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Replying to post 219 by stevevw]
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The war on drugs isn't working.[/center]
stevevw wrote:
To clarify this the article was talking about opiate medications being the leading cause of death in all prescription medications.
Very good.
I like precision like that.
People might want to fall asleep and never wake up instead of going into some other form of overdose. ( if we are talking about suicide ) I know I'd prefer to gently go into that dark night than take my chances on a more horrible kind of death.
As to accidental death by opioid, I'm not too sure how that would happen. I have trouble imagining it... maybe people are using these pills for entertainment. Makes a case for legalizing marijuana, doesn't it?
Let them have fun with that.. hardly anyone dies by locoweed.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/medical-and ... oss-400696
stevevw wrote:
It also accounts for over 50% of deaths through overdose. These deaths now outnumber overdoses from cocain and heroin combined. The point is we have a problem with prescription drugs.
Whadaryagonnado?
stevevw wrote:
No one would deny that cocaine and heroin are a problem that needs addressing. So if prescription drugs are outnumbering these illegal drugs in deaths then we have a problem.
Look, there's been a "war" on those drugs for a long, long time. What we have achieved is to put a lot of people in jails.
More cops and more jails is only going to give us more of that. What are you suggesting we should do about this "drug problem"?
More cops, more jails?
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/trump-goe ... rugs-crime
stevevw wrote:
It is almost like you are dismissing the fact that we have a problem.
It's almost like, but it's not..
The sky is falling. What are you suggesting we do about it?
stevevw wrote:
I am not saying we should ban all opiates.
You keep repeating that, and then prescribing to us alternatives, instead.
stevevw wrote:
There may be certain prescribed drugs that need taking off the market as the statistics show that they are causing problems or bad side effects as we have seen with some of the anti-depressant drugs for example that cause people to become more depressed and suicidal.
So, your solution is to ban only certain opiates.
Great.
Who should decide what drugs should be banned?
stevevw wrote:
It is all about control and prescription drugs are out of control at the moment as acknowledge by all the leading health authorities.
OUT OF CONTROL, PEOPLE !!!
I love the rhetoric. Sounds like something Trump would say.
Let's have more cops, more jails.
Let's have more enforcement.
I think that's Trump's new idea.
stevevw wrote:
I don't know what you mean by battling marijuana. Some states in the US are legalising it.
Yes, some states.
I think they all should.
Lets see the stats on prescription over-doses in those states, shall we?
Would you be opposed to legalized marijuana use?
And here is a little history about the war on drugs in case you never heard of that:
http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/new-sol ... drug-war-0
stevevw wrote:
It may be good for certain medical uses but I am not sure about legalising it for recreational use. But that's another debate topic.
It's just that there is a study I just read about how marijuana use is negatively correlated to prescription drug over-use and alcoholism.
I think I put a link to it somewhere in here.
stevevw wrote:
The only vested interest I can see is the pressure exerted from the big business pharma companies for the medical industry to use their products with financial incentives. There is overwhelming evidence for this.
Ah, the big pharma. They sure like to turn a profit, don't they?
Why didn't I see that coming?
Most of my "alternative medicine" friends are always bemoaning "big pharma".
Let's have more cops, more jails, and put big pharma in them.
I thought we had decided that quick, easy answers were way too simplistic and were not going to work? East advice is really easy to give, isn't it?
It must be horrible to you that big pharma is promoting their newest drugs like that. Pity that their newest drugs are always created JUST to make money, right?
There's no reason at all to make new drugs?
You don't think that the rest of us have any interest in the latest medical science has to offer? Your thinking is terrible.
You take whatever medicine you want.
I'll take MY medical advice from someone competent.
So, I wonder why doctors seem to be over-prescribing opioids?
stevevw wrote:
There will be a number of reasons such as mentioned above with influence of big pharma companies, the need for quick fixes in modern life, an easy option for dealing with complex problems, pressure from patients who are already addicted or dependent on pills, money in that a doctor can see more patients in a shorter time and therefore increase their payments and income.
Only those reasons?
Do you think there might be others, too?
Some that even you haven't thought of?
(
hard to imagine that you wouldn't know, but I'm dreaming up a wild hypothetical... )
Easy fixes isn't the answer to complex problems.
Drugs in our society is an extremely complex problem.
