Melania Trump to host discussion on opioid crisis

[libertybele]

This should prove interesting; provided the fashion gestapo doesn't attack her for what she's wearing!

Melania Trump to host discussion on opioid crisis

 Melania Trump has invited experts and people affected by addiction to opioids to the White House for a listening session and discussion about the epidemic.

The first lady is hosting Thursday’s event in the State Dining Room and has invited journalists to attend a portion of the meeting to help raise awareness. She joined President Donald Trump at a briefing on the crisis during the president’s vacation last month at his New Jersey golf club.

Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Trump, said the first lady met regularly during the presidential campaign with families who had been affected by drug abuse and addiction.

She said Mrs. Trump wants to work in tandem with the president’s drug commission on youth and prevention initiatives.

“The opioid crisis is the deadliest epidemic in American history, and it is getting worse,” Grisham said in an email. “It affects children of all ages, even before they are born. As a mother, and as first lady, she is anxious to use her platform to help.”

Grisham added that the first lady is focused on the overall well-being of children.

The president said last month that he will officially declare the opioid crisis a “national emergency,” but he has yet to issue a formal national declaration.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis,” Trump told reporters last month during a different briefing at the New Jersey club.....

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2017/09/28/melania-trump/106069310/

[Frank Cannon]

Not sure if we need a discussion on this issue. Pretty much everyone knows it's bad and if the War on Drugs is any indication, there is little to nothing that can be done to stop it.

[Suppressed]

Not sure if we need a discussion on this issue. Pretty much everyone knows it's bad and if the War on Drugs is any indication, there is little to nothing that can be done to stop it.

Perhaps a different approach?

[Frank Cannon]

Perhaps a different approach?

Sitting around and talking about a problem without a solution isn't a different approach. It is the same approach that has been used for decades by the govt'.

[Applewood]

I'm not sure there really is a crisis.  The word "crisis" has been overused by Democrats as an excuse to waste more of taxpayers' money or to assert more governmental intrusion into our lives.   These days I can't watch local TV news without some mention of this alleged crisis.  The state is spending huge amounts of our money on advertising and having the governor run around the state with his phony frowny face on, spreading messages of doom and gloom.  Nauseating. 

These discussions, ads and speeches are just feel good measures designed to make it look like our politicians really care and are are actually doing something about a problem which may not really be a problem at all. Mrs. Trump's intentions may be good, but -- JMHO -- maybe she should pick something else to advocate for -- some problem that can actually be solved.

[Emjay]

Sitting around and talking about a problem without a solution isn't a different approach. It is the same approach that has been used for decades by the govt'.

True.  But it is a crisis and maybe a discussion will help.  I'm glad Melania is interested and at least we can see what she'll wear to the discussion.

[libertybele]

Not sure if we need a discussion on this issue. Pretty much everyone knows it's bad and if the War on Drugs is any indication, there is little to nothing that can be done to stop it.

Au contraire.  Lots can be done ... if arrested ... the opioid dependent can be given 2 choices -- jail time or detox and rehab.  I would much rather my tax dollars go to helping someone get off drugs and rehabilitate them then pay for the to detox in a jail cell and then release someone back into society where chances are they are going to use again and wind up back in jail or dead.  Those that are dependent on prescription opioids -- let's get them into a program for rehab and on different meds to alleviate pain. 

There were several doctors in the area that I live that were arrested for running 'pill mills' -- they would write bogus prescriptions to various different people who would then get the prescription filled and then turn around and sell to the street.  The $$ would go back to the doctors and the sellers to the street would get a percentage.  I'm sure it's happening in other areas of the country.

[truth_seeker]

Under Obamacare, everybody gets what used to be called "Cadillac" addiction treatment; like
Betty Ford and Hazelton.

For-profit entities recruit all over the nation, recruiting addicts with the promise of free detox, treatment, transportation to sunny SoCal beaches.

The cost to taxpayers of said "treatment" is so high I doubt many would believe me.

Bottom line:

1. Just say NO. To not use mind-altering substances, is the single best treatment. Period.
2. There are already plenty of treatment resources
3. Addicts will often go along, in order to get family, law off their backs
4. Many addict will relapse, which is part of what being an addict is about

Nancy Reagan was right. Just Say No.

