Is it really just because of the fentanyl situation? I know there is a huge disagreement with how the strict rules for prescribing opioids are so tight even for chronic pain patients like myself who can’t participate in life without em struggle to find a provider who is willing to prescribe us them.
Because at its peak in 2012 the total number of prescriptions dispensed was more than 255 million with a dispensing rate of 81.3 prescriptions per 100 persons.
1% of 255 million is still 2.5 million Americans who are addicted to dangerous, life-altering drugs. You almost certainly know someone who has a family member addicted to opiates. Addiction is a nightmare, and even if you don’t overdose, it’s extremely expensive and damages your relationships and career. There’s a serious societal cost to that, and something should be done to regulate the pharma industry which preys on the American population in a fundamentally destructive way.
Is it the biggest problem in the world? No, not really. Should we still do something about it? Absolutely!
It needs to be done with objective intelligence instead of arbitrary bureaucratic oversimplification. Someone that has had no criminal record and has been on any controlled substance for years should not get dragged through the mud over this issue. After a couple of years, they shouldn’t need to constantly see a doctor in person every few months or have pharmacies make their life any more difficult. These people should be the main priority of focus not some peripheral aspect of a 1% problem.
As far as I am concerned, the vast majority of fentanyl deaths are because it is the ideal suicide drug in a society that has an ineffective government that is bent on growing the poverty class.
I’m one of these chronically disabled people in constant pain. I choose not to take any pain meds because it doesn’t really change anything other than my mental sharpness. I’ve spent years on opioids, and can and have stopped at will. I despise the way I am treated and the nonsense it takes to get the meds. If I get sick of the struggle, an OD is less of a mess to clean up and I have every right to choose how I wish to exit. Fixing the real problem here involves changing society so that people feel they have options other than such an exit. Getting disability in the USA is difficult, expensive, and takes years. As of right now, when my folks die, that is my exit, and when I become this statistic too. You’re fighting the wrong problems here and inadvertantly making them worse.