@bowner1012 While i am very sympathetic to the opiate epidemic and do agree we need to solve it, the problem is the current approach makes it much much worse, let me relay my own expiernce to tell you why.

I recently had a very severe disc herniation. Much of the time i cant make it even one step away from my bed. I needed some sort of pain killer to help until it could be resolved, i also tried all the alternatives first, NSAID, steroids, etc. NSAID did almost nothing for the extreme pain and steroids helped a lot but the second i was off them I was worse then when I tarted. I needed some sort of pain meds or else my life felt like constant and literal physical torture.

So I approached my doctor of 5 years, he knew well that I have never asked for any scheduled drug of any kind. In fact the few times he offered adderall i refused (for my ADHD). He flat out refused me any pain meds because he said i had to pass a drug test to get them, well i live in holland and only stopped by america to pick something up and got stuck there. I told him "I would pass on all drugs but marijuana, but it was legal where i smoked it". Hearing that he refused me any medication and told me he could not since i couldn't pass a drug test.

Later in dire pain i called the office and begged and pleaded in tears. On the stop he dropped me as a patient all together and told me i could not be seen by him again (in the middle of a major injury). I then went on to call at least 20 doctors to get help and they all said under no circumstances would a new patient be prescribed a controlled substance. Now keep in mind i had an MRI and an X-ray to confirm the severity of my condition.

Now all i really needed or wanted was Tylenol II (basically Acetaminophen _ codeine). While it is an opiate it is the absolute weakest form of opiate you can get. Since I was refused, and since i will not accept others abusing me or telling me what i can or cant do with my own body, my only solution was to scavenge drugs. I called every drug addict and family member i knew to try to get some pain killers to help. I finally got a nice collection together but since all drug users want are the strong things like morphine, oxycodon and hydrocodone all i had was a pile of stuff 10x - 100x stronger and more addictive than i needed. I did manage to get 4 codeine pills but they only last 4 hours each so that only held me over for a day.

In the end due to a pathetic attempt to address the drug epidemic they forced a non-addicted suffering patient to take drugs far riskier and more addictive than he needed and drastically increased my risk of addiction, all in the ironically vain attempt to prevent my addiction.

Long story short it NEVER pays to dictate what people can do with their own body, even drugs. Provide advice and support and leave the power with the individual.

@freemo
This is how a lot of my friends have become addicts. Severe pain and no way to treat it but to go to the street. Synthetic fentanyl is a norm on the street now and sometimes even the most "seasoned" addict ends up overdosing. Death doesn't scare the addicts, they want the stuff that killed Jimmy last week...

@bowner1012 I know plenty of addicts who got there through recreational dosing. But I have no doubt a huge portion just needed help and had to self medicate. It is disgusting.

But i can relate, when you are in so much pain you are a hair away from passing out death is the least of your concerns, youd rather just be out of pain and any risk of death is worth that for even a short period.

Thankfully i have managed to reduce my swelling enough with a keto diet that the pain is manageable off of pain killers again. I stopped taking them yesterday and am not very susceptible to addiction so ill likely be fine.

But with that said the risk was very real and had i needed it for longer than I did chances are I would be struggling through a much more severe withdraw.

@freemo
That's how the epidemic started in America is the oxycodone prescriptions they handed out to people...opened up a strong market for heroin and later on fentanyl. It's good you are stepping away from them . .I've gone through some terrible withdrawals in my time...and don't wish that on anyone. Of course I was an abuser not self medicating.

@freemo
but perhaps it goes with the new mentality in this world that we are all doomed so what does it matter if I'm wasted all day. Sorry you had to suffer with severe pain...idk if I should discuss my own adventures because it's far more selfish of a story. But I agree that people should be able to decide what they can do to themselves.