Fentanyl Fuels Latest Spike in Opioid Deaths

[rangerrebew]

Fentanyl Fuels Latest Spike in Opioid Deaths

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 29, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Drug overdose deaths continue to pile up in the United States, driven largely by the opioid epidemic and the emergence of dangerously potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl, a new government report shows.

Overdose deaths increased by 21.5 percent in 2016, a much sharper spike than the 11.4 percent increase seen the previous year, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20180329/fentanyl-fuels-latest-spike-in-opioid-deaths#1

[truth_seeker]

Buying opioids on the street, is very unpredictable and dangerous.

The user has little assurance as to the potency. Fentanyl is already many multiples stronger, than other varieties.

Most overdoses are not attempted suicides. They are stupidity on display.

And now the users can rest assured the EMTs are carrying Narcan (Naloxone) to save their lives.

[Cyber Liberty]

The government's response?  Take all the painkillers away from the little old ladies and men on Medicare, natch.

[Restored]

Actually, the medical community has long said that opioids are not a good solution to a long term problem. It's like prescribing cigarettes because it makes the patient feel better. The problem is there is no pain gauge on a person.

But the public is demanding that the politicians fix the opioid problem so users are going to be at the mercy of the politicians.  If I were a user, I'd be telling my doctor to come up with a different plan. Or buying weed.

[GtHawk]

Actually, the medical community has long said that opioids are not a good solution to a long term problem. It's like prescribing cigarettes because it makes the patient feel better. The problem is there is no pain gauge on a person.

But the public is demanding that the politicians fix the opioid problem so users are going to be at the mercy of the politicians.  If I were a user, I'd be telling my doctor to come up with a different plan. Or buying weed.

First there your right there is no pain gauge on a person, we can't measure like a fever.But there is a chart  from one to ten to rate pain and  it's posted in every exam room, and it's all we have to gauge individual pain by what each person says and every individual experiences pain differently. What may be a tolerable 5 to one person is an excruciating 10 to another. As for the public demanding that politicians fix the problem? a few squeaky wheels and and the leader of the nation looking for a way to divert attention do not the public make.

[roamer_1]

Actually, the medical community has long said that opioids are not a good solution to a long term problem. It's like prescribing cigarettes because it makes the patient feel better. The problem is there is no pain gauge on a person.

But the public is demanding that the politicians fix the opioid problem so users are going to be at the mercy of the politicians.  If I were a user, I'd be telling my doctor to come up with a different plan. Or buying weed.

@Restored
Well, That is what I did... but you are wrong, and the whole of it is wrong. It is bloody easy to tell who is in excruciating pain, and who is not. And folks that are otherwise going to perish locked in a room in screaming yellow pain, that can have relief and some movement toward normal living should be given reasonable access, addiction be damned.

[Cyber Liberty]

@Restored
Well, That is what I did... but you are wrong, and the whole of it is wrong. It is bloody easy to tell who is in excruciating pain, and who is not. And folks that are otherwise going to perish locked in a room in screaming yellow pain, that can have relief and some movement toward normal living should be given reasonable access, addiction be damned.

Especially if they're 90 years old.

[roamer_1]

Especially if they're 90 years old.

Damn right.

[Cyber Liberty]

Damn right.

Those are the people getting cut off in the original topic.  Medicare wants to cease all Insurance for all Opioids on January 1.  The 90-year-old I refer to is my Mom, and if she loses her painkillers, it will literally kill her.