Trump declares opioid crisis a 'public health emergency'

[Right_in_Virginia]

These lives are not worth saving in my book, .....

Okay.  No other explanation is needed.   Thanks.

[Right_in_Virginia]

That's fantastic.  Reminds me of where I sleep.

I'm glad you see humor in this.  But often there's a teenager's remains in your sleep chamber.   

[Right_in_Virginia]

What you or I think about their worth is irrelevant if they have no self-worth.

Cold, un-Christian 

[Suppressed]

I'm glad you see humor in this.  But often there's a teenager's remains in your sleep chamber.   

@Right_in_Virginia

Look on the bright side...these are quite often middle-class white honor-roll teenagers.  Nobody can scream "racism" for the callousness!

[Right_in_Virginia]

@Right_in_Virginia

Look on the bright side...these are quite often middle-class white honor-roll teenagers.  Nobody can scream "racism" for the callousness!

There is no damn bright side.

[goodwithagun]

No. And in fact clamping down may make doctors’ jobs more difficult and patients’ legitimate pain issues more difficult to treat as well.

But, there’s nothing wrong with this part from his statement: “Addressing it will require all of our effort and it will require us to confront the crisis in all of its very real complexity.”

Solving complex social problems will require serious attention from as many serious people as possible. The president is bringing it to the nation’s attention as part of his job.

Like these docs and their patients? https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/drug-company-founder-john-kapoor-arrested-for-alleged-opioid-scheme/

[ABX]

I'm curious, with the government's history, when has any of these 'war on whatever crisis of the day' actually done anything but increase the problem they are trying to fix?

Reference point- War on Poverty. War on Drugs. War on Terror. War on Obesity. War on.. well name it..

All these do is increase government, increase spending far beyond what they said would happen, reduce liberty of law abiding citizens, and make no perceivable dent in whatever they were fighting the war on (usually just the opposite, the underground nature and crime around it increases).

[aligncare]

Like these docs and their patients? https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/drug-company-founder-john-kapoor-arrested-for-alleged-opioid-scheme/

No, not the few bad seeds. But, the thousands of caring, thoughtful doctors whose professional opinion and personal knowledge of their patients’ cases will be replaced by bureaucrats in insurance cubicles and statehouses.

[Cyber Liberty]

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
October 26, 2017
..

Remarks by President Trump on Combatting Drug Demand and the Opioid Crisis

East Room
2:26 P.M. EDT


Read more:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/10/26/remarks-president-trump-combatting-drug-demand-and-opioid-crisis

I read the speech.  It moves me from being generally supportive of Trump and his policies to being four-square against him because he's being a baffoon.  He's taking a sledgehammer to a mosquito problem.

There isn't one word in the speech about how he's going to protect the rights of people who need opiods to maintain their Quality of Life.  Not one!  I have friends with Fibromyalgia who have tried different medications to control the pain (so spare me the recommendations for alternative treatments), and Hydrocodone is the only effective treatment.  They work every day to ensure they never increase the dosages they take, and have lived with residual pain for years to keep from getting addicted.

What about them?  How are we going to stop the FDA from just moving in and saying "You people can't have the painkillers anymore because others are abusing them?"  All I see in the speech is how he wants to hand even more authority to FDA and other agencies.

He's being stampeded into passing another Patriot Act, all over again, and shoving another wedge between Doctors and Patients.  And ignorant people all over this land think it's just grand.

[RoosGirl]

Cold, un-Christian 

Right, because the government stepping in to take care of the problem screams Christian empathy.

[edpc]

As I posted in a similar thread......

When Obama started shipping illegals around the US in 2014, outbreaks of Enterovirus D68 began to emerge across the country.  That’s a national health crisis.  So was the flu epidemic of the early 20th Century, as was the search for a polio vaccine.  Addiction and poor decision making does not constitute health crisis.

[aligncare]

As I posted in a similar thread......

When Obama started shipping illegals around the US in 2014, outbreaks of Enterovirus D68 began to emerge across the country.  That’s a national health crisis.  So was the flu epidemic of the early 20th Century, as was the search for a polio vaccine.  Addiction and poor decision making does not constitute health crisis.

 You see it as moral failing. I see it as biology, brain chemistry and the highly addictive nature of the stuff. Yes, even devout christians and jews can become addicted and over dose. A spike in accidental over dose nationally deserves our attention. What form that attention takes needs to be debated from all sides of the issue. 

That frying pan emoji was accidental

[Frank Cannon]

I'm glad you see humor in this.  But often there's a teenager's remains in your sleep chamber.   

The only people that will affect are the lazy worthless parents who didn't raise their kids properly. It is the parents and kids fault for this shit and no one else's. No matter how many teenagers die this weekend from blatantly stupid OD's, I'm still going to have a kick ass weekend and those are undeniable facts. Shuffling money around in some worthless GD fed agency isn't going to do a effing thing.

[truth_seeker]

I do not claim to know the answer. I do recognize there is a significant problem.

The field of pain management, and addiction treatment are justifiably in the center of attention.

Included in the 8 "Essential Health Benefits" under Obamacare, is Substance/mental health treatment. The sums of money already being spent, are beyond astounding.

Street bums and addicts in one region, are signed up for Obamacare insurance by recruiters, and put on planes the next day for "treatment" in California's scenic coastal towns.

