I agree with you 110%, but im pretty sure a bunch of crackheads already burned that bridge... thus supporting the paradigm

another unintended consequence of political correctness.....the ability to develop critical thinking lest one be seen as outside the norm.

Well put! What happened to personal accountability? Doctors are not Gods. Yet, we trust them and pay them as if they are.

I find it totally ironic when you talk of Reagan that he said that "Marijuana is the most dangerouse drug on the planet" Google us patent 6630507 to see why it is so ironic. God works in mysterious ways.

Reagan said that because he felt that once someone would take the chance to smoke pot they would try other drugs easier. The unemployment rate I think gives people time to fool around with this stuff so they do. I think it is easy enough to get painkillers my Doctor gives me what I ask for. Maybe because he knows I don't abuse it and at times notices that I didn't fill my prescription. And I tell him if I feel good that day I don't take them or may be cut them in half. I think getting hooked on painkillers is a serious problem and a hard habit to break. They are made to make the pain bearable not to go into lala land. I also feel it is what the drug companies want the Doctors' to push. Remember when valium was the fashionable cure-all?

I think that the main reason for the increase is from all the mother-f*king commercials on TV, radio, on-line, and throughout the media. Whatever your ailment may be, ask your doctor if a free sample is right for you! When a society is constantly bombarded with ads of all kinds for conditions of all kinds, there's going to be abuse. Especially when there are doctors and institutions who hand out prescription drugs like Halloween candy so their pharmaceutical benefactors can make thier money. As the comedian Chris Rock once said in one of his stand-up routines, "pharmaceutical and bio-tech companies don't want you to use illegal drugs, they want you to use their drugs!" So true, so true...

What a bullsh*t article...I'm 52 years old, have chronic backpain everyday and night after having L4/L5/S1spinal fusion surgery, and 2 weeks after surgery they cut off pain medication and still won't prescribe it as a follow-up to this day, a year after the surgery and it's not like i'm a kid whos going to abuse pain meds...it sounds like someone just wants to regulate something that is already regulated...between an orthopedic surgeon, orthopedic specialist, pain managment doctor, and my M.D., i'm taking aspirin for pain so I don't believe this is the norm for most D.R.'s.. also, if someone wants to get high or find drugs, they'll do it, no matter what the law is or what they have to do to get it.....some people are just more susesable to addiction than others and need to be watched or regulated while taking meds!! Like I said before, "BULLSH*T ARTICLE"

Amberella, just FYI, my plumber makes more than I do and I'm at the higher end of of the physician pay scale. We make a secure living, but are hardly living high on the hog, so to speak. Given our responsibility and investment in our education and sacrifices, I think it's appropriate for physicians to make more than average. I'm sure my plumber doesn't have to make life or death decisions every day, deal with emotional family members, abusive patients, work for free ever, work holidays and late nights without additional compensation, or get vomited or bled on or spit or pooped on. I have been verbally, physically, and even sexually assaulted by patients. I am paying back $250K in student loans and gave up 12 years of life past high school for my education. I make more than most people, but quite frankly I deserve it.

Kevin Q, Get down on your hands and knees and thank all of your doctors for allowing you to be free from addiction. Your story is the exception by far. Pain clinics all over the country would be happy to oblige you. Think about it. Big pharma, pain clinics and dirty doctors are the only legal professions that never worry about losing a customer until the customer dies. They can triple their prices and treat the patient like dirt. The addict will pay any price in money or humiliation to get their next fix. Less than 10% ever recover. For those that declare they must have these narcotics for life due to chronic pain, I agree. Not for your original injury or illness, but for the excruciating pain from withdrawals. Your body may have healed years ago. You will never know because you'll never give up the drugs.

Kevin, If you think this article is BS and you have an afternoon to spare, try this experiment. If for no other reason than to get an idea of how this has become a problem and is in no way BS.

Step 1) Find yourself a pain center. You will find plenty in your area by spending 5 minutes with the yellow pages.

Step 2) Choose one that is located in a strip center and is not in an affluent neighborhood.

Step 3) No need to make an appointment, just walk in, sign in, and wait.

Step 4) Do not fill out any insurance info, tell them you will be paying with cash or by card. (it's best for the purpose of this test to keep your insurance company out of the loop.

Step 5)They will take you to the back and you will visit with the "Doctor", tell him exactly what you wrote here, and that you are suffering from chronic back pain as a result to your surgery and that your regular physician refuses to give you a prescription for pain meds.

Step 6)You pay the $50.00 and walk out with several scripts without ever having any tests and based solely on your discussion with the "Doctor"

Now that you have done this, you can stop there and never have to get these prescriptions filled. That was just a test so that you can see how easy it is to get pain medication. Then realize that anyone can do what you did without actually being in pain or needing the medication in the first place. Some doctors aren't like yours and will continue to prescribe as long as you ask them to. Some people seek these clinics out because they have become addicted and their doctor ceases their prescription and the patient goes elsewhere.

Now, If you want to take it a step further, go to your pharmacy. Tell them you have the prescription and that you want their advice. Ask them if this is a common prescription that they fill all the time. You should get an answer like, "25-30% of all prescriptions filled on a daily basis are for pain killers". Tell them you do not wish to get it filled at that time, and that you want to speak to your doctor again before you start taking them. (you leave with the prescription still in hand) Now go to several other pharmacies and repeat. You will get the same answers from most of them.

Keep your eyes and ears open while conducting this "experiment". When you are sitting in the waiting room of those clinics, or even your own doctor, look around the room. Do you see pharma shwag ? (ie. items with pharma logos or with the name of a particular drug) These can be clocks, posters, stacks of brochures, and even the pen with which the doctor is writing the script. All doctors and clinics get regular visits from pharma reps and this shwag is given to those that write a large number of prescriptions for those drugs. The drug companies and their reps are well aware that these clinics write these bogus scripts and it doesn't seem to bother them, after all, it's profit for them. This is not a problem that exists within a particular group, it is used by the sit on their butts type to the 9-5'ers that wear a suit to work. From the intellectual to the stupid and shows up in schools from Jr. high to the Universities. We've even had problems with our men and women in the service abusing by going to off base clinics and by paying cash.

