Deaths from fentanyl-laced heroin in the first half of 2016 doubled
Gov. Larry Hogan is launching new actions to fight the opioid epidemic in Maryland and is pushing lawmakers to limit the prescribing of opioid painkillers.
Officials announced a fresh $4 billion in funding for treatment programs for heroin and opioid addiction during a press conference Tuesday at the Anne Arundel Medical Center. An anti-heroin command center will also be created through an executive order. Hogan, a Republican, previously increased funding for treatment beds as part of his efforts to combat opioid-related deaths, which reached record highs in 2016. The efforts are part of the 2017 Heroin and Opioid Prevention, Treatment, and Enforcement Initiative, a program aimed at tackling drug addiction in the state, reports WJLA.
Hogan is also expected to press the legislature for a bill placing limits on the number of opioid prescriptions a doctor can write. Many medical professionals argue against this kind of crack down, but studies show a direct link between dependence on legally prescribed painkillers and heroin abuse.
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9 comments:
Can someone please help me to understand the core problem that is leading to the use, addiction, and death. Treatment must be part of the solution, but what does it take to truest disrupt the epidemic? It seems lucrative from the dealer's perspective, so will cracking down on doctors be enough, or does it just divert the direction a little?
Dang! I've been taking Oxy for years and I ain't hooked!
Go after big pharma and develop better pain control methods that don't result in drug addiction and death.
Finally
There are new devices that use electrical stimulation that can nearly eliminate the need for opiates, but Big Pharma is fighting them tooth and nail.
Without Oxy, I would not have been able to survive after the severe traumatic injuries that I suffered in an automobile accident. With 5 broken ribs, along with other internal injuries, that made it nearly impossible to even breathe without pain relief, I would have died from pneumonia by being unable to clear my lungs. A simple cough would make me pass out from the pain, without the oxy. Just regular attempts to breathe normally was incredibly painful. On the pain scale of 1-10, every breath for the next 6 weeks after my accident, was on a scale of 8-10. I hated taking the oxy, but I didn't feel I could survive without it. I quit taking it long before I was still qualified to be taking it. Oxy has its place in medical care, and should not be limited by legislation.
I don't think doctors should be told by non-doctor legislators how to prescribe pain killers. However, any qualified medical professional should be able to tell when a patient is abusing painkillers, and alternate methods of pain relief should always be considered for chronic, non-traumatic pain. Go after the illegal heroin, and leave the legal, doctor prescribed, pain killers alone.
Myself and my wife have tried to help people with addiction and there are several major flaws in how the treatment programs work.
First off yes a large part of the problem is people getting prescribed drugs like Oxycontin or other similar drugs for pain that can be treated with other less addictive drugs. Also they tend to prescribe large quantities of these drugs so even if the person who needed them stops after the pain is relieved then they save them only to have someone in the house abuse them.
The methadone clinic is absolutely no help. We took a young lady there in hopes it would help her. They gave her Methadone and slowly increased the dosage. We figured this was to counter the withdrawal symptoms and then they would ween her back off the drug in a controlled manner.
It didn't happen that way. They kept upping the dose to a fairly high level as her tolerance increased and sadly to this day some years later they are still giving it to her. Her whole life is built around waiting downtown at 7am to get her fix for the day. There is no plan to get them off of Methadone which I can only assume is to help them keep getting funding. No addicts then no funds.
Another issue is mixing court ordered rehab with volunteer rehab. A person being forced into rehab or drug programs does not necessarily want to quit the drugs. They are just forced into it. Those people should be no where near those who are trying to quit because they can be a horrible influence on those people in a vulnerable state trying to quit because they want to improve their life.
Many drug dealers hang out at the drug classes because they know there is a steady stream of customers especially those who really don't want to quit but are only there because they are ordered to go. A person who wants to quit should never be near someone who still enjoys the drugs as they are a constant reminder of reasons why not to quit.
There should be rehab and classes for those court ordered seperate from those who volunteer.
9:46 much of heroin's appeal comes from addiction to widely prescribed and much more expensive pain medication. Luckily we are getting out of this mentality, but many doctors realize their patients want to walk out with a pill. People complain of chronic pain, they are prescribed opiates. Eventually you become addicted, you need more to dull the pain. Some people turn to heroin, same effect--less money.
I know for a fact there are doctors in this area that will write scripts for anything. Big pharma gives them money to promote their drug, they sell it. Not many people wake up thinking "I want to be addicted to heroin". It happens over time. Reducing over-prescribed pain medication is one way to fight it.
I have been on opiates for 5 years due to a back injury and in that time have not asked for nor needed any increase in my medication for the pain. So I may have to suffer or go on disability because others are addicted to herion ? Without these medications I would not be able to work and would be forced to apply for disability. I prefer to be a productive taxpayer!
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