Doctors charged for exchanging opioid Rx. for sex etc.

[southernhybrid]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/us/doctor-arrested-prescription-drugs.html

The doctor replied: “What makes you think I know a Xanax source?” Just below, he added a smiley face, and then described his home as the “Fun House.”

The doctor was one of the scores of medical professionals across seven states who were charged by federal prosecutors on Wednesday with schemes to illegally distribute millions of pain pills. Opioid prescriptions were exchanged for sex in some cases, and for cash with an added “concierge fee” in others. One doctor was accused of routinely prescribing opioids to friends on Facebook.

Prosecutors said the doctor in northern Alabama “recruited prostitutes and other young women with whom he had sexual relationships” to become his patients. He also opened his home to people using heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana, they said, in a criminal complaint, adding that police officers had been to the house several times concerning overdoses and other complaints.

We already knew that some drug companies took advantage of people in pain but even I, who has always been skeptical of the motivations of doctors, was surprised by this. What makes me really disgusted is that many of my former patients were no longer able to get adequate pain relief because of doctors and drug companies that took advantage of a system that was set up to offer more effective pain relief for those who suffer. So, next time you have a painful root canal, or surgery, and your doctor tells you to take tylenol or ibuprofen for that severe acute pain, you can blame people like these doctors for making it close to impossible to obtain adequate pain relief.

Many doctors are now scared shitless to even prescribe these drugs, despite the fact that they've helped countless people decrease their suffering in the past. One of my former patients, who I visited earlier this year had her Rxs. drastically cut. She eventually went back to her former pain doctor who bumped up her dosage just a bit, but every single month she has to undergo a urine test to make sure that she's not abusing any drugs. I guess the labs that are making money off of this are very happy about that, but I hate that all people in pain now have to be treated like that. Only a small percentage of those who rely on these medications ever abuse them, but they are being punished because of those who do, and these doctors have helped do that.

 

[ruby sparks]

Thanks for posting. There are probably several issues here. First, the abuse of trading medications for sex. I'm not going to ask how many female doctors were involved. Then the issue, perhaps, of over- or mis-prescription. And finally, the issue of stuff like Xanax being used recreationally, which apparently is quite common here in Belfast, sadly. I did not know this, or even that Xanax was used that way.

Coincidentally, and related to the reason I found out about the above, my daughter was at a funeral yesterday, of a male friend, who died last weekend, in his sleep, after mixing Xanax and alcohol. He was a young man, doing a PhD in chemistry, of all things, and his friend, the young man who woke up beside his body after they had crashed out drunk the night before, and tried in vain to do CPR on him, even though his friend was dead and cold and blue, and who had also mixed Xanax with alcohol, but survived unharmed, is a medical student. My daughter was out drinking with them on the night in question, but came home early and did not take any Xanax. She had said to the guys to be careful. Now she thinks (slightly irrationally) that she could have stopped them or done more. She didn't know, and nor did I, of the specific risks of mixing Xanax and alcohol.

That's probably off topic. Sorry.

 

[Bronzeage]

There's nothing really remarkable about the details of this story. There have always been sociopaths who will exploit the vulnerabilities of others for their own pleasure. When other sociopaths are able to make money in the process, the results are easy to predict.

<derail>As for Tylenol and Ibuprofen, don't knock it. I discovered a little late in life that I'm one of those people who have little sensitivity to opioids. I remember my mother complaining that Demerol did little for her, so I must come by it honestly. I've had a few traumatic injuries, including broken bones. I would take my Oxycontin or Vicodin and try to get through the day, wondering what other people saw in these pills. I was miserable.

When it came time for a root canal, the opioid crisis was in full swing. My dentist gave me a script for Oxycontin and an antibiotic, and set me up with the Endodontist. After the root canal, he tells me to take 1000 mg of Tylenol and 600 mg of Ibuprofen. I was skeptical, but what the hell. For the first time in my life, I had true pain relief from a pill. A handful of them, but still. It's not a cocktail you could live on for chronic pain(good bye liver and kidneys), but for a trauma, that's my go to.

 

[J842P]

Thanks for posting. There are probably several issues here. First, the abuse of trading medications for sex. I'm not going to ask how many female doctors were involved. Then the issue, perhaps, of over- or mis-prescription. And finally, the issue of stuff like Xanax being used recreationally, which apparently is quite common here in Belfast, sadly. I did not know this, or even that Xanax was used that way.

