Heroin is cheap and it is becoming a problem of epidemic proportions.

And it comes with all these wonderful new immigrants south of the border.

Heroin has become headline news and a topic of debate among presidential candidates due to a substantial uptick in heroin-related deaths and overdoses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of heroin-related deaths rose 286 percent between 2003-2013.

Epidemic.


Where does it come from.

It's cheap, so they snort it. No needles, no track marks, same addiction. It's bad news. Doesn't take long to get hooked. A wild long weekend will do it.

That Darwin guy wrote some thing about these actions.....

I agree with the Darwin angle. Drugs are a good sorter outer.

Build the damned wall!

Heroin addiction recovery rate is tiny.

You won't see many older heroin addicts. They're dead.

i know of two kids that grew up right but some how got caught in the heroin game, ............ they lost. nothing so painful than as to watch a great set of loving parents go through that kind of hell trying to figure out what had gone so wrong. heart breaking doesn't come close to describing it.this epidemic knows no boundary,hits good loving families as hard as broken dysfunctional ones. if you think it can't happen to your family you are wrong.

I strongly endorse such activity.

C. Darwin

Yes, heroin bleach for the gene pool..

No so sure about that. Even good kids do stupid stuff now and then. Get drunk for a weekend and you have a massive hangover. Get drunk one weekend and do heroin and your hooked and your life is never the same on many levels. Serious price to pay.

And, the new synthetic stuff on the streets is so much more powerful that every encounter is a game of dosage roulette. Many will die.

Heroin is terrible stuff.
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Some experts place the rate of relapse for heroin addicts as high as 80 percent, which means that the recovery rate may be as low as 20 percent. Link.

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Which means 80 out of 100 people who seek treatment will die from it. this does not include the people who never seek help.

Addicts call it "Chasing The Dragon".

I don't understand why people try this stuff. They know its extremely addictive.

The same reason that soldiers or pilots go on crazy dangerous missions: It's never going to happen to me! That 20% who survive, that's going to be ME!

Heroin is not the epidemic. Opioids are the epidemic. They have been for over a decade. It seems that people care more when their kids are buying it on a street corner than they do when they're getting it out of their medicine cabinet or a "pain clinic".

Could end heroin problem immediately. Something like 95% is grown in Afghanistan. Seems would could kill two birds with one stone. Or at least a few well placed nukes.

Kieth Richard disagrees...

what we have an 'epidemic' of, is stupid people that want to get high. They pretty much deserve to die for being that dumb. No one makes folks smoke, snort, inject, or eat drugs. They all do it because they want to.
Sometimes life style choices go awry. Ya know?

THAT USE TO BE TRUE, however 80% or more of the heroin coming into the US is coming from south america.

Exactly. Over prescribed opioids lead to many many heroin addictions. Heroin is the easy way to get the same high after the prescription runs out. I see it regularly.

Very true!

Cincinnati's had 50 OD's in the past 2 days. They must be cutting it with some high-octane stuff.

When the pills run out, people find H cheaper & easier to get.

FC

yep and french fries and soda pop are killing us also but people still drink and eat it dont they.....some of you guys amaze me you think it cant happen to you but it can it doesnt always happen to the bad people as you think it does.....

I have had it on both sides of my family, we work hard every day for what we have and for the most part have done things right in order to live but it but it can affect anybody and when you think it cant watch out because when you finally realize what is going on it can be to late or a very long road..........

Over 50 O.D.'s in 48 hours here in Cincy. It's rampant.

And we stand by and watch the farmers in Afghanistan growing and selling that shiet. And we made it safe for them with our hands off policy.

I have to respectfully disagree Gene, it takes a special kind of stupid to fool with that stuff in the first place, most here are not that stupid.

And I can guarantee you it will never happen to me.

There were few kids stupider than me when I was young. Got plenty shtfaced many times. Still smart enough not to do heroin; or hang out with those who did.

