Big change to make it harder for patients to get pain killers like Vicodin

[Warpy]

178. Well, addiction and dependence are different animals.

A person like a cancer patient will become dependent on pain killers. He'll not only feel an increase in pain load, sudden withdrawal of the drug will make him very sick. If he's the one case in several million that goes into spontaneous remission, the pain drugs have to be withdrawn slowly. While he is on them, he feels no compulsion to increase the dosage unless the pain gets worse and he does so with physician guidance. Once the drugs are withdrawn, he will experience no cravings.

Addicts, on the other hand, do compulsively keep taking the drug while they chase an elusive high. Withdrawal incites intense cravings. Tapering the drug down in a methadone program doesn't do anything to blunt the cravings. It will be a lifelong struggle to stay clean.

Real addiction is fairly rare, thank goodness. Most of the people the DEA screams about are dependent on the drugs, not addicted, and are using them to self medicate.

Prohibition only increases the anxiety around getting one's daily supply of enough drug to avoid withdrawal and quite likely contributes to the development of true addiction since the anxiet has to be treated along with the dependence.

However, since the DEA has been so incompetent at stopping drugs from coming into the country or being diverted by manufacturers, themselves, they're going to lean harder on doctors and, worse, people in pain.

This ruling is insane. Use of combination medicines is already self limiting because if you take enough to get high, you'll burn out your liver on the Tylenol. Addicts know this.