Heroin deaths double after painkiller crackdown

[Akoto]

7. As a side-effect, those of us with legit chronic pain are struggling.

Someone above said that doctors were handing out painkillers like candy and not finding other solutions to pain. I might agree that some doctors were doing the former.

For many of us, there is no other solution to the pain.

My syndrome, for example, has no cure and no real therapeutic treatment of any kind. It wasn't until I entered into pain management at the University of Miami that I received any relief from the agony. I never, ever stray from my prescribed dosages and am just one example of the countless people in similar positions. We're now dealing with the confusion of drug schedule changes and so on when our conditions are difficult enough.

That's to say nothing of the fact that there are so many people in the United States whose pain is seriously undertreated.

It's tragic that these folks are dying from heroin overdoses, naturally. However, the article says that they had already become addicted to painkillers - addiction being excessive abuse, as opposed to dependency. Take away one half of their collective addiction and it's no wonder they double up on heroin, to fatal results. You can't just go off of pain management drugs like those cold turkey, without weaning. It's very dangerous.