Thanks for sharing this S.

GREAT article and sure isn't like anything we've been seeing lately is it? It sure made perfect sense to me!

Hugs~

LMT

Just doesn't add up to all the deaths (not just famous people). I think it's likely that abuse is underestimated (mainly because addicts lie when asked) and that deaths due to opioids are missed if they're car crashes for example or older patients not waking up. That said, it's a reasonable belief that restrictions might not change the total number of deaths.

The "patients who take narcotics every day for years" will be generally responsible people, so that's not the most representative group from which to gauge reckless behavior.

Also, I'm very pessimistic about getting people not to mix pain meds with alcohol. Everyone knows that alcohol can result in bad things, yet millions of people drink excessively.

"In 2013 and 2014, according to the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people ages 45 to 64 accounted for about half of all deaths from drug overdose"!
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/05/476902228/risk-of-opioid-overdose-climbs-at-middle-age

It goes on to talk about Prince and how some medical conditions, including the flu, can make opioids more lethal. Didn't that happen to a member of this group a few years ago?

My point is there's little control over medical conditions people develop, but there usually are ways around taking risky doses of opioids without losing much pain relief.

One remark is off a bit. The "crackdown" will likely drive more people to suicide to relieve the intractable pain instead of chasing heroin. I don't know anyone in chronic pain who can manage the trips to purchase illegal drugs.

Interesting ...

Seems resonable

Someone probably isn't going to lose access to pain pills that has to lead to rapid withdrawal or suicide. Maybe in some places it's hard to find a dealer of opioids, but marijuana and alcohol are everywhere. Probably a home-bound person could get them delivered. Someone in pain who isn't eager to commit suicide would at least try those first.

Getting drugs off the street is dangerous and can lead to death. Remember reports about the lethal fentanyl tablets sold on the streets recently ? If you are caught with drugs that you have no prescription for, you go to jail. Drugs on the streets are very, very expensive. If you are caught, you lose your freedom, have to post bail if you want to get out and have to pay an attorney, court fees, etc if you want to stay out of jail. Then there is what it does to your relationship with family and friends. If you have children, you could lose them. And you can forget finding a dr that is going to treat you again for pain. If someone has this much money, they can afford good medical care and another dr.

Saying that chronic pain patients are going to get their drugs off the street is a slap in the fact to legimate pain patients and it makes all of us look like drug addicts.

I hadn't thought of that. I'm not sure that street narcotics are generally expensive , but the rest of it is true, I suppose - I don't foresee many chronic pain patients willingly to get opioid street drugs no matter what.

The more I think about it, I think the crackdown is significantly about preventing diversion, so there are fewer street drugs available in the first place.

Also, I don't know that that or any other studies distinguish between prescribed drugs and drugs that are supposed to be available only by prescription (and, yes, are much more dangerous on the street). The headline deaths reported are from misuse, rarely starting from reputable doctors' prescriptions.

By the way, more info
http://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/opioid-addiction-disease-facts-figures.pdf

Anyway, this is years of the same basic fretting over reduced availability of pain all across support groups, and I just shake my head. People are too anxious or physiologically preoccupied with their meds - access to opioids for legitimate chronic pain patients isn't going away. More hassles, limits on amounts, etc. - yes, total access, no. The government doesn't want mass suicides..

"reduced availability of pain" meds. Reduced pain would be great :)

Genuine, I guess anything being expensive depends on how much money you have. I think that for the majority of chronic pain patients having to pay for enough pain meds that woud equal what they would get in a prescription monthly would not only be expensive, but more than they could afford and still have enough left over for things like rent, utilities and food alone. The cost does depend on what type of pain med you want, from as little as $5-$10 a pill to $50-$80 a pill. Multiple that times the number of tablets per months. Haven't you seen all the cash on the news that drug dealer are arrested with ? When you buy drugs on the street you can't be sure of what is really in them ? Just because they are identical to what you get from the pharmacy does not mean that it hasn't had a number of other chemicals added to it to cut it so that one tablet can be made into 20 or more. Grant you, if the tablet is Not a capsule, it is harder to cut it, but that does not mean that something hasn't been put on it. Drug dealers do not care about your health. Unless someone has a limitless supply of money, how many pills do you think that your drug dealer will give you when you have no mney or not enough ? None.

As I have said before, I have a friend that receives SSI and Medicaid. In Louisiana, Medicaid will not pay for pain management drs. Very, very few pcps will prescribe pain meds for Medicaid patients that have chronic pain. My friend is on SSI becasue she has several impairments that cause severe chronic pain 24/7. She isn't able to be up for more than 10-15 minutes three times a day without pain meds. I have read her medical records and gone with her into the exam room to see her drs. The only reason she can't get pain meds is becasue she is on Louisiana Medicaid. Several yrs ago her pcp told her that she could either go to a pain maangement dr or go into a nursing home, but he did not do pain management. She receives $733 a month. There was no way that she could pay her rent alone and also see a pain management dr. She decided to live on the street so she would have the money to pay for pain management. She has several other friends and I, that have given her an open invitation to stay on their couchs and park her car at their apartments, she has no family. She is very independent and stubborn and she doesn't stay with her friends often, but she does often park her car at our apartments and sleep in her car. She also keeps her clothes at our apartments and comes in to take a shower and clean up and get dressed before she goes to see her pain mangement dr. Fortunately, she will be eligible for Retirement in a few yrs and then she will have Medicare and get a place to live again and also have pain management. I have shared her story to say this, she never considered getting any pain meds off the streets for the reasons that I have mentioned.

