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

[Feral Child]

187. Not sure we're on the same page.

If you have pain, seek relief where you can. I'm not saying that hydro isn't effective, I'm saying that it isn't any more effective than
other, pre-existing opiates that don't come with the price tag.

Whether hydro is euphoria-free or not (and I believe that differs somewhat from patient-to-patient) it is still addictive. The philosophy that any painkiller that is also fun is scary-addictive is myopic puritanism; an equally valid argument can be that hydro can be more addictive because it's innocuous and it's easy to start taking it instead of Tylenol.

My point is that the drug cartel known as "Big Pharma" is motivated by profit, not our well-being. Many foreign countries have codeine available with-out prescription with no more per capita addiction than the US, and I'd hazard to guess with considerably less. Meds like hydro are certainly abused to an alarming rate in this country, euphoria-free or not..


Aside from this is the humanitarian issue: shouldn't people who are sick, especially those with debilitating chronic pain or a painful, lethal malady get a bit of a morale boost with their medications?