The "Treatment" is conducted mostly by people who themselves, got "clean" surprisingly recently themselves. The Treatment firms are making insane profits. The ""patients" are driven in Mercedes vans (known as "druggiebuggies") from sober living group homes, to testing, to the gym, to the beach, and finally to local AA meetings.

I do not see how government could spend anymore money than it is currently spending.

[edpc]

You see it as moral failing. I see it as biology, brain chemistry and the highly addictive nature of the stuff.

No, I see it as a personal weakness, excuse, and sometimes - choice.  I’m far from a devout anything.  I’ve lived with daily pain from a chronic condition for 2 decades.  Before they knew what it was, I was on Vicodin 7.5 mg and muscle relaxers.  Had no problems getting off the stuff because I know it only masks the problem and doesn’t address it.  The routine PT and discipline to manage the condition is challenging.  It’d be easy and justifiable for me to ask for opioids.  I take ownership of my responsibilities to do what’s necessary, so drugs don’t take ownership of me.  Besides, a good deal of the users are doing it recreationally.  That’s why Oxycontin is called ‘hillbilly heroin.’

[Frank Cannon]

Besides, a good deal of the users are doing it recreationally.

Bingo. If you want to have fun and games and play grab ass at a universally known dangerous level, that is your problem not mine. Having the govt' make it all our problem is not their business. Their business is trying to stay solvent....which they are doing a piss poor job of.

[Restored]

IIRC At some point, people were getting Oxy for free or very cheap. I suspect Medicaid was involved. After lots of people got hooked, the government pulled the plug and went after the "pain docs". I knew one of them from a ministry where we both served and she went to prison.

So now we have "recreational" addicts and "medical" addicts. The medical addicts are scared because the recreational addicts are putting their pain and mood-altering drugs at risk. People focus their lives on these drugs and any threat to them drives them to frantic levels. I have family members in this situation. They cannot face life without these medications. If life gives them any problems, they head for the pill bottle.

The pain problem is that people are dying left and right. A friend lost her daughter to heroin/fetanyl.  The main problem is that you can't stop them from killing themselves. They know it can kill them and they do it anyway. It's not like they are unaware of the risks. So I don't know that we are going to be able to do anything. I have never heard anyone offer a reasonable solution.

[Right_in_Virginia]

The only people that will affect are the lazy worthless parents who didn't raise their kids properly. It is the parents and kids fault for this shit and no one else's. No matter how many teenagers die this weekend from blatantly stupid OD's, I'm still going to have a kick ass weekend and those are undeniable facts. Shuffling money around in some worthless GD fed agency isn't going to do a effing thing. 

@Frank Cannon ... throwing out all the foul language you can get away with doesn't distract from the bottom line:  You don't care if teenagers (and those your age) die from these drugs.  All you're asking is that they die quietly and not interrupt your kick ass weekend or retirement checks.

I've got it, Frank.  Again, you need not explain yourself further.

[Cyber Liberty]

Bingo. If you want to have fun and games and play grab ass at a universally known dangerous level, that is your problem not mine. Having the govt' make it all our problem is not their business. Their business is trying to stay solvent....which they are doing a piss poor job of.

That's my Bingo too.  There are druggies that do this stuff for "recreation," and then there are people who can't live a decent life without it.  Government is a blunt object, so how does the baffoon intend to deal with the druggies without hurting the people who really need the stuff?

[Frank Cannon]

All you're asking is that they die quietly and not interrupt your kick ass weekend or retirement checks.

No. They can die as loudly as they want and still not interrupt me.

BTW, who made you Mother Superior and make your to role elevate this so called crisis as everyone's problem? Lot's of kids are dying texting and driving too. Why are we not shoveling govt' money into making a Galaxy S8 a schedule 2 drug?

[aligncare]

Google brain chemistry and addiction. The problem is more biology than psychology, but both are important. Bringing the criminal justice system into it costs a lot more and only makes matters worse.

[Cyber Liberty]

Google brain chemistry and addiction. The problem is more biology than psychology, but both are important. Bringing the criminal justice system into it costs a lot more and only makes matters worse.

You'll get no argument from me there.  Trump needs to gather up his Agencies and butt the Hell out of this.  You can't possibly think this new front on "The War Against Drugs" is a good thing.

[Right_in_Virginia]

No. They can die as loudly as they want and still not interrupt me.

BTW, who made you Mother Superior and make your to role elevate this so called crisis as everyone's problem?

@Frank Cannon

You don't care.  I don't agree with that, but not caring is your right.  I accept that and won't try to change it.

So stop arguing with me.  You don't care ... I do.  There's our stalemate.  Big whoop.   

Move on.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Google brain chemistry and addiction. The problem is more biology than psychology, but both are important. Bringing the criminal justice system into it costs a lot more and only makes matters worse.

The changes in brain chemistry causing addiction are staggering. 

Here's a pretty good introduction to the subject:  http://www.amhc.org/1408-addictions/article/48371-addiction-changes-the-brains-chemistry

[Frank Cannon]

@Frank Cannon

You don't care.  I don't agree with that, but not caring is your right.  I accept that and won't try to change it.

So stop arguing with me.  You don't care ... I do.  There's our stalemate.  Big whoop.   

Move on.

You are mistaken. I am not arguing with you. I am advertising to other posters here why your position is untenable. Big difference.