(I apologize for my poor typing and grammer. My hands are causing me more problems that usual and I'm having a much higher than usual pain level tonight as well as a terrible headache because of storms we are having)

Prescription drugs worth millions to dealers
http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/01/news/economy/prescription_drug_abuse/

I see you're right about street narcotics. I like when people can support their positions with logic and facts.

Going off-topic a little: can't your friend get some local government financial assistance with rent? Disabled people are not supposed to be forced into choices like that. The government doesn't intend for that.

For all the posted complaints about medication regulations, why can't people try to promote movements that specifically address issues that might affect us? For example, an online petition to government representatives calling for Medicaid to cover pain management visits for some people on disability.

If you want to get an idea of how "expensive" street drugs are, watch a couple of episodes of Intervention..I think it's on Bravo or one of those type channels.

The price is not just monetary, it's what addicts will do to get the money to buy the drugs, i.e. prostitution, theft from family, friends, businesses, selling drugs themselves.....you add it all up and its a pretty large cost.

The one thing in that article that bugged me, is the Writer clumped "Addiction and Dependence" together, and they are so not the same thing.

This article came off as being written by someone who either has a pain issue themselves or has someone in their daily life who deals with Chronic Pain daily. It was pretty biased for a general Article about the passing of Bills that deal with Chronic Pain.....and some of the numbers didn't work with data you can get from other sources, which makes me question the validity of the whole piece.

It is very hard to get a true number of CP'ers who've crossed into addiction and O'D on meds, or just become addicts and live that life. Most of those type people are not going to let some Dr./Researcher follow their actions for days to get the data they need. As to where generally a true Addict who gets their drugs however and wherever they can don't really give a damn who tracks their usage to get the data they need for an accurate Report.

The CDC, FDA, & DEA basically have a formula that they've made and they plug the numbers in that they get from hospitals, morgues, etc. as to a patients death, cause of death, physical/mental health at time of death and that's how they get the data that's used in these Studies for the most part. They break it down into who was a Chronic Pain patient and who was just a regular old addict who just liked drugs.....and that's about as close as they can get.

These celebrities that OD on multiple drugs and alcohol should make no more of a dent in the Study than any other person....does it matter that it was Prince who O'd as opposed to John Doe? No, who cares, they both did the same thing. Does it hurt those of us who have multiple dual diagnosis' of medical illnesses and mental illness, yes. We get to fight a little harder because we have to take benzo's to keep our brain chemistry in check.

As far as I'm concerned the "celebrities" who overdose because all of their "feel good" pills finally killed them they mixed a few too many together and washed it all down with a bottle of vodka or tequila should not even be in research data, all they do is skew it....because 95% have nothing wrong with them.

i'll stop venting now...

Genuine, Louisiana is the only state that I know of that will not pay for pain management drs. She has called several low income housing places and the local public housing authority. She is on several waiting lists at different complexes for the elderly. Because she is 55+ and on disability for adut onet physical disabilites she is considered "near elderly." Housing for Senior Citizens that receive government assistance can have a small percentage of their tenants that are "near elderly." The waiting list for Section 8 Tenant Based is closed and has been for a long time.

In Louisiana, they have made and are continuing to make huge cuts in the Medicaid Budget. Some of these cuts affect children. Louisiana is going to expand Mediciad July 1, but that won't be of any help to those that are already on it. Louisiana Medicaid pays as little as $18 for some office visits. There are not many private drs that will even accept Medicaid, and I dont blame them. Some of the clients I worked with were on Mediciaid, SSI and other government assistance. Unfortunately there are some that fall through the cracks like my friend. The general public believes what the politicians tell them throught the new media and other avenues that Medicaid provides Access To Quality Care. She even went to the pain management clinic at public teaching hospital to try and get some type of pain management. They told her they didn't prescribe opaites and told her they coud refer her to a pain managment dr. I asked the dr how was she suppose to pay for it with her income and the dr said, "that isn't our department, all we can do is a referral."

My friend is lucky though because she has light at the end of the tunnel from the stand point of her retirement and Medicare. Others that have nothing but Louisiana Medicaid don't have that light. Know what I mean ?

This is a somewhat jumbled response to two different posts.

I don't know anyone who thinks Medicaid is good health care.

Addiction to pain meds by chronic pain patients might not be as common or deadly as people infer from media reports, but I wish there were more concern about other health consequences and also the financial burden of rehab and the damage to relationships. Once more, it is very sensible for the government to aim at the root of the problem.

Now can't that friend try to get vouchers to stay at hotels or even use something like GoFundMe for help? The situation seems so needless - probably involving a dislike of living with other people - and the community should push the government to cover pain management visits. Personally I'd rather be involved in activism than just focusing on my own mostly hopeless health.