extremely dangerous side affects—such as the eating away of the lining of the digestive system, among other side affects.
The only dangerous side effect of opiates are addiction, which is not a problem when taken as prescribed because people with severe chronic pain are not going to stop taking the opiates unless they are healed. Also, when taken as prescribed, to make the pain bearable, opium-based drugs won’t get a person intoxicated.
Only when people take more than they need of the opium based drug will a person get high. There are some exceptions—in the case of cancer and severe post-operative pain—the patient may get woozy. Usually, in these two cases, the patient is under constant care and not operating dangerous machinery, such as driving a car.
By making prescription opiates harder to get for people who really need them, that is when people are driven to the streets to obtain what they need. Pharmaceuticals on the street are extremely expensive, which is why most people forced to the streets to obtain what they need, turn to heroin.
Unfortunately, in most cases, the people who put together the doses of heroin are not professionals and that is what causes the danger of overdose. One bag of heroin may look the same as another, but the potency of the chemical could be twice as strong.
The only heroin that is safe is the heroin that is made by pharmaceutical companies, and that is not the case in the United States. By making pharmaceutical opiates difficult to obtain for patients who need it and don’t abuse the drug, is like doing a business transaction in favor of the drug cartels that make heroin for the addict on the street.
Fewer pharmaceuticals on the street equals more drug cartel heroin on the street because heroin is cheaper than pharmaceuticals. The drug cartels still make a whopper of a profit because opium is the perfect product. It never goes bad over time, for one thing.
In the Pyramids in Egypt, the archeologists found opium in the tombs with the Pharaohs and it was still of extremely high quality. Did the archeologists test it or try it? You’ll have to ask them; I’m just quoting the facts.
So what is the answer to the problem of heroin on the streets? Certainly not eliminating pharmaceuticals on the streets, the few that there are. The drug cartels love it when pharmaceuticals are difficult to obtain.
Most people who take opiate based drugs take it because they need it and they don’t divert a drop of it to the streets. I’m not quite sure what is causing the problem but I am sure that there are answers for people who are suffering from the illness of addiction. Certain drugs, Suboxone for example, have been created that eliminate the craving for heroin and don’t get people high. I’m not here to argue which treatment is more effective for addiction; I’m only saying that we can treat this problem in a much more humane manner than we currently do.
We certainly don’t need to deprive the people who truly need opiate painkillers of their medicine. That idea is just bizarre. I know people who need strong painkillers that use them and don’t abuse them. I’m not going to support a system that punishes people in pain because there are other people with the illness of addiction.
You may find yourself in the position of needing opiates to make the pain bearable before you shuffle off this mortal coil. I hope not but, if you do, you will understand what I am talking about.