Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: Heroin deaths double after painkiller crackdown [View all]hunter
(38,384 posts)These days, ibuprofen destroys my stomach. Whenever I take ibuprofen my stomach ends often ends up hurting worse than my messed up knees do. And I don't even like thinking about what acetaminophen does to my liver.
Maybe I'd take opiates, but I don't, mostly because they make me feel gross and constipated, both in my head and my guts. I don't have any great fears about addiction. But they do work for pain, and if you are only taking a few pills a day then opiates are not nearly so damaging as chronic use of ibuprofen or acetaminophen.
The drug war needs to end.
Chronic pain patients are not addicts, and addicts ought to be treated as ordinary medical patients too.
Why is it we'd rather deal with drugs in ways that escalate the pain and violence and involvement of criminal gangs, than simply deal with the problems of addictions as an ordinary public health issue?
When you look at the actual problems, not the problems caused by the "War on Drugs," opiates are very similar to alcohol.
Any alcohol addict can legally obtain a big bottle of cheap vodka, but somebody with severe pain issues has to just sit and suffer or jump through hoops to get a little relief.