I don't profess to know the solution, but pretending that there's no problem and that it's BS is not it.

If there are pain centers like you describe in your "experiment," I don't know about them. I take painkilers for chronic pain after two unsuccessful spinal surgeries, and my pain specialists demand random urine tests, pill counts, monthly appointments, strict adherence to a host of rules. Unless you wake up every morning in pain, you are in no position to throw stones.

Of course lots of people abuse medications. Lots of people die in car crashes, too, but I don't see anybody clamping down on cars.

I'm in no way trying to belittle or cast judgement on those that suffer from legitimate and chronic pain. Your pain center is handling you and it's other patients the way that all should, and is the type that these drug abusers deliberately avoid. You may have noticed in my post, the words, located in a strip center and is not in an affluent neighborhood. The reason I chose to include the fact that some members of the military have been known to do this and abuse these pain medications, is that I have first hand knowledge of an investigation involving three of my Petty Officers. I'm not going into the details of their case, but they received an Article 15 (NJP) or "Captain's Mast" as well call it in the Navy. The "Clinic" that they received their prescriptions from was located in a bad neighborhood(high crime rate), it wasn't in a medical district or business park where other medical services were offered. It was in a strip center and was flanked by a payday lender and a liquor store.(Does your pain center have bars on it's windows ??) With the help of US Navy and Marine Corps personnel through both testimony and sworn affidavits, the State shut this and 5 other centers down in St. Mary's County Maryland. This is expensive and time consuming to investigate and prosecute, and there are thousands of these across the nation. Not all doctors take their oath as seriously as others.

I should preface my entire statement with the fact that I am a recovering alcoholic/addict (since 3/1971) and my internist is fully aware of my history. I also have serious L1 through L5 problems. Arthritis is deteriorating my back slowly but surely and it is a painful process. I have been to physical therapy and many people there had already had back surgery and were on so much medication and I wasn't on any...yet.

I have now graduated to pain management. This is corticosteroid injections directly into the affected areas. There are only 3 treatments allowed per year, per area. This clinic does not give out any pain medication. Their theory is that if my physician thinks I am in need of it, he will prescribe it. I'm not sure if this is because it's me (my doctor keeps a tight rein on me). He has finally seen the need for pain meds and discussed this with my daughter and myself because I was hesitant. We talked about my "drugs of choice" when I was using and he intentionally stays away from anything in the family of those meds.

The fact that I am on several psych meds because I am manic-depressive doesn't help. However, my physician also stays in contact with my psychiatrist and I have on-going bloodwork done. I am grateful to have such professionals on my case, finally.

It hasn't always been that way. Many years ago, I used to doctor-shop and get my meds that way so I know exactly what is out there and how to get it. I think that is why I'm so cautious now.....I know myself. I know what I can do if I am left to my own resources. I don't want to go there again. It's really scary there.

Commonsense101...."Get down on your hands and knees and thank all of your doctors for allowing you to be free from addiction"

You obviously don't have a pain condition. There is a difference between addiction & dependence. If I didn't have pain medication, I'd be bed ridden. I'm thinking people are confusing pain medication for people with illnesses with those who do drugs that wind up killing them (meth, cocaine, etc.).

Kevin....find another doctor. There is no reason what so ever you should be in chronic pain everyday. You pay the doctors...not the other way around.

Commonsense, pardon me, but you're an idiot who doesn't know what they are talking about. Sorry to be so harsh, but your glorified self righteous attitude about not being addicted to anything shows me you know nothing about chronic pain. People who suffer from these horrid problems are dependent on pain medications to improve their quality of life...otherwise, all they are doing is simply surviving. The fact that pain medications have addictive properties is worth tolerating considering the alternative.

THOSE DEPENDENT ON PAIN MEDICATIONS FOR ILLNESS ARE NOT PILL POPPING JUNKIES LOOKING FOR THE NEXT HIGH! Stop grouping everyone in the same category please. Same goes for everyone who drinks alcohol is NOT an alcoholic.

GEE, ya THINK it might have ANYTHING to do with incessant hawking on television and drug co promotion by paying doctors to prescribe?!?

Sugraddict1973 - very well put!! I would like to see how commonsense101 would handle going thru the pain I live with 24/7 for just half a day. I believe he/she would be making quite a scene at the ER for a prescription for those evil, evil pain meds!!!

Commonsense101 - oh the irony of your screen name!

[quote]"For those that declare they must have these narcotics for life due to chronic pain, I agree. Not for your original injury or illness, but for the excruciating pain from withdrawals. Your body may have healed years ago. You will never know because you'll never give up the drugs."[/quote]

If only this were true! I know more than a few people (myself included) who would LOVE to live their lives free from doctors (aside from a yearly physical, of course), tests, surgeries, medications, treatments, therapies, the extra-special hastle of appointments with specialists, and the monetary GOUGING (etc...) related to medical 'care' for an ongoing condition.

Unfortunately, some of these conditions can cause PERMANENT damage to the body - in other words there is no magic cure, the damage can not be somehow undone, the body is not simply going to 'heal' and the person might have to deal with chronic pain... FOR-EH-VER!

Personally, I have Rheumatoid Arthritis - Juvenile RA, actually (which, of the more than 100 types of RA, is particularly nasty), but whatever. On the outside, I pretty much look like anyone else going about there business. On the inside... I am never without an angry hornet's nest of pain somewhere in my body (and, more often than not, several somewheres all fired up in concert).