Coincidentally, and related to the reason I found out about the above, my daughter was at a funeral yesterday, of a male friend, who died last weekend, in his sleep, after mixing Xanax and alcohol. He was a young man, doing a PhD in chemistry, of all things, and his friend, the young man who woke up beside his body after they had crashed out drunk the night before, and tried in vain to do CPR on him, even though his friend was dead and cold and blue, and who had also mixed Xanax with alcohol, but survived unharmed, is a medical student. My daughter was out drinking with them on the night in question, but came home early and did not take any Xanax. She had said to the guys to be careful. Now she thinks (slightly irrationally) that she could have stopped them or done more. She didn't know, and nor did I, of the specific risks of mixing Xanax and alcohol.

That's probably off topic. Sorry.

If they were medical students they would know.

I've mixed benzodiazepines and alcohol. It's a good recipe for waking up in your bed with your shoes on with no memory of how exactly you got home.

I have a friend who abuses both in an extreme fashion, and somehow has managed not to die. Yet.

 

[ruby sparks]

If they were medical students they would know.

I've mixed benzodiazepines and alcohol. It's a good recipe for waking up in your bed with your shoes on with no memory of how exactly you got home.

I have a friend who abuses both in an extreme fashion, and somehow has managed not to die. Yet.

I have since heard that it specifically affects respiration?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Thanks for posting. There are probably several issues here. First, the abuse of trading medications for sex. I'm not going to ask how many female doctors were involved. Then the issue, perhaps, of over- or mis-prescription. And finally, the issue of stuff like Xanax being used recreationally, which apparently is quite common here in Belfast, sadly. I did not know this, or even that Xanax was used that way.

Coincidentally, and related to the reason I found out about the above, my daughter was at a funeral yesterday, of a male friend, who died last weekend, in his sleep, after mixing Xanax and alcohol. He was a young man, doing a PhD in chemistry, of all things, and his friend, the young man who woke up beside his body after they had crashed out drunk the night before, and tried in vain to do CPR on him, even though his friend was dead and cold and blue, and who had also mixed Xanax with alcohol, but survived unharmed, is a medical student. My daughter was out drinking with them on the night in question, but came home early and did not take any Xanax. She had said to the guys to be careful. Now she thinks (slightly irrationally) that she could have stopped them or done more. She didn't know, and nor did I, of the specific risks of mixing Xanax and alcohol.

That's probably off topic. Sorry.

A friend's girlfriend's daughter made that mistake. Her last mistake.

 

[southernhybrid]

There's nothing really remarkable about the details of this story. There have always been sociopaths who will exploit the vulnerabilities of others for their own pleasure. When other sociopaths are able to make money in the process, the results are easy to predict.

<derail>As for Tylenol and Ibuprofen, don't knock it. I discovered a little late in life that I'm one of those people who have little sensitivity to opioids. I remember my mother complaining that Demerol did little for her, so I must come by it honestly. I've had a few traumatic injuries, including broken bones. I would take my Oxycontin or Vicodin and try to get through the day, wondering what other people saw in these pills. I was miserable.

When it came time for a root canal, the opioid crisis was in full swing. My dentist gave me a script for Oxycontin and an antibiotic, and set me up with the Endodontist. After the root canal, he tells me to take 1000 mg of Tylenol and 600 mg of Ibuprofen. I was skeptical, but what the hell. For the first time in my life, I had true pain relief from a pill. A handful of them, but still. It's not a cocktail you could live on for chronic pain(good bye liver and kidneys), but for a trauma, that's my go to.

We are all different. I take very small doses of Ibuprofen and tylenol for my chronic arthritis. If I take more than 500mg of tylenol per day, it raises my liver enzymes and if I take more than 600 mg. of ibuprofen per day, it increases my BP. Plus all NSIADS raise the risk of GI bleeds and aren't really that save for people my age. And, they aren't very effective for me.

On the other hand, I had a root canal in 2006 and my dentist gave me a generous supply of hydrocodone. I took 10 mgs. every three hours for three days because the pain was agonizing. Those drugs never make me high, sleepy or anything else. I stopped taking them after three days because the pain was resolved. My former patients were older adult and opioids are usually safer than NSAIDS for older adults. I've always been an advocate for those that suffer in chronic pain because my own father had intense pain for the last 20 years of his life. He took fairly heavy doses of opioids without any side effects and still lived to be 87.

Off topic, The Atlanta Journal did an intensive investigation a year or two ago, about sexual abuse in Georgia by physicians in our state. I was shocked at the high number of physicians who sexually abuse their patients. Maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised, by people often put a lot of trust in healthcare providers, so it's especially sad when they abuse their patients.