Good, then let's not pretend there ARE any easy fixes to the problem.
And please, stop pretending that you would know what the fixes are.
Offering us your medical advice isn't what you should do. You are trying to tell us that we should seek alternative medicine...
You are not qualified.
Cat not happy.
stevevw wrote:
But I am not sure that all medical industry is based in science.
You could not be more wrong. The legitimate medical industry is applied science, and basic science.
There is an industry built around "alternative medicine" that we know isn't built around science at all. You seem to be advocating for those.
stevevw wrote:
Big pharma companies when promoting their products are not too concerned about the science in getting people to buy their products.
Wrong, and wrong.
You are mind-reading again, and you are wrong about the science.
stevevw wrote:
Doctors wanting to make more money by handing out more pills are not too worried about the science.
Wrong.
Mind reading again.
Hard habit to quit, right?
stevevw wrote:
I was thinking more along the lines of the main alternatives to pills such as counselling, Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), stress management, relaxation therapy, physiotherapy, psychotherapy, naturopathy, pain management techniques and the use of nutritionists and dietitians. These are all well-known and well-used methods that replace the need for pills. Other methods such as acupuncture, herbal remedies, meditation, chiropractic, and spiritual therapies are not as well known but still there is some research that shows they can have good results.
You don't like drugs, do you?
I can understand that.
I think that they are a necessary evil at times.
They happen to keep me alive. Call my staying alive a pharma conspiracy if you like.
IF I have a problem of any kind, I don't want the alternative solutions, I want the very best solutions, whatever they are. I will trust someone competent to suggest them to me. I will not take some internet pundit's advice.
That would be an extremely bad idea.
You could not be more wrong.
Thanks for the free advice.
It's wrong.
If I needed counselling, Id seek counselling. I don't. That would be a stupid waste of time.
If I needed cognitive behavioral therapy, I'd ask a competent practitioner about that, and NOT someone on the internet giving free medical advice.
If I needed mainstream medical advice, about mainstream medical therapies, I'd probably be getting that. Mainstream doctors usually recommend mainstream therapies.
If I really needed spiritual whatnot, I'd ask someone qualified to do that.
I just don't think that you are qualified to prescribe anything to anyone.
People have opinions and that's fine.
You are probably just giving us yours.
But when it comes to health issues, I draw the line.
We are talking about life and death issues here... and non-qualified people are giving WAY too much free medical advice these days. It's all over the place.
Bad thinking about health is probably a big medical problem, too.
Addiction is a huge problem, and it's been around for a long long time, and nobody has a quick and easy answer.
It's certainly not going to be eating more salads (
which, because of the good medical advice I got, I happen to do )
I remember Nancy Reagan's slogan :
"Just say no"
How stupid.
It's a little more complicated than that.
stevevw wrote:
It's too bad that not everyone can afford all those alternative methods.
Yeah, isn't it?
And it's too bad that not everyone needs those "alternative" methods.
They just might need the drugs, my friend.
Stop giving us your free medical advice.
Cat unhappy.
stevevw wrote:
The important point is to take a holistic approach and not concentrate on one method.
Your free medical advice isn't acceptable.
Sorry.
What we want is a method that works who cares if it's "holistic" or not?
There are many quacks out there selling what they call "holistic medicine".
Not a happy cat.
It really irritates me to no end how so many people think of themselves as competent to make medical decisions like that, and then to presume to tell us that they know what they are talking about. If there is an epidemic, it's an epidemic of unqualified medical practitioners quacking around.
stevevw wrote:
Maybe you are reading more into it than there is. I think we are approaching the same issue from different perspectives and that is why you may feel I am against medication.
I suppose if it's important enough for you to write about it, it's important enough for me to respond to it.
You have been doing nothing but to criticize medication.
Cat not happy.
stevevw wrote:
I have not said that medication is the right circumstances is not warranted. Jumping from medication to spiritual therapy is being very restrictive. There are other methods that can play a part such as exercise, diet, relaxation etc when it comes to heart health.
Do you even imagine for a second that the medical profession doesn't know that already?
They just fill me up with drugs, do they?
Cat not happy.
stevevw wrote:
Fair enough, each person has a right to choose how they want to live.
You are quite free to live the most difficult way that you can imagine.
Stop advocating that for the rest of us.
Cat not happy.