I am a bilateral hip replacement patient - that's right, BOTH HIPS replaced at the same time. I was in my 20's at the time of my surgery. And, because I am still so young, I can look forward to enduring a greater number of costly surgeries than my peers... you know, just to keep moving, as I age. Thankfully, though, I do have a freakishly high threshold for pain - something that has baffled my doctors over the years, with one prominent Rheumatologist assuring me that, without a doubt, I can boast of having the higest pain tolerance of anyone she has ever treated. I suppose I should consider myself fortunate, in that regard.

For the first DECADE of my diagnosis, I resisted medicinal help in dealing with the pain aspect - which, by your account, should have provided my body ample time to heal itself if it ever was going to, no? But, I considered it bad enough that I was thrown into a situation that required treatment for the disease itself, since I am not particularly fond of doctors, needles for tests OR giving myself subcutaneous injections, choking down myriad pills, etc... Oh, and, because I have responsibilities just like everyone else --and to avoid becoming a total bore to my family & friends because, let's face it, nobody likes someone who is forever going on about what ails them-- I tend to just suck it up and do my best to keep up with the frenzied pace of life, no matter what pains or fatigue it might make for later. And, of course, I am continuously reminded of the little children with cancer, or whatever else, who have it far worse than I ever will.

But, no matter how well adjusted I remain or how positive my attitude, even I have limits to what I can bear. If I need to take a pill to keep my pain at a level that would see most everyone else at the ER... so be it. Ignorant comments by the uneducated, unsympathetic, segment will not succeed in making me feel like a 'junkie'.

Hobble a mile (or a decade) in my shoes... then I will take your judgements seriously. Seriously!

Applause for you inthegrey!!!! I'm truly sorry of all the pain & suffering you have to go thru! Nobody & I mean nobody should have to go thru this & then worry about the stigma "certain human beings(?)" attach to the sick. I have Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) I've had it for over 6 years - constant pain 24/7 in a nutshell. There is no cure, I've been thru so many pai/nerve blocks your head would spin, I've even tried a spinal chord stimulator, all to no avail. The only thing these accomplished was putting me in, being in debt for most of my life. Theses are the things we are willing to go thru to stay away from pain meds. One of my major pet peeves is some *##*@ telling me I don't look sick, my usual reply is "You don't look like an a**hole, & your point is?" As you can tell this is a very hot issue to me. I admire your strength to carry on when all you want to do is curl up & cry for the pain is so bad - I can relate! Karma is a bitch & can be very painful as well! So it might be wise to watch out for the way one criticizes on a subject one might not be that wise about!!

I cringe every time I see articles like this. The government has no place in the dr.-patient relationship and due to their witch hunt people who live with chronic pain and suffer every day can not get proper treatment. Because they can not win the "war on drugs" they have turned to going after pain patients and the doctors who treat them to make it look like they are doing something. Doctors and chronically sick patients don't/can't put up a fight like drug dealers so they are easy targets.

Because of this people who need this medication to function and to make their lives more tolerable are denied treatment. Without treatment they are often unable to work and support themselves and their families, keep a house, do the things they love, spend time with their families, and some may not even be able to preform the daily functions of life such as bathing without help.

Many other types of patients are dependent on medications that they need to sustain their lives or that make their conditions more manageable, such as those who need to take blood pressure meds, diabetes meds, thyroid meds, cholesterol meds...etc. Why is a pain patient who is dependent on pain meds any different? Would a doctor with hold any of those other non-pain meds to a patient?, I think not. Then why are those with chronic pain denied treatment? It is illogical and inhumane. If taking a pill a couple times a day can help someone to live a more productive, more tolerable life, and perhaps enable them to have a job, support their families, participate in family functions, and be a contributing member of society, then so be it; it is better than the alternative.

There will always be those few who will abuse medication and drugs. They will get those drugs whether from a doctor or off the street. We will never eradicate this as it has existed as long as human kind. This is no reason to allow chronic pain patients to suffer and be treated like criminals. Until you walk in a chronic pain patient's shoes and experience what they live through every day, no one has the right to judge...especially the government. Many people are dependent on many types of other medications, pain is no different.

Those patients who do find treatment are forced into being treated like criminals. They are forced to sign draconian and degrading treatment "contracts" under duress that force them to give up their right to privacy, relinquish their right to be treated in the ER for an emergency, submit to random drug tests as if they were criminals, submit to random pill counts, get all their scripts for all meds from the pain dr., and among other requirements, give up the ability to refuse treatment the doctor recommends despite the risks. This puts the patient's health and live at risk.

Not allowing a patient to receive treatment in an ER puts them at risk for having a heart attack or stroke due to out of control blood pressure from extreme pain. I was personally in a situation recently where I had to go to the ER and had BP within stroke range. The only thing that brought my BP down was to control my pain via pain meds. I could have died that night if my treatment was delayed due to a pain "contract".

Treating pain with opiate based medicines is nothing new as it has been in use for 10's of thousands of years. It is one of the oldest medications in existence. It is no coincidence that the opium poppy produces the very pain killing chemical that exists naturally within our own bodies. It is here for us to use to help ease the suffering of people living in pain.

Pain patients: Please let your voice's be heard. Speak out. Post as much as you can about your experiences. There are few who are fighting for us, so we must stand up and do it ourselves. I know it is hard for us to even muster the energy to voice our opinions sometimes but we survived this long with chronic pain and through experiences few could even imagine, but this is one more burden we must bear. We have to stand up for our right to be treated humanely.

You only live once!

Pain medications are sometimes necessary for people living with pain to participate in live. The alternative for some is being home bound, disables, not being able to participate in family events, do and of the things you love, or even hold any type of job to support themselves. You only get one life and if it means taking a few pills per day will make my life more tolerable and perhaps even enjoyable, then I choose the medication. The government should not stand in the way of my ability to obtain proper and humane treatment.