 

[Toni]

There's nothing really remarkable about the details of this story. There have always been sociopaths who will exploit the vulnerabilities of others for their own pleasure. When other sociopaths are able to make money in the process, the results are easy to predict.

<derail>As for Tylenol and Ibuprofen, don't knock it. I discovered a little late in life that I'm one of those people who have little sensitivity to opioids. I remember my mother complaining that Demerol did little for her, so I must come by it honestly. I've had a few traumatic injuries, including broken bones. I would take my Oxycontin or Vicodin and try to get through the day, wondering what other people saw in these pills. I was miserable.

When it came time for a root canal, the opioid crisis was in full swing. My dentist gave me a script for Oxycontin and an antibiotic, and set me up with the Endodontist. After the root canal, he tells me to take 1000 mg of Tylenol and 600 mg of Ibuprofen. I was skeptical, but what the hell. For the first time in my life, I had true pain relief from a pill. A handful of them, but still. It's not a cocktail you could live on for chronic pain(good bye liver and kidneys), but for a trauma, that's my go to.

I've been prescriped Oxy for post surgical pain and while it did knock the pain down enough to allow me to move appropriately, I kept wondering how people get high from it. I took the lowest effective does--twice mostly to ensure I moved around as normal as possible and then...that was it. Which has me wondering why people take it. Is it for the relief of chronic pain? Because if that's the issue, I think we need to look harder at ways (medication and non-medication) of helping people deal with pain.

On the other hand, back in the day when one might be prescribed Tylenol III, I learned my body really likes codeine--and I stay far, far away from that stuff.

Alcohol? I don't hate myself enough to drink much at all. Whatever relaxation centers or pleasure centers it triggers for most people are missing in me. So, while I enjoy a bit of wine or a beer now and then, if I never had it again, I wouldn't miss it at all, although my cooking might. I know that I am very fortunate.

 

[J842P]

If they were medical students they would know.

I've mixed benzodiazepines and alcohol. It's a good recipe for waking up in your bed with your shoes on with no memory of how exactly you got home.

I have a friend who abuses both in an extreme fashion, and somehow has managed not to die. Yet.

I have since heard that it specifically affects respiration?

Benzodiazepines make the effects of alcohol on your nervous system more potent. In a lot of ways, this is why people enjoy mixing the two, you can have only one or two drinks and a benzo then feel a lot of the positive effects of ethanol intoxication without the bad effects of drinking too much. It seems like a free lunch.

Alcohol acts directly on (ionotropic) GABA receptors similarly to the neurotransmitter GABA, i.e. alcohol is a GABA receptor "agonist". GABA receptors mediate neural inhibition. Benzodiazepines bind to GABA receptors and make the effects of GABA agonists more potent. GABA receptors mediate neural inhibition. This affects your hindbrain as well, which will mediate your respiration and heart rate. Overdoses of alcohol, and consequently, of benzodiazepines, will cause respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest. Together, both drugs work synergistically to that end.

 

[Bomb#20]

<derail>As for Tylenol and Ibuprofen, don't knock it.

Tylenol is evil. Manufacturers mix tylenol into so many other drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, that it's all too common for people to get toxic doses of tylenol because the people who mixed it into drug A weren't taking into account how much their patients would be getting from drug B. Then the regulators go after drug A and/or drug B because they become correlated with negative outcomes. This is part of why regulators murdered darvon, which was by far the best treatment my wife ever found for her post-surgical pain. Of course inevitably what she had been prescribed wasn't literal darvon, but "darvocet".

We are all different.

^^^^ This ^^^^

The entire attitude of the regulators seems to be that stopping people who misuse something automatically trumps helping people who need it. Plus, if there's a drug X that for most people is an adequate substitute for drug Y, then in the mind of the nanny state banning drug Y comes with zero downside. As for the minority of patients that drug X doesn't help, screw 'em. And then when that makes patients desperate enough to go seek out street traffickers and end up hooked on fentanyl-laced heroin or whatever, the resulting "opioid crisis" makes the drug warriors happy by letting them ramp up enforcement, scare yet more doctors into undertreating pain, and keep the racket going.

I take very small doses of Ibuprofen and tylenol for my chronic arthritis. If I take more than 500mg of tylenol per day, it raises my liver enzymes and if I take more than 600 mg. of ibuprofen per day, it increases my BP.

Well then, as long as nobody puts more than 400 mg in every single medication you need, Bob's your uncle.