It's sad that some of these losers come from good families; the parents have my sympathy if they raised the kid right.

Heroin? It should be given away free to all who believe in a "hands off" government approach. Universities and colleges should be especially targeted as it will broaden the mind and body experience of higher education.
As long as I don't have to pay for it who gives a crap.
And when they are done using it, we can get a big bulldozer and push 'em all into a mass grave. The Darwin theory works every time.

I know of one family that has been torn apart by the addiction of their now adult son. As a kid he was a national class ski racer who earned a scholarship to BYU. After BYU he tried to get into medical school, but his ego got in the way and the only medical schools that he applied to rejected him. While he was trying to decide what he was going to do with his life, he had a car accident, injured his back, and started down the long road of addiction to oxycontin. For the past 13 years he has alternately embraced and fought his addiction. He lost a wife and several girl friends along the way and nearly drove his parents to divorce. His addiction has damaged his life and ruined most of his relationships. Both his father and his mother have told me that they worry that they're going to get a call in the middle of the night, telling them that their son is dead. They also told me that the anticipation of his death is so bad that they wish that he'd kill himself, so that they could get on with their lives.

yep it is a stupid thing to do and why they do it is beyond me but then we have people that drink alcohol, smoke, have un protected sex,
drive drunk , eat fatty foods, it goes on and on all of us have been stupid at one time or another ......kids dont always follow good advice know do they and there are a lot of GOOD parents that have GOOD kids that have experienced this tragedy

This is what I wish my brother in-law would do, It would be much easier on my wife and her parents......At least it would be over and there would be no more worrying and wondering.

Again the majority of heroin coming into the US today is coming from South America. Afghanistan grows and produces a ton of it but the stuff hitting our streets is coming from our neighbors to the south.

I had a nephew die of heroin over dose this past year in Ohio. He left two orphan boys, and a devastated family. What can I say? He was a loser, a druggie, a useless POS. Even if he WAS family.

One of Cookie's nephews just lost a son to an OD. One day out of rehab. Pretty good family, but I guess the biological father (not in the picture at present) was a serious user. Pretty much cleaning them out to plant or cremate him.

I must be blind. See/hear all kinds of mentions locally, but I never seem to notice. Guess I should hang out down town during the later hours.

Or the local ER. You are SO right on this. And the government is first and foremost complicit in it. They have set up the system so that millions and millions of Americans can go to the ER, as many times as they want, free of charge (to them). And the reimbursement system, from the government, is now (with ObamaCare) based upon patient satisfaction. The CEO's of the hospital 'want' that government money first and foremost...no matter what...so they 'strongly encourage' the ER docs to make those patients happy, by whatever means necessary, so those patients will give the hospital good marks on the surveys.

Most of us have seen, and many even lived beside, tragic situations associated with drug addicition and other poor choices. This can end in horrible waste. However, and as ever, some people chose dangerous behavior and habits no matter how bad the known outcomes and no matter how poentially terrible the effects on those who love them.

The reasons why they do so are varied. but the decisions are the same. The thrills or escapes, or etc. at the time of choice are more important to them than long-term health - and, often, life itself.

This is not to judge their goodness or evil in relation to others - it is to note the reality of what we do as humans. Although not a Darwinist, I understand his ideas and theories - and those who see such things at work in these cases are making an apt application. The issue is not the price, or potency, or availability of the drug or activity - the issue is human behavior. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemies. Selectivity matters.

humans began as a poor but barely acceptable design. obviously.

the design is not perfect. we all know that.

people sometimes want to escape the awfulness.

others degrade them for their wanting/needing to be honest.

we've created a mess. even the religionists who walk amongst us know that.

the original design was as good as possible, but it wasn't for certain given the availability of raw materials.

let's get past the "i am the Master of my Life" bs. shall we?

My BIL has two wonderful kids........You know you've reached loser status when you become a liability to your kids and family.