There is an alternative that isn't nearly as addictive and has never caused an overdose.

I have serious medical conditions, what are your alternatives Larry? I would truly like to know, I don't enjoy 15 prescription drugs and the inablility to go out of my house if it is over 85 degrees? Thanks, looking for a better life.

Try Medical Marajuana, it helps many ailments including pain...do your own research, but it is true! My friend went from 17 perscriptions to 4...hmmm damn pharma companies!

I wish that were true here I Illinois My Doctor stopped my pai meds because of a positive Marajuana test

ruining our country would be a better adjective.

actually, it's a verb

Bighorn...the doctors who hand out pain pills freely is not the majority. You simply hear more about the ones who do.

Additionally, pot has pain relieving properties that work for many people (not just to get stoned). A lot prefer to use pot instead of prescription pills due to the fear of addiction. It's a plant...not the devil.

Focus your hateful energy on something positive please. Not all who use pain killers & pot are junkies....they have actual medical conditions. Until you are crippled with pain every waking moment and your life comes to a halt because of it...don't group everyone together as junkies.

Sugraddict, agreed. I'm a chronic pain patient and I've never met a doctor who will just hand out copious amounts of whatever painkiller you want. When I first saw my pain specialist, I had to take a drug test and sign a contract stating that I could be randomly drug-tested at any time, was subject to random pill counts, could only get my scripts filled at a certain pharmacy, and so forth. You're monitored very closely, and it took me YEARS to find a physician who was willing to prescribe pain medication to me in spite of the fact that I'm allergic to non-steroidals (ibuprofen, naproxen, Celebrex, and the like).

These pill-pushing doctors simply don't exist. They're made up by people who are overly paranoid about abuse. Numerous studies have shown that only three percent of people prescribed these medications go on to abuse them. That means that 97% do not.

These articles always bug me because they make those of us who legitimately need these medications look like druggies instead of people with disabling chronic pain. Without my meds, I'd be pretty much confined to my bed writhing in agony all day. With them, I can live a halfway-decent life. These medications exist for a reason.

The other side of this is that it is cheaper for the medical provider to give someone with pain pain pills instead of trying to fix the problem (surgery). Chronic pain is no fun to watch in a loved one (i do every day) The HMO says that his pain can be controlled with pain pills for the next decade (mind you he needs a hip replacement and knee surgery) You tell me who is helping contribute to this problem. There is a bigger picture out there and they sure as heck are not reporting this information.

Ecbolts, it really depends on what the problem is. In my case, my pain is caused by ankylosing spondylitis, which is basically arthritis in my spine. Back surgeries for pain rarely work and will often make the condition worse. I know that in my previous line of work, I saw hundreds of cases of people who have had surgery for various back ailments, and not one of them improved following it. They all either stayed the same or got worse. I'd never recommend surgery unless it's an absolute last resort. Of course, I'm not a doctor - this is just what I've seen and experienced.

But I do agree with you that in cases where surgery can be helpful, it should be pursued. If the problem is something that can be fixed instead of just managed, let's fix it! God knows I'd fix myself in a heartbeat and get off all my meds if I could. Of course, it's never that easy with all the red tape involved.

I agree with you and another side of this story is: The pharmaceutical companies are crying all the way to the banks right.

This is a filler story because there is no significant news today. The pharmaceutical companies have some of the largest lobby groups in Washington, DC

Their agenda is for people to buy more Medications period. No medication, No money, fewer companies needed.

Ditto what Suggaraddict stated with an attitude.as pain causes one to be exceptionally mean,if not medicated properly, and pot does work. lowers your resistance to every thing including pain killers.

Megidoloan: The pill-pushing doctors do exist. They usually operate out of a store-front operation that only accepts cash and relocates after a short period of time. The same doctor can prescribe thousands of prescriptions every month and they relocate as soon as they think someone is onto them. This has been reported about regularly in Houston and in Florida.

These are not the doctors that you are thinking of, but they do exist.

Megidoloan: pill pushing docs do exist. My mother's doctor has her on methadone for back pain. He refused to send her to a specialist. Instead, he just kept giving her methadone. Not to mention the 5 other medications he had her on. One for depression, anxiety, resltless leg syndrome, blood pressure, and anti-diarrheal medications. My aunt worked for the other doctor in my rural community, and he was the same exact way. They got kick-backs from the drug reps, so they just keep handing out scripts.

These doctors exist and make the rest of us miserable. Every time I see a pt in my ER with Dr. X as the primary doc I know to be highly suspicious. We can run reports of all the narcotics they have gotten filled in a particular state and many times when a patient is "called out" on all the prescriptions they have gotten they deny lie or scream and cause a scene. This obviously is the minority of patients but it makes it hard to treat everybody else when you need to be so suspicious. Another problem is that all adminstration is worried about is patient satisfaction. No one complains more than a denied drug seeker.

rja-618795:

Amen brother..or sister. You speak the truth that many here will never know. Especially about Hospital Administration caring only about Satisfaction and Press-Gainey scores. I used to work at a place that recently implemented a policy that if you got 3 complaints within a years time you were booted out of the hospital...and out of a job. Our drug seeker population skyrocketed through the roof because we were afraid of loosing our jobs.

My eleven years of treatment for orthopedic injuries by the Department of Veterans' Affairs has demonstrated amply that prescribing pills is a quick and easy way to dispose of patients that will not be quick, easy, or cheap to treat correctly!

Yes, some people do abuse Rx drugs and some doctors get a portion of their income from pharmaceutical kickbacks, but I think that they are in the definite minority. The docs could easily be shut down if they are merely dr. feelgoods, and their Rx writing priviledges withdrawn by whatever state they practice in.