[Restored]

Some of the problem came from Medicaid/Medicare over-prescribing pain meds instead of doing pain management. Soon Oxy was everywhere. Then the State figured out there was a problem and threw on the brakes. Now we had a bunch of addicts trying to figure out how to get their fix.
Oxy was the hillbilly Crack here before Meth took the lead. Now Meth is everywhere, which I find ironic because these are two completely different drugs.

[libertybele]

Under Obamacare, everybody gets what used to be called "Cadillac" addiction treatment; like
Betty Ford and Hazelton.

For-profit entities recruit all over the nation, recruiting addicts with the promise of free detox, treatment, transportation to sunny SoCal beaches.

The cost to taxpayers of said "treatment" is so high I doubt many would believe me.

Bottom line:

1. Just say NO. To not use mind-altering substances, is the single best treatment. Period.
2. There are already plenty of treatment resources
3. Addicts will often go along, in order to get family, law off their backs
4. Many addict will relapse, which is part of what being an addict is about

Nancy Reagan was right. Just Say No.

????  Sorry, but this is a humanitarian crisis. Those out in the streets that are addicted usually don't have health insurance and while there are facilities to detox (on a sliding scale of affordability), rehabilitation facilities are very costly and many facilities won't take those who have no insurance. So much for the plenty of rehabilitation facilities. While one can detox it is unlikely without medication and a rehab program that one can overcome their addiction. Secondly, it is pretty difficult for those who are in a tremendous degree of pain to just say 'no' to relief from an opioid in the first place.  While opioids are helpful at first the body becomes resistant and requires more to get relief.  The opioid itself overtime robs the body of certain hormones that help with pain and can actually add to the pain itself -- it is a vicious cycle.

It has been proven in other countries such as Portugal that the success rate of treating addiction has risen by given a choice of going to jail or attending detox and a rehab program.  In the long run it is more economical to treat and release into society as a productive citizen then to detain, jail and release, and usually to detain, jail and release numerous times. 

Somewhere in all of this is should enter some compassion for the addict.  If you have ever witnessed anyone who is so sick from going through withdrawals that they will do just about anything to get their next fix or someone who is maxed out on their drug dose and still in excruciating, severe, intractable pain, so much pain that they attempt suicide, I would hope some compassion would be felt. For many isn't just a matter of saying no in the first place! 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1EdndUtTzA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbD9m-JPmJk

[Frank Cannon]

Au contraire.  Lots can be done ... if arrested ... the opioid dependent can be given 2 choices -- jail time or detox and rehab. 

There is a third option I like better. Let them die in the streets. Costs me nothing and solve the problem for good.

[RoosGirl]

Is she going to start having seances also?   ^-^

[DB]

????  Sorry, but this is a humanitarian crisis. Those out in the streets that are addicted usually don't have health insurance and while there are facilities to detox (on a sliding scale of affordability), rehabilitation facilities are very costly and many facilities won't take those who have no insurance. So much for the plenty of rehabilitation facilities. While one can detox it is unlikely without medication and a rehab program that one can overcome their addiction. Secondly, it is pretty difficult for those who are in a tremendous degree of pain to just say 'no' to relief from an opioid in the first place.  While opioids are helpful at first the body becomes resistant and requires more to get relief.  The opioid itself overtime robs the body of certain hormones that help with pain and can actually add to the pain itself -- it is a vicious cycle.

It has been proven in other countries such as Portugal that the success rate of treating addiction has risen by given a choice of going to jail or attending detox and a rehab program.  In the long run it is more economical to treat and release into society as a productive citizen then to detain, jail and release, and usually to detain, jail and release numerous times. 

Somewhere in all of this is should enter some compassion for the addict.  If you have ever witnessed anyone who is so sick from going through withdrawals that they will do just about anything to get their next fix or someone who is maxed out on their drug dose and still in excruciating, severe, intractable pain, so much pain that they attempt suicide, I would hope some compassion would be felt. For many isn't just a matter of saying no in the first place! 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1EdndUtTzA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbD9m-JPmJk

Has Obamacare made pain killers more affordable/available to people who otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford them? This "epidemic" could partially be a result of Obamacare.

[berdie]

Has Obamacare made pain killers more affordable/available to people who otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford them? This "epidemic" could partially be a result of Obamacare.

I believe it was Obama that said instead of surgery just take a pill. Or something to that effect.