 

[southernhybrid]

I've never heard that about Darvocet. I took it for years and it helped me a lot more than tramadol did. All tramadol did was give me a seizure disorder, which means I have to take something to prevent seizures for the rest of my life. Darvon and Darvocet were used for over 45 years before they were taken off of the market. I guess I need to learn more about why it was taken off of the market. I've read that the primary ingredient in those drugs was chemically similar to methadone, which is still used for pain sometimes. My late father took it for 20 years along with hydrocodone.

The thing is that only about 6% of people who use opioids end up abusing them. At least that's what the articles I've read say.

There is current research regarding new medications that have no potential for addiction. Great, but what are people supposed to do in the meantime? Some people are helped by gabapentin, but a lot of people aren't. My dog was given gaba when she had surgery recently.

People are being pushed into all kinds of alternative treatments for pain. I had PT for my neck arthritis. It did nothing to relieve my pain but I've continued the exercises for over a year and it has kept my range of motion from getting worse. Heat and ice work great for most types of pain, but you can't take your heating pad or ice pack around with you all day. I do use those two methods in the evening when I'm relaxing.

My sister swears that acupuncture helps her hip pain. Her insurance covers it, but Medicare doesn't. In fact, Medicare doesn't cover most of these treatments, including such things as stem cell therapy. There is a newer treatment that can be used on the joints but it actually deaden the nerves, inhibiting the pain receptors. It has potential side effects and it's only effective temporally for most people. Even if the science behind some of these methods is lacking, many people do benefit from placebo effects, but not all of us do.

Some people are going to abuse drugs, but most people don't abuse the Rx. drugs they are given. Speaking of benzos, I had a doctor who was always giving me Xanax because she thought I suffered from anxiety. I am only anxious when I'm around doctors. I still have an out of date supply of Xanax in my closet. It's probably not effective but I still take one before any medical appointment. It doesn't make me high, but it seems to calm me a little bit. Benzos have been abused for many decades. Anyone remember the song by the Rolling Stones, "Mother's Little Helper"? It was about Valium, the most commonly used Benzo in those days.

But, I digress as usual.

 

[steve_bank]

I don't see how this surprising.

 

[bilby]

The problem isn't criminal doctors; The problem is the criminalization of the supply of drugs.

Prohibition is fucking dumb. It causes crime, suffering, and hardship out of all proportion to any benefits.

If a person is so dumb as to take opiates recreationaly, then let them. It fucks up their lives, and probably their families lives. But the cost of restricting their access to it is far higher.

The war on drugs needs to stop. Drugs won, a long time ago, and continuing the war is just causing needless casualties - including amongst people who are neither users nor dealers.

If prescriptions for opiates were easy to get from any doctor, for just the price of a short talk about the potential harm that long-term use could cause, and the options that exist to get help if you become addicted, then almost all of the harm would disappear - and what little remained would be mostly impacting on people who made an informed choice to do something stupid.

We tolerate the abuse of alcohol. We are well aware of the problems that prohibition of alcohol caused, and that they easily outweighed any possible benefits. And yet people persist in continuing the prohibition of other addictive recreational substances. And they have the EXACT same arguments for doing so as were put forward in 1920 for prohibition of alcohol.

Sure, recreational use of addictive substances causes harm. But invariably it causes LESS harm than prohibition - not least because prohibition is completely ineffective in reducing consumption.

This bizarre and oft refuted idea, that banning something prevents it from occurring, needs to die in a fire.

'Prescription only' should only ever mean 'You can't have this until and unless you first discuss with a doctor the effects it might have'. It should NEVER mean 'Your doctor will decide whether or not you can have this'. Doctors should advise. Patients should decide. Legislators should go fuck themselves.

 

[southernhybrid]

I agree that the war on drugs was insane and if it was up to me, I'd decriminalize or legalize all drugs, and instead of spending money on law enforcement and prisons, we could spend money on giving help to those who want rehab. That would be much less expensive. We could also offer people safe places to administer their drugs and help them cope with their dependency.

But, since we don't have that option, the thing that I hate about these doctors, is that their actions, as well as the actions of some of the big drug companies, have made it close to impossible for people who suffer in pain to be able to obtain the drugs they need to be able to improve their quality of life.

If pharmacies, doctors and drug companies hadn't pushed these drugs on people inappropriately, those who needed them, would still be able to received Rxs. for them, without having to be constantly drug tested, and without being treated with suspicion.