I have decades of experience from the inside of this issue. I've been taking medication (morphine) for serious chronic pain for a number of years now. I had to raise hell to be able to recieve effective pain relief. I went without any for years merely because my doctor didn't want to answer to a board for writing painkiller Rxes. I was labeled 'drug seeking' and had it put in my records preventing me from getting help from other doctors in the future. At that point I had had it and ended up in trouble for what I viewed as self defense (of a non violent type- I spoke out loudly) against being ignored because some doctor was concerned with his damned paperwork. I ended up meeting with the chief of medicine for the hospital and told him 'YES ! I am drug seeking! I need some help and you guys are not providing it, just calling me names in my records. The doctor's professional guilds pressed lawmakers to give them control over distribution of many medicines and now people need to kiss their asses to get something they used to get OTC.' I told him it isn't fair to gain that kind of control and then label someone as a 'drug seeker', with its negative implications, when they go to the doctors for help. When they do give the help they impose many conditions on the patient in the form of contracts, which I've found are meant only for the patient to adhere to while the doctors get to ignore their own obligations regarding it. I viewed it as a form of abuse and said so. I said I wasn't going to sign another one sided contract. It ended up with me getting a good doctor who gave me the meds I needed to control my pain. I've been taking the morphine for almost a decade now and do not abuse it, just take the assigned daily doses. I can't believe I had to suffer for 7 years before that merely because of some doctor's whim and suspicious nature. I know that there are thousands more who are still in the position I was at the beginning. Fortunately, nowadays the treatment of chronic pain is being viewed in the serious light it deserves and the problem is getting better. Having this effective pain relief has made the quality of my life improve immensely.

One thing I've noticed in all of this time is that the people who really need the pain medication don't get high from it, sleepy maybe. People who take it for no real reason are the ones who get buzzed from it while true sufferers become 'normalized' and experience relief from their pain.

Doctors do NOT get kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies. It's illegal.

to Megidoloan...Very well put. I've suffered the same existence. These new medications don't make me drowsy or "dopey". I am also unable to take ibuprofen, acetaminophen etc. and worry about what the govt. has in mind for the future.

If you have been taking narcotics on a regular basis for more than a short time, you ARE an addict. No ifs, ands or buts. Your dosage must be increased at regular intervals just to make you feel normal. At the same time, the narcotics are killing all of your organs including your brain. I am sure this is a neccessary evil for a few of you. I'm just as sure that it is not true for most of you. I've met several addicts. Some of them drug abusers. All of the active users swore they could not live without these little magic pills, injections or patches.

And the long term effects of being in chronic pain does more damage than narcotic pain killers.

Once again, you met a few drug addicts & suddenly all drugs are bad because a few couldn't control themselves.

I love it when a person who clearly does not have to deal w/ chronic pain whatsoever & has all the knowledge in the world about it. Being so well versed regarding this topic, I'm surprised you've not received a nobel prize of some sort, perhaps the Nobel Prize for idiocy? Speak of what you know, clearly this is not your fortay!

Again, Commonsense101, your lack thereof is astounding - everyone who I know who suffers chronic pain has found medication(s), and dosage(s), that work... and does not deviate from them. Ever. Why? Because individuals with true pain issues understand what could happen if they were to take more than their prescribed amount - they might have a severe flair up before their prescription is due.

To go to the ER (or elsewhere) to attain extra medication to last them until their regularly scheduled appointment most likely would lead to them being 'fired' from their provider - as it would violate the contract they signed upon establishing care.

To be without pain medications could lead to unmanaged pain during a flair up, for whatever length of time.

Personally, I don't know anyone dumb enough to risk either of those things happening.

Not to mention the fact that many pain patients keep these medications on hand for emergency type situations - so they don't have to make an expensive, inconvenient trip to the ER (where, no doubt, they would be told to get under the care of a specialist) every single time they experience a flair up of their condition.

The people who abuse prescription drugs don't see it as a criminal issue...which is why they abuse Schedule II prescription drugs and not the Schedule I illicit varieties. Perception is everything. Historically, the biggest abusers of morphine have been physicians. Availability has had a lot to do with it, but it just seems 'cleaner' than the street drugs do.

Exactly! I'm on a prescribed & monitored pain management plan, without this I wouldn't be able to work, pay taxes, care for the home I bought or raise my teenager...I struggle with the docs regularly to get my plan right for me, they're very sketchy and uneasy when it comes to prescribing these meds because of the abuse. It's NOT fair for those of us that actually use it as prescribed!

If the doctor is ethical he or she will not over prescribe any medicine. They play a large roll also.

If you have a permanent long term PCP he or she knows your conditions. There is no abuse.

The doctors who allow the people to shop them, are the real abusers of the system.

Damn straight! I am in terrible pain every day, and thanks to all the med-seekers out there, I can't find a doctor willing to prescribe medicine strong enough to relieve my pain. It's so bad there are days I can't get out of bed.

Wilberta Berry: Good point! The majority of patients who need pain medication have an established relationship with not only a PCP, but several other doctors.

It's just a hunch, but I suspect the majority of prescribing doctors for abusive use are the store-front doctors. I can't imagine a "real" doctor doing that. Why risk everything to write one or two prescriptions?

It isn't the doctor's fault they don't want to prescribe anything they don't have to!

The first issue is that the DEA very closely watches them in this area. If you are a physician, you DO NOT want to be prescribing narcotics in any noticeably higher amount than any of your peers do. That will bring you some very unwelcome, uncomfortable attention.

The second issue is that there are fairly strict production quotas on narcotic painkillers, intended to help curb abuses. The 'light' stuff like Vicodin is still fairly generous, and very small doses of the 'heavy' stuff aren't even too bad, but the larger dosage pills of the heavy stuff, like the MS Contin (morphine sulfate) tablets over 30mg, get watched very closely. If too many get prescribed in one year, shortages tend to occur because the manufacturers are only allowed to produce so many in that year. Presumably, the figure is adjusted to meet what is felt to be legitimate demand the next year, but like so many things in life, that doesn't always work like it's supposed to!