No, I don't think we shall. Nor should we.

well, ok. no argument from me. just hold on to what you've got.

and the best to ya as well.

Heroin really isn't the problem...

It's easier for me to get Heroin than it is to get antibiotics...And yet... I am not an addict.

Unfortunately, as you can tell from my post, I don't need it...apparently just the coffee is enough for some of us.

Addicts have a dysfunctional mentality, yes...but that mentality was present in their brains before the heroin. Medical models don't understand that addiction to anything is a systemic disease regardless of the object of the addiction, so there is no effective treatment...that's why recovery is so elusive.

Responsibility for addiction is on the addicts and the co-dependents who enable them.

As we all know from our own history, prohibition clearly doesn't work. All that prohibition accomplished was to empower the worst of criminals like Capone and the Kennedys. The Clintons and Obama are the primary direct decendents of that blunder.

Today, making drugs illegal just empowers other undesirable groups on both sides of the law that we really don't want having those resources...as far as I am concerned, they are all the same.

I say let addicts have all the Heroin they want.

The better option is to immediately legalize it, subsidize it under Obama Care...all drugs should be.

It's an epidemic but the Spanish Flu, Smallpox and the Plague didn't kill everyone at the time and eventually died out...as this one will.

i'm glad that there is at least a semi=degree of rational discussion being attempted.

we're way behind Europe, while some would say they're off the tract entirely.

at the very least, perhaps we can manage to scratch the surface. digging deeper can come later, as the seasons change.

People have back pain due to accidents and get put on Oxycontin. When they are taken off of it they are hooked. Heroin is a lot cheaper.

Antlers is right on. Very true....

Every discomfort in life nowadays, no matter how minuscule it is (for millions and millions of Americans), requires a trip to the ER, and the administration of 'pain medication'. There's no disincentive for them not to go to the ER because it is absolutely free of charge (to them). And the emphasis by 'the powers that be' placed on addressing 'pain' in the ER nowadays, no matter how tiny the discomfort is, is simply ridiculous. Pain is the 5th vital sign nowadays, even for a mosquito bite or a splinter. And even those patients are asked "is your pain being addressed adequately" not only by the supervisors making the rounds, but also on the surveys that the patient receives. It's not Generation X, it's Generation Rx..

Winner winner chicken dinner. Just about verbatim from a documentary about heroin in Seattle. An ER physician broke it down how a patients outgoing pain level was the way service was rated. Pump the patient full of narcotics and send them away with a script. She spoke as if she felt like a drug dealer and nothing more.
It's easy to think anybody that does it deserve to die......until it's a brother....a sister or a friend.

You don't have to agree to getting a narcotic or fill the prescription.
Everybody wants to blame somebody else.

I have sympathy for addicts, but none for the people who sell them drugs and keep them hooked.

Sad! Just give me a beer or shot of good bourbon. Maybe an Advil or 2.

I thought the really bad stuff was being laced with Fentanyl and that's what was causing these extreme spikes in death.

In fact,so called experts reports said the pills they found at the Prince scene were counterfeit and contained Fentanyl from the aftermarket. They were even mislabeled. That stuff is supposed to be 100 times the potency of a regular oxy pain pill. Well according to the experts. Point being these idiots don't know what they are taking. That's just nuts!!

I wouldn't know heroin if it jumped up and bit me in the azzzz. Thank God!