 

[J842P]

I agree that the war on drugs was insane and if it was up to me, I'd decriminalize or legalize all drugs, and instead of spending money on law enforcement and prisons, we could spend money on giving help to those who want rehab. That would be much less expensive. We could also offer people safe places to administer their drugs and help them cope with their dependency.

But, since we don't have that option, the thing that I hate about these doctors, is that their actions, as well as the actions of some of the big drug companies, have made it close to impossible for people who suffer in pain to be able to obtain the drugs they need to be able to improve their quality of life.

If pharmacies, doctors and drug companies hadn't pushed these drugs on people inappropriately, those who needed them, would still be able to received Rxs. for them, without having to be constantly drug tested, and without being treated with suspicion.

Of course we have that option. The War on Marijuana has already been lost. You can buy and sell it in stores in Washington D.C. The capitol has been sacked, and our soldiers are old and dying. It's a matter of time before full, nationwide legalisation. The same can and should (and I think, inevitably will) be applied to opiates.

We already know how to ameliorate the worst societal effects of opiate addiction, and that is to provide addicts with opiates and options for treatment.

Opioid addicts can be functioning, contributing members of society, but not if they don't have opiates, and especially not if we artificially raise the prices of opiates to make them have to resort to all sorts of horrible things simply to obtain them.

The only reason, as far as I can tell, that "we don't have that option" is because people like you say we don't. But that sounds a lot like saying "no, we cannot integrate schools ever, because too many people oppose it. We should just focus on making them separate but equal".

 

[steve_bank]

We have created a 23'7 indstant gratification culture. The idea of delayed gratification isgone.

Staring in the 60d drugs were made mainstream by music and movies. Drugs became cool.

There was the book Valley Of The Dolls dolls being a code word for capsules. It was about the suburban addiction to prescription drugs liberally prescribed by doctors to bored housewives.

In relity the drugs made there way from the bathroom medicine cabinet to kids in the neighborhood. I went to a Catholic high school in the 60s. Diet pills and pot were around.

There is nothing new today. The difference is middle class kids in the burbs are ODing. That gets attention.

Plenty of TV ads for pharmaceuticals that tell you to talk to your doctor and get some. Depressed? Take a pill. Have anxiety? Take a pill.

The idea there is pill for everything.

 

[bilby]

We have created a 23'7 indstant gratification culture. The idea of delayed gratification isgone.

Staring in the 60d drugs were made mainstream by music and movies. Drugs became cool.

There was the book Valley Of The Dolls dolls being a code word for capsules. It was about the suburban addiction to prescription drugs liberally prescribed by doctors to bored housewives.

In relity the drugs made there way from the bathroom medicine cabinet to kids in the neighborhood. I went to a Catholic high school in the 60s. Diet pills and pot were around.

There is nothing new today. The difference is middle class kids in the burbs are ODing. That gets attention.

Plenty of TV ads for pharmaceuticals that tell you to talk to your doctor and get some. Depressed? Take a pill. Have anxiety? Take a pill.

The idea there is pill for everything.

Yeah, it's the 23'7 instant gratification culture that's to blame. Bloody humans, coming here wanting to pursue happiness.

 

[southernhybrid]

I agree that the war on drugs was insane and if it was up to me, I'd decriminalize or legalize all drugs, and instead of spending money on law enforcement and prisons, we could spend money on giving help to those who want rehab. That would be much less expensive. We could also offer people safe places to administer their drugs and help them cope with their dependency.

But, since we don't have that option, the thing that I hate about these doctors, is that their actions, as well as the actions of some of the big drug companies, have made it close to impossible for people who suffer in pain to be able to obtain the drugs they need to be able to improve their quality of life.

If pharmacies, doctors and drug companies hadn't pushed these drugs on people inappropriately, those who needed them, would still be able to received Rxs. for them, without having to be constantly drug tested, and without being treated with suspicion.

Of course we have that option. The War on Marijuana has already been lost. You can buy and sell it in stores in Washington D.C. The capitol has been sacked, and our soldiers are old and dying. It's a matter of time before full, nationwide legalisation. The same can and should (and I think, inevitably will) be applied to opiates.

We already know how to ameliorate the worst societal effects of opiate addiction, and that is to provide addicts with opiates and options for treatment.

Opioid addicts can be functioning, contributing members of society, but not if they don't have opiates, and especially not if we artificially raise the prices of opiates to make them have to resort to all sorts of horrible things simply to obtain them.