I live in E. WA..it is a regular occurance for pharmacies to be robbed for Oxycontin...it has got to be one of the most evil perscription drugs out there!

great idea but we both know for a fact they will go overboard. to the point if your spine is intact no meds,nerves and discs are not part of the phy. i eat 225mg of morph a day, and got in trouble once, but for not taking enough, cause i hate it. take a pill is my life.good idea but the old days can't come back, with 60,000+ wounded comming in.

To your point, when I was in the hospital, after giving birth to my children, the nurses tried to give me all kinds of medication. I had them give me 1 800mg ibuprofen after a natural delivery. two days later, when leaving the hospital, the doctor automatically gave me a script for percocet. WHY? I wasn't in pain while I was at the hospital, and I was breast feeding. Why would I want to take percocet? I obviously did not fill the script. I tore it up. But I know lots of people who would have filled it and sold it. There needs to be some accountability here.

'Nobody' - Amen to that!

Morphine's pain relief is the ONLY thing going for it. The side effects are truly intolerable after awhile and anyone who's not had to take it just to be able to function probably can't appreciate it.

Imagine not having feeling in your fingertips, most of your face, and your tongue, but yet your back and knees still hurt. Imagine having cottonmouth that no amount of water will cure. Imagine not being aware others in your household have used up your TP several days back...because you've not had the need for any and therefore haven't noticed. You eat only because you know you have to, but you can't taste your food and you really have no appetite for it, anyway. I burnt the ^*$% out of my tongue on a hot ham, egg, and cheese sandwich one morning seven or eight years ago. That night, I'm looking at the blisters inside my mouth in the mirror, wondering what the heck I did to myself, and having to think back retrace my steps throughout the day. I didn't feel the heat when I ate it and forgot all about it for the rest of the day.

I know why people abuse drugs, but I just can't identify with anyone wanting to do it given those side effects!

You are exactly right! I am a nurse and remember clearly when this was started. Now, I work in addictions and am seeing the direct result of us "helping". There are plenty of people who need true pain management but unfortunately it didn't take long for the ones with addiction problems to learn exactly what to say to get what they need. It also made an entire new generation of addicts by their parents having the medications in their homes and their kids experimenting. Many of these kids may not have ever bought drugs off the street but they don't realize how destructive and addictive these meds are.

john raging oxcotin addiction .really why is this drug so high in cost .is it because it works like nothig else and they know it {perdue pharm} and they know they can demand and get it.oh well so much for helping people that need it .its all about profit no way does it cost as much as they charge im not talking about 20-30- % more like 1000s% then protect themselves with patents and keep generic off market crooks the whole damn bunch needs to be investigated. dont give me this crap about r&d we subside that whith our tax dollar.really .

You are probably a great example of the tremendous help pain medication can provide. You can continue to live and work productively with the use of Lortab, and many others are in a similar situation. However many unsuspecting patients find themselves with a problem. I had an umbilical hernia repaired, a very minor procedure, yet was given 30 Lortab for pain control. I had no pain, and took none. Another person might have used them, and after thirty doses may have had a problem. A better approach to these type of situations might be to offer advice on limiting activity, use of heat or cold, and taking non-narcotic pain medication for the few days you may have symptoms. Not all pain situations require narcotic pain medication, but many physicians feel pressured to prescribe them. It does not take long to develop a problem.

right with you .not by choice by accident.its like asking for a liver

truthusfiction you are very right i am the only one in my family to be 16 to have systematic jra im already crippled with out without surgeries i do not got for checkups no more i dont even see my doctors they destroyed my life since i was 9 i been through a @!$%#y life read my story and you will know why i say why not buy painkillers from family whoever just to relieve 5 minutes of pain to walk 5 steps my story is a living hell that came true

i have a 49% chance of an early death-when? i pray soon, no i got a great doc, and all i need, but if this is life, then leaving it, is no biggie. thank you for understanding, and GB the VA!

Chronic pain really drags you down.

You tend to 'become' your pain. It rules your life. It is your new identity.

Chronic pain traps you. You cannot escape. It does not go away.

It is not uncommon for people living with chronic pain to become very discouraged in life. Focusing and concentrating on things is tough, because that pain is always there in the background. You're trying to get something done, but you really feel like you want to collapse in a heap on the floor.

It is very easy to become 'accidental', or maybe the better term is 'fatalistic'. Many do eventually become suicidal - anything just to make the pain go away - but more common is just not giving a hoot what happens to you anymore, often with the mistaken impression that whatever it is that could happen to you couldn't be any worse that what you've already been through. When you start thinking like this, you stop watching out for yourself, and bad things start to happen after that!

A pain management physician takes care of a member of my family. Only 30 pills at a time are prescribed of the pain pills. No refills. Monthly visits to the doctor are requied for refills. The patient is monitored for abuse. For those who do not have a loved one in chronic severe pain, I hope you never do. Because there is no cure.

And as Nobody-87413 says in post 12.1, if this is life without legal pain meds, then leaving it is no biggie. It is a better choice. In the meantime, God bless the pain pills for allowing pure torture due to severe pain to be kept at bay. The pain never goes away, but at least the day is livable.

Those who abuse - wait until you really need the pills for pain and they don't help because of your abuse.

I don't even call them medications - they don't repair or cure. They just keep the person who is taking them legally from wanting to die from uncontrolled pain due to any number of physical ailments that destroy the body.