This thread hits kinda close to home for me and my family. About 5 years ago we lived in the city of York, Pa. My oldest daughter befriended a girl that was her age(both about 20) and brought her home. Well she kinda became like another daughter to us. Come to find out she was hooked on painkillers. Its amazing to find out how easy it is to get ahold of them on the streets. We got her off of everything and she was clean and sober for a couple years. She had 2 boys before we met her that her mother had custody of. After she seemed to get her life straightened out she was engaged to a guy who seemed to have his head on straight and they had a daughter. He had his own roofing business and was doing pretty well. Then he started dabbling in drugs and they both ended up hooked on heroin. She was found dead 3 days before Christmas this past year with a needle still stuck in her arm. Her mother went and picked up the baby...and when she got there the baby was malnutritioned and dehydrated and covered in sores and feces. Needless to say she now has custody of her and she is a beautiful healthy little girl. Btw the dad is rotting in prison where he belongs.
I just can't grasp why anyone would do that crap to themselves knowing the odds of what the outcome are. I guess we all have our vices...food not good for us, cigarettes, alcohol.etc....but drugs that have the end result of heroin and such...I just don't get it

Let me tell you from a personal perspective, I had some major surgery back in 08. If it wasn't for the pain killers after it I would not have made it through it. There is a real need for for that kind of medicine and it's not fair nor accurate to say the medical profession just gives it out without reason. However that's not to say depending on how an individual is wired that exposure to these opiuts (even though the trama warrants it) might get them going down the wrong road. There is no way for the doctors to know the potential outcome for treating a patient with a chronic pain issue. All this being said I will go on record to say that in terms of these young (under the age of 22) heroin addicts it is because of pure blind ignorance and stupidity they try it and have no idea what they really are doing. Trust me when I say this, pick out the nicest, well raised kid you know under the age of 14, and realize that before he turns 21 he may be dead or hooked and on a road to ruin do to heroin. And there won't be a damn thing you will be able to do about it but cry. I hope you never go through it.

I hear what you're saying Gene and can understand, but it's the LEVEL of bad that gets us.

For example, my longevity will be greatly extended having a bacon burger and a fight with a redneck town drunk, vs mainlining tar heroin then walking up and spitting in Brock Lesnars face.

The last scenario ain't gonna pan Buddy.

The war on drugs has failed.

Nobody "keeps them hooked" but them damn selves.

This mindset is absolutely ridiculous.

When I hurt my back I refused any pain meds stronger than aspirin. You can learn to ignore pain, I have done it for fifteen years next month. Doctors say it cannot be fixed and I will never get better.

Portugal, OD death rates compared

Yup! If you're gonna do it then you best know what you're doing and how to manage it. Guessing sako would not make it through one night.

This gets rid of a boat load of other crime, including violent crime, as well.


Imagine what it would do to crime south of the border if an addict could just get an Rx from a doc for cheap drugs of a known dosage.

All we have to do is admit that what we have been doing is a flop.

I saw a blurb on the news today that said they're now cutting it with Elephant tranquilizer for an extra kick which naturally increases the chance of an over dose ten fold.....


Crazy times we're living in for sure....

Interesting business plan. Kill off your customers.

that is pretty much bullchit.

Correctamundo!!! This is absolutely true.

An incredible number of Americans have become habitual opioid users in the past 20-25 years. Most of them got hooked on Rx meds. Remember Brett Favre's Vicodin abuse issue? That was in 1995.

Docs used to prescribe narcotic pain meds like candy. They were in part driven to it by activists who wanted hospitals and doctors to be punished for failing to "adequately address pain", and their lawyers, who successfully sued docs who tried to limit or prohibit patient narcotic use. By Y2K, unless you had balls of steel, no clinic doc could avoid having to write way more opioid Rx's than s/he really wanted to.

So more and more people have got used to having a bottle of Percocet or Vicodin in the medicine chest "just in case". Kids got in the habit of stealing a couple of oxy's on a Friday night to get "high" with their pals... grind 'em up and snort 'em, usually, but some would inject subcutaneously ("skin-popping") or intravenously. Most were recreational, but some became addicts. And as Pat says, most folks didn't get all that upset bout it, because "it's just a pill". My ex's 25-year-old son was a habitual hydrocodone abuser--he was not addicted so far as I know, but would pop a couple on weekends for kicks when he went out clubbing with his buddies--and my ex thought it wasn't a big deal. Even when I told her that a bottle of hydrocodone I kept in my medical bag had gone missing during one of her son's visits.

