New course on addiction
http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/new-course-on-addiction-1.2120057
While it is TRUE that abt 78 people die every day from a DRUG OVERDOSE… only abt 50% are from opiates.. they never filter out the drugs that the other 50% die from … 50% – 100% when you are trying to make a point… is that just splitting hairs ?
Then there is the definition of “illegal drugs”… if you don’t have a legal prescription for a prescription opiate… it is an ILLEGAL DRUG… and the term “misuse prescription drugs” is defined anyone taking any prescription medication that they don’t have a legal prescription for it… even if it is a SINGLE DOSE.
Please note that it is overlooked how many people die from the use/abuse of the drug ALCOHOL.. .that would be abt 85,000 or 232/day… put don’t look for any bureaucrat to mention that THREE TIMES the people die from ALCOHOL than any number of ways they can come up with the use/abuse of all medications.
Also note that there is no mention of the DRUG NICOTINE and the 440,000 that die every year from its use/abuse… or 1200/day…
And this DOCTOR doesn’t go near the number of 200,000+… (abt 600/day) that is the number of people that die from medical errors from DOCTORS – like him – and other healthcare professionals.
2000 people dying daily… but .. we must focus on the estimated 40 that die from opiate overdoses… which we don’t know how many were unintentional/accidental OD’s and suicides.. because our system doesn’t bother to segregate those stats… would just muddy the waters about the real number of opiate deaths.
A new report by surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy calls for a major cultural shift in the way Americans view drug and alcohol addiction. The report, “Facing Addiction in America,” details the toll addiction takes on the nation and explains how brain science offers hope for recovery. (Associated Press File)
With the nation in the grip of an unprecedented opioid addiction epidemic, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has issued a valuable new report that should serve as a guide to a national recovery effort.
“Facing Addiction in America” grimly details the toll but points to a sound strategy to fight it.
According to the report, 78 Americans die every day due to an opioid overdose and 20 million people use illegal drugs or misuse prescription drugs. And more than 66 million Americans admit binge drinking in a given month.
The report estimated the annual economic cost of addiction at $249 billion for alcohol and $193 billion for drugs.
Dr. Murthy emphasized that research has proved addiction to be a disease. “Addiction to alcohol or drugs is a chronic but treatable brain disease that requires medical intervention, not moral judgment,” the report declares.
He applauded an ongoing shift in that direction of an array of public policies that emphasize public health rather than law enforcement.
And Dr. Murthy offered hope, noting advances in brain science and related fields that could result in effective treatments.
The report should prompt Congress to maintain access to treatment under the Affordable Care Act. Without it, the epidemic is certain to escalate.
And lawmakers should increase funding for addiction research through the National Institutes of Health because Dr. Murthy’s report demonstrates that medicine-based treatments are far more effective than counseling alone.
The epidemic is so vast that it must be fought at every level of society and government. Dr. Murthy’s report is a timely, valuable guide.
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Filed under: General Problems
I have posted the following with the Times-Tribune article:
Dr Murthy is directly responsible for the denial of effective and reliable medication to tens of thousands of chronic pain patients, by deliberately confusing deaths due to stolen or diverted opioids with those from prescribed medications. Moreover, he is personally or professionally unqualified and has no experience treating the people whom he is abusing.
There are over 100 million chronic pain patients in America, of whom about 2.7 to 3.3 million are managed on opioid meds for 90 days or longer. The risk of death involving prescribed opioids either centrally or peripherally among this group is less than 0.2%. See Stephen A. Martin, MD, EdM; Ruth A. Potee, MD, DABAM; and Andrew Lazris, MD., “Neat, Plausible, and Generally Wrong: A Response to the CDC Recommendations for Chronic Opioid Use”
https://medium.com/@stmartin/neat-plausible-and-generally-wrong-a-response-to-the-cdc-recommendations-for-chronic-opioid-use-5c9d9d319f71#.eyy4zstv6
Sorry for the double post. It refused to post so tried to rewrite, resulting in a double post
Trying again. There’s no doubt that the powers that be will make certain that the “epidemic” will not only continue but will grow. People are suffering needlessly and the only choice they will have will be to live in horrific pain or go to the streets hoping for some kind of relief. It’s job security for them and death for the innocent people who have no choice left.
I am more than certain that the powers that be will make certain that the “epidemic ” not only continues, but escalates. It’s job security for them and death for innocent people who have the choice of “living” in unbearable pain or going to the streets to hopefully find some relief. God help us all.
Actually, a lot more than 2,000 people die daily (in the USA). In 2014, 2,626,418 died. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/deaths.htm)
That is 7,196 daily. 5 every minute. Every 12 seconds, someone dies in the USA.
That is 4 times as many deaths every year than people who have died in combat in every USA war in history! There have been 666,440 combat deaths in the USA since 1775. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war)