I have suffered w/chronic pain for over 6 years now & will continue to as there is no cure or fix it from what I suffer from, for lack of a better way of explaining it, I have a lifetime sentence w/ no chance of parole. to Tigor, you are soo right about becoming a totally different person. My life has changed so much, I'm no longer the happy go lucky, life of the party person that everyone loved to be around. Many friends that don't understand my disease have ever so slowly stopped calling, stopping by & dare I say caring. It is now so difficult for me to go shopping, out to eat, go to concerts - you know, the fun stuff that people take for granted. The pain medication does not in any way totally remove my pain, it gives me a chance to have some semblance of a normal life, however small it may be. I wouldn't wish my pain on even my worst of enemy, that would be cruel & inhumane! This may sound a bit dramatic, but try walking a day in my shoes (well that's a bad analogy as I can't walk, shoes or not!) I'm fortunate enough to have a Dr. that knows me well enough (10 years) to not have any qualms about prescribing me these so-called evil medications! So I would like to say a "BIG THANK YOU" to all of the abusers of these medications, especially all of the famous actors & such. There are many, many people in situations similar to myself that don't have the kind & understanding Dr. like I do, whose quality of life could be so much better if properly treated & medicated. Thank You & Good Night!!!!

ROFL....great...another pill for the other pill!

Agreed! Ther's even one to make your eye lashes longer! ridiculous! Taking tabacco commercials off, but prescriptions are okay?

There's a reason drugs are advertised everywhere now.

Pharmaceuticals are unbelievably expensive to develop, and it is not unusual for it to take 10 or 15 years for one to reach the stage where the FDA approves it and allows it on the market. All those development costs, often tens of millions of dollars invested, have to be recouped before the patent for the formula expires. Once that happens and the drug can be made generically, thanks to competition, all the market will bear is cost plus a small profit...not what you want when you're trying to make up for the front money it took to make it happen!

A great many drugs that are deemed likely to be profitable (maybe 90% 'discovered' are useful to far too few people to pay for themselves) and worth bringing to market are essentially improvements over something else that has long been used to treat whatever condition.

Physicians are very busy people, and all those medical journals they're supposed to be reading to stay current just don't get read too much. Quite often, the doctor won't know a thing about a new drug and will keep prescribing what he or she has always gone to. The most effective way to bring something new to a doctor's attention: when the patient in front of them is asking about it. Doctors hate to say, 'Uh, gee, I don't know', so they're more or less forced to take a look at the new drug and find out about it. Once they know what it is and what it does, if it really does seem to do a better job than the old standby, then they'll write prescriptions for it.

Truthseeker I agree with you 100%. The makers of OxyContin are killing people everyday & getting away with it.

No, they are getting paid for killing people. Rewarded!

If perscription pain pills killed your daughter I'm truly sorry. I'm a marijuana patient, have been for 8 years. If a person has cronic pain as I do it's the way to go, pain pills only caused me to have kidney issues. This country is so sad with all of the divisive behavior, right, left, white, black. Can people just try to get along and keep their nose out of other peoples business and stop thinking one person is better than another.

islander that is a very cruel thing to say to a grieving father

I am so very sorry for your loss truthseeker

truth seeker i am deeply sorry for your loss but let us step back and take a realistic veiw .we dont know the whole storie here .whether it was abuse of oxycotin .or a mistake . or just what happened.we have choices here in america for now. i myself choose not to live in pain.oxycotin is a great pain medicine if taken correct.if not like a lot of otherthings it can be fatal.like i said i am sorry for your loss its terrible.but we have to start taking responsabilty for our choices. and stop hunting something or someone to blame..let me tell you living in pain 24/7 is no life at all again i am so sorry for your loss.this is for you also stc 1993

Did your daughter take them under the care of a qualified physician, or did she abuse as described in the article? Either way - I am sorry that she died from drugs. But just blurting out that prescription medications killed without giving information how is unfair to those who need these pain pills.

STC - oxycontin when used responsibly will not kill. It will make life tolerable for those in chronic pain. It may kill indirectly by damaging organs. But that is a chance those in severe pain must take. The alternative is not wanting to live.

Also, no person who takes drugs such as oxycontin should be on their own. There should be some one looking over their shoulder, such as a parent, or a spouse. And reading their medical records for accuracy.

By requesting my medical records (chart notes and doctor notes, plus diagnosis) I recently discovered a serious error in from an ENT group, which I am trying to rectify. They entered that I have malignant tissues in my parotid gland (salivary glad). Yet they did not do any bipsy for this even when I requested it due to chronic pain. I ended up taking matters into my own hands and going to NYC to a specialist for a needle biopsy, which was negative. Yet that incorrect diagnosis is in my records since 2004. So doctors are not GODS, challenge them, question them, check on them for accuracy, and if they get angry, leave them and find another one. Also, people who enter information and transcribe notes make errors.

Anyway, why so much coverage about this. What about cigarettes, and alcohol, killing more people than prescription drugs, and it is done LEGALLY? When is that going to stop, especially the slap on the wrist if DWI, and killing or maiming someone while DWI?

Wait and see what Oxycnton does to your liver...these pills are damaging in other aspects too. I agree with Charlie, and know many who use medical MJ and can function , are happy, mostly pain free and no terrible side effects on your body..the pharma companies fight medical MJ because they cannot make money off of it...sorry Bas***ds!

RE: Message #15.5, by thisisanamerican - [qoute]that is a very cruel thing to say to a grieving father[/quote]

Unfortunately, it is also the truth - the cruelness of a statement does not negate the validity of it.

And, why does it strike me that the type of person who would say, 'Drugs killed my child", would be among the first to exclaim, 'Guns don't kill people... people kill people.'?

Does my heart go out to this parent, or any, who has suffered such a horrible loss? - ABSOLUTELY!

Does it sadden me to hear of people abusing medication that they have no medical need for? - ABSOLUTELY!