Then the DEA moved oxycodone and then hydrocodone to the Schedule II list, which meant that doctors had to meet a much higher standard to prescribe those meds. And as a result, the street supply of those drugs dried up, and prices went through the roof. Street price for a 10 mg tablet of oxycodone (Percocet) was about 15 bucks 5 years ago, but now it's more than $50.

So people who are already habituated to narcotics are migrating to heroin. What a surprise.

Doc, do you think some have a propensity to want to feel dead/numb in there heads on the opiates?

Another tip is too never treat to the point there is no pain, once you reach the feeling good/euphoria level it's over. They are to make pain bearable not turn you into a slobbering idiot.

Mike

That was exactly the reason for my above question to Doc, I got busted up really bad a few decades ago and was home healing after a spinal fusion surgery, they gave me some dosage of oxy something.

I was at the point of slobbering down my shirt sitting in a chair and starring out a window all day, I called the nurse and told her so, she laughed and said for me to break the tablets in half and take as needed, I still can't imagine how someone could get hooked on that feeling, or in any case like, and want to be there.

I've heard this is a stepping stone to heroin. People get hooked on prescription pain meds, doc quits prescribing and they resort to heroin because it is cheap and easy to get.

Back in the 5th grade I had a teacher say that she never tried any 'drugs' because she was afraid she would like them. I took that advice to heart and have lived the same motto. Darn glad I have......some of that stuff must be incredible - just look what people will do to get more....

That's because of the war on drugs.

+1

I guess so, but I don't know. Nobody knows except the people who get hooked; they must get more of a euphoria from the meds than I do, because any time I've taken opioids I have quickly developed a distinct sensation of dysphoria... the opposite of euphoria. I feel tired, wasted, cranky, and nauseous. After both of my knee replacements I was off the narcs as fast as I could, and damn the pain.

But there seems to be a great number of Americans who want to avoid any bad feeling at any cost. They refuse to eat a sensible diet, refuse to exercise, refuse to work, refuse all the things that make life worth living in my book. I think that's at the root of the problem.

Well, that's the hard part, isn't it? Since pain is subjective, the prescribing physician has nothing to measure the effectiveness or suitability of the treatment except the patient's report of pain and pain relief.

Prescription drug addicts always complain of terrible pain. Differentiating between real pain, psychological disturbance, and addictive behaviors is a nightmare.

It isn't just Jose and Eduardo.

I just read a story a week ago about the heroin epidemic in West Virgina. Home-grown American hillbillies are hooked on heroin in record numbers, and they are dying like flies.

Said they get started on Percocet or Ocycontin, possibly following bone surgery, they get hooked, then they switch over to heroin because it is cheaper and stronger.
It is a suicide trip all the way and I am fresh out of sympathy for junkies. Like Prince.
No word of Prince using the needle but he was on Percocet and Fentanyl, just synthetic heroin.

Prince got what he deserved.

You can't use Fentanyl without a needle.

They found Fentanyl and something else in the opiods he was taking. Their deduction was these were street drugs. Again, I wouldn't know this stuff or even what to with it. And as for giving myself a shot over and over. HA!! NO WAY! And these people doing bath salts and smoking fake pot---IDIOTS! Do they eat the bath salts?

(CNN)They might as well be playing Russian Roulette.
It doesn't matter if you're talking about a teenager chasing a higher high or a mega star trying to soothe chronic pain. The counterfeit pills they may be reaching for are more deadly than ever, experts say.
Why? One word: fentanyl.

"Synthetic fentanyl showing up in the street drug supply is an enormous game changer," says Carol Falkowski, CEO of Drug Abuse Dialogues, a group that helps track drug trends for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "It means anybody who purchases illegal drugs can unknowingly be taking fentanyl, which is 100 times stronger than morphine."

All it takes is a dose of fentanyl the size of three grains of sand to kill.