The only reason, as far as I can tell, that "we don't have that option" is because people like you say we don't. But that sounds a lot like saying "no, we cannot integrate schools ever, because too many people oppose it. We should just focus on making them separate but equal".

Perhaps you misunderstood me. I meant that we currently don't have the option to obtain whatever drugs we might want to use, legally. I wasn't talking about MJ, which is legal in many states, but remains a schedule ! drug federally. MJ, is safer than etoh and it's insane that it's not legal nationally, but MJ may provide pain relief for a small percentage of people, but it's not effective for many of us. What in the world does this have to do with me? I've supported the legalization of all drugs for decades! Your response to me makes absolutely no sense!


I'm going to meet with one of my former patients in May. We have become friends. She is one of the people who has suffered greatly due to this insane attitude toward opioids. She left the facility where I used to work because of the way she was judged and treated by management. I was her only advocate. She is now going back to her previous pain specialist, who gave her so much fentanyl, that it nearly killed her. She ended up with pneumonia due to the drugs impact on her respiratory system. The doctor never weighed her. She went from 125 lbs to 65 lbs, due to depression and anorexia, which she had a long history of.

I think he is being a lot more careful now. She returned to him because nobody else would help her. She explained to him what happened to her, and I think she now realizes that she was on too high of a dosage of fentanyl along with oxycodone, valium, a muscle relaxer and an NSAID. She realized that her pain can be fairly well controlled on lower dosages of these drugs. This is just one example of how doctors failed their patients, either knowingly or out of ignorance.

 

[southernhybrid]

We have created a 23'7 indstant gratification culture. The idea of delayed gratification isgone.

Staring in the 60d drugs were made mainstream by music and movies. Drugs became cool.

There was the book Valley Of The Dolls dolls being a code word for capsules. It was about the suburban addiction to prescription drugs liberally prescribed by doctors to bored housewives.

In relity the drugs made there way from the bathroom medicine cabinet to kids in the neighborhood. I went to a Catholic high school in the 60s. Diet pills and pot were around.

There is nothing new today. The difference is middle class kids in the burbs are ODing. That gets attention.

Plenty of TV ads for pharmaceuticals that tell you to talk to your doctor and get some. Depressed? Take a pill. Have anxiety? Take a pill.

The idea there is pill for everything.

Are you for real. Opium usage goes back to about 3400 BC.

https://www.history.com/topics/crime/history-of-heroin-morphine-and-opiates

Heroin, morphine, and other opiates trace their origins to a single plant—the opium poppy. Cultivation of the plant dates back to the earliest years of human civilization, and opium use was well known in ancient Mesopotamia. The narcotic drug has been used both recreationally and as a medicine for centuries. Opium derivatives, including morphine, became widely used pain relievers, particularly in the 1800s. Heroin, too, was first synthesized for medical use before physicians realized its potent addictive properties.

Humans have always turned to drugs to relieve pain, anxiety, insomnia etc.

If you ever suffered from severe anxiety and depression like my late father did, perhaps you would feel more compassion and understand why people turn to such things for relief of their symptoms. My father took anti depressants, anti anxiety agents and opioids for the last 20 years of his life. He died at the age of 87. He took the anti anxiety agents from around the age of 30, and antidepressants for many, many years. He suffered from PTSD, and bipolar disorder, episodes of mania, and severe anxiety. Until or unless we ever find a way to treat these diseases with something else, drugs are all we have to help relief the endless symptoms that these folks endure.

 

[steve_bank]

Are you able to compregend a simple line of reasoning?

Opium was a major t4ade commodity between Asia and the Brits and America. In 19th century America, Opioid derivatives were part of patent medications. Laudanum. In the late 19th century opium and alcohol addiction was epidemic.\
Anyone who has read Sherlock Holmes would know the character used cocaine.

I am taking about the over prescription of meds by doctors which traces back to the 40s 50swith the rise of suburbia. It is now being called a crisis because middle class people from the burbs are dropping dead.

Back in the 60s it was diet pill addiction, stimulants. But people did not OD. We have a legal and illegal drug culture. We have a culture saturated in drug adds, quick fixes. Heroin was always a problem. In the 60s it moved out of underground cylture into the mainstream white culture. There are parks here in Seattle dangerous to kids, needles laying around.

A kid I knew in high school in the 60s was a heroin addict. I watched him fix.

All this rhetoric in the media is political posturing. Drugs have metastasized in the culture. It is imposable to get rid of the drug problem.

Same as with prostitution. That too goes back far in history, at least to Rome.

As to the OP, when have doctors not abused their position? They are human.