Do I think more should be done to keep prescription pain pills out of the hands of those who have no medical need for them - ABSOLUTELY!

But, let's cut the hyperbole when it is hyperbole (Jacobins and guillotines!), and the blame when it is blame (Drugs killed my daughter!) - people use guns to kill other people... anyone who abuses drugs runs a high risk of KILLING THEMSELF with said drugs.

Why am I so 'nitpicky' about this? Because those individuals who would put themselves at such a risk are, in every way, the worst enemies of, and do the most disservice to, those who truly do need prescription pain medications in order to live a better quality of life. Their selfishness makes it harder for legitimate patients to receive decent treatment, from quality doctors, at a fair price. They cause legitimate patients to be viewed as 'medicine seeking' by the medical community, and 'junkies' by everyone else. Just look at some of the posts on this thread to see the fruits of their actions.

Perhaps those who abuse pain medications also should be viewed as 'cruel' - they certainly are not making it any easier on an entire segment of the population who already face overwhelming hardships, on a daily basis, and on many levels.

I have never heard of anyone over dosing on POT! It is an alternative to a lot of Rx meds for pain.

The lobbyist for they pharmaceutical companies will make sure it never become legalized alternative....why because it's safer and cheaper.

you never will hear of an overdose on pot, it's impossible. People shouldn't talk smack and judge others. Not that I wish harm on anyone, but I'd like to see how one of these individuals would handle sciatica, spondilosis and other severe pains I live with every stinkin day, and cause I choose weed instead of pills or just being totally miserable with nothing, I'm a drug addict and dangerous and a criminal? Idiots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is zero monetary gain in most druggies. They show up at the ED because they cannot be denied and if they don't get what they want make a scene and treaten to sue. The one big money maker is the methadone clinics. Very few actually reduse the dose and wean people off. They just collect their money everyday and increase the dose to keep the addicts coming. The irony is that the one in our area is owned by lawyers.

Ten years ago I would have agreed with you. Healthcare is now usually practiced in an HMO manner that does not benefit the system when you are sick, but when they keep you well. If the idustry thinks something will keep you well, they will use it.

gimmeabreak, I was in a serious accident in 1963, which damaged some of my nerves in my back, leg and foot. The pain became unbearable, and I started on pain meds. By 1975, I was taking codine type meds on a permanent basis - by prescription. I still take them today. I learned to have a high tolerance for pain, and took a pill only when I could no longer function. I think, for that reason I never became addicted to them. I might take one every other day, and in tough times, I'll take two in the same day. Some times, I don't take any for weeks. Because of the pain meds, I have been able to function normally, went to college, got a job as a designer, have trophies for my achievements in playing an instrument, drove a race car, have semi -retired, am restoring an antique car - all things I wouldn't have done if laying in a recliner, whining about my pain! Everything in our society is ruined by a tiny few, and should be noticed as that. The media would not get much readtime, if they were honest about everything they write.

So, why is it people take drugs?

People can start for any reason, be it curiosity or social use. It could be alcohol, tobacco, pot, any illicit drugs, or it could even be soda, chocolate, any fatty foods. Heck, it could even be thrill seeking, stealing stuff, serial dating, pornography, gambling, playing video games. It's a wide spectrum.

Everyone who is truly healthy will not keep using or doing whatever it is when the situation has changed and any reasonable person would've gotten their fill of it. Party's over, no more alcohol. You're refreshed, stop the soda for the day. The 'high' was kinda' cool, time to go do something else. It's when one keeps doing it, even though they know what it's like or they're now by themselves using it, you've got a problem.

Most of the time, the problem is some underlying issue the user is trying to resolve by self-medicating. It could be pain. Not acute, severe pain, but just general aches and pains we all get. Some of us learn to ignore them, others can really be dragged down by them. There's a lot of untreated depression out there, and guess what one of the common symptoms of depression is? Yep, pain. Joint and muscle pain. There are several types of antidepressants that are very commonly prescribed as pain killers!

So much of addiction is psychological. Yes, we like to do what feels good. But when it becomes compulsive, that just isn't normal! Not having any real clear direction in life will screw a person up pretty good. In the old days, having most all of your family and neighbors seeing you every day usually gave you some 'direction', even if it was just not disappointing them by being a loser. Religion is what got a lot of people through when life was rough, which is why it used to be so big but isn't what it used to be nowadays. Where to you find radical Islam and other 'intense' religions? In parts of the world where life is generally miserable.

Now that most of us don't have much in the way of close family or neighbors to keep impressed by our achievement in life and not so many of us have any real religious upbringing, drugs can easily become a convenient 'master' that gives us the direction we're missing in our lives. We keep taking them, they keep ostensibly alleviating life's ills.

I have to agree with you about an underlying cause. I was miss diagnosed for 15 years for bipolar depression. I did self medicate with anything I could. I feel horrible to this day for all the pain I caused my family. Once my bipolar was under control, I no longer had to self medicate. There were many doctors who would just write RX for my symptoms and not bother to find out what was really wrong with me. I can not thank the doctor enough who took the time to find out what was wrong with me and get my life back on track. I live every day feeling guilty of my past and worry that it may happen again. They days of the family doctor are over. Most doctors would rather the give the patient a pill because it is faster and easier for them.

I don't know if it has to do with hard time, but some people tend to abuse most anything. Food is still the most abused substance that I'm aware of, and along with cigarettes, it's the leading cause of heart disease in the USA. Since we all enjoy food, stories about RX drug abuse are much more acceptable to readers. Physicians are required to provide their DEA # on every controlled substance prescription, and that is recorded into a national database. People seeking to get additional meds through a pharmacy will have to provide a false name to both their doctor and pharmacy. The DEA keeps tabs on samples given to doctors, and they do get audited. That has not always been the case, and not many doctors are going to risk their job to write a script. Of course there are exceptions.....