Fentanyl powder is cheap and easy to obtain on the dark web, experts warn, making it attractive to those manufacturing it into pill form mixed with other drugs.
Those counterfeit drugs are sold on the street, and usually dangerously usually labeled as something less potent. Even forensic scientists can't tell whether some of the pills sold on the street are counterfeit or not just by looking at them. That's how good the counterfeiters have gotten at making the illicit drugs.

Those who take fake prescriptions likely have no idea if fentanyl is inside, or how much.

"They should be known as a kill pill," Falkowski says.
Prince Rogers Nelson's death may turn out to be the most famous example of the dangers posed by counterfeit fentanyl. Pills found in his Minnesota home were reportedly marked as hydrocodone, but when tested the pills turned out to have fentanyl in them. No one has said if Prince took those pills. But he did die of fentanyl toxicity, according to the autopsy report.

Fentanyl is an opioid. Its effect on the body is exactly like heroin, or any other opiate-based medication. But fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin, up to 100 times stronger than morphine. It is stronger than any prescription painkiller on the market.

"All opiates are just oral heroin. There is no difference to the body," Minneapolis emergency medicine physician Chris Johnson says.

Doc! You can get a Fentanyl patch.

Just get you some Blu Emu....and you won't stank!

Maybe a Goodys!

I think there is probably a lot of difference in the reaction to opioids in different people just as there is to almost everything based on genetic makeup. The closest analogy is alcohol. Some people become addicts, some become occasional users and some become ill. Different genetic groups seem to have higher or lower percentages of each type.

My only experience with painkillers came after surgery on a broken wrist. I don't recall the specific narcotic, but I didn't notice any effect other than the desired elimination of the pain. There was no "high" or euphoria so no reason to seek more once the wrist healed and the pain disappeared.

Jerry

Not at its intended purpose, expansion of government

Yeah, but the junkies suck the liquid out of 'em with needles and inject.

I should've qualified my needle comment by saying nobody INTENTIONALLY takes fentanyl except by needle. As an additive/adulterant to other drugs, it can be added to almost any oral medication.

As the article says, it's a potent sumbitch. First-pass liver degradation of orally ingested drug will wipe out at least 50% of the drug, but since the lethal dose is so small, most street "chemists" don't know how to safely reduce their dosages so people will get high instead of getting killed.

It's tragic that people are dying from taking this drug, but after all they ARE knowingly taking illegal opioids.

Doesn't the U.S. Army use "lollipops" made with fentanyl? Something called "Actique"?

it seems like there's an ecology of drug use. we could begin with marijuana, if we have to begin somewheres.

then cocaine is rampant.

then crack cocaine, what ever that is.

amphetamines, glue, that meth stuff, heroin, opium, etc. etc.

synthetic mary jane.

hell, when are those organic chemists going to discover the ultimate, that is a high without consequences? just think of the money to be made with such a product.

I've dealt with chronic pain issues for decades. I thank God that I'm one of those people who really don't like the effects of opiates. There are times I'll dip into the pain meds, when I just need a break. But I know that A - I won't get "high" or any euphoric feeling. B - I'll get stomach cramps, C - Constipation, D - Irritability, E - Insomnia...and the list goes on.

I tried MJ as an alternative to opiates once...OMG that sucked!!! People find that pleasurable? I thought I was having a freaking heart attack.

I've found the best medicine is no medicine. 99% of the time, it's just not worth it.

I lost my Nephew a little over a year ago to drug addiction. OD'd on a cocktail of multiple drugs including heroin. I wish I could have a hunting license...

That's the kicker, they take this schit voluntarily, there is no one to blame but themselves and that takes the blame off of the medical industry as well.

When I had my back fusion done they had me on hydrocodone, I don't think I could have made it through the first two weeks without it. Two weeks was plenty and I put up with the pain after that.

I choose to quit and move on, how anyone could think this schit was a good idea is beyond me.

The sad part is, it's often someone rather young, who gets convince by their druggie friends that it's safe...you know, because they do it and they're still alive.

With street drugs you just don't know what you're getting. If you push 8-10mg of Heroin that's 60% pure, and then the next time you get lucky and get some 90% pure, you're in a lot of trouble.

This is exactly WHY we have an FDA.

But the econo-anarchists would say, "Hey, just don't buy from that guy anymore"...when you're dead, that's guaranteed.

Doc I probably should have used a different word than treat, I was talking about the patient who needs meds and doesn't want to risk addiction.

I took Percocet for 1 month prior to an epidural in my back, wrote it down every time it was taken, even though it quit working in 3 hours always waited the full 4 hours to take and never took more than prescribed daily amount.

The day of my 1st epidural about an hour prior I took the last one and 5-6 hours later broke out in shakes and sweats and completely soaked my clothes in sweat, felt like the flu for 2-3 days and then for a full week when walking the dog and tweaking my back a little I would get a nauseous feeling in my stomach as my body craved the meds and I was only on a 7.5mg dose I think.

Haven't taken one since and hope I don't ever need to, but that's how quick your body starts to develop an addiction whether your mind does or not.



Gunner

I went from gut wrenching pain that was quickly becoming unbearable, to gut wrenching pain that was basically bearable as long as I did nothing but sit still.



Mike

I broke my femur, the thigh bone, right in the knee in a logging accident. Came close to getting the leg amputated.
Doc put the femur back together with 4 screws. I was on crutches for 11 weeks.
But the surgery failed and I had to get total knee replacement.

Well, I have been injured plenty, had lots of stitches, broken ankle, broken wrist etc etc.
But the pain from these knee surgeries was through the roof.
They gave me a scrip for 10 mg Vicodin. I wanted Oxycontin, I figured, good enough for Rush, good enough for me.
But I got Vicodin. A big bottle and I could get refills.

After about 4 weeks on the Vicodin, I noticed it didn't do much for pain relief any more. Also I noticed I felt like hell all the time. Only, if I took a Vicodin I felt OK for about an hour.
Then I realized I was hooked on this stuff.
I said to hell with this stuff.
I mixed up a double gin and tonic. I popped a Vicodin and chased it with the gin and tonic.* Then I flushed the rest of the Vicodin down the toilet. I stayed away from the Vicodin after that, and made do with Tylenol and Motrin.
I must say, the Vicodin and gin is a very nice buzz and makes the pain go away.

*Do not try this at home. Can cause liver damage.

You were taking an opiate every 4 hours for a whole month. That is a schist ton of drugs sustained over a long period of time.

Folks think something is safe just because a doc gives it to them.

Maybe it was every 6 hrs I don't remember it's on the bottle either way was too much for me and I hope to never need them again.

Mike

The doctor who gave that prescription should hang up his license. He was blatantly and purposefully trying to get you hooked on drugs.

My sister who is 55 years old and suffering significantly from RA is now raising a step-great grandchild who is 3 or 4 years old.

Step-granddaughter caught into drugs, ultimatley heroin. Many opportunities to straighten up. Caught and arrested many times. My sister's husband paid over $10k for a rehab a year plus ago. She relapsed. Lost the kid and my sister and BIL are now attempting to raise a toddler. It is slowly killing both of them.

Yup. These kids grew up getting codeine cough syrup every time they got a runny nose and a family full of goof balls that think keeping pain meds laying around is okay. Taking the stuff that Dad says makes his back feel better is just not scary. Hell, half the addicts out there have no idea that they are, and as long as they can pay the bills, nobody is gonna try to convince them otherwise. Then one day, after they lose it all, they'll be worthless scumbags.

It is tough for a grandparent to find himself/herself in the position of surrogate parent when they are on the high side of 50, but the child is very lucky to have family members who care enough to step up and sacrifice themselves for the good of the child.