What a couple of days, huh? Donald Trump made us wait over an hour Tuesday to make a big announcement on the "opiate crisis in our Country. I expected to hear about tightening regulations, better treatment plans, and harder federal policies. Instead after all the bluster and wait, after hearing about some of the recommendations on the news and waiting uncertainly of Christy's overall recommendations; I, instead heard "just say no" as Donald’s long awaited "policy" dealing with this crisis.
Very Presidential when dealing with a "crisis" killing an average of 91 people daily in our Country. Tougher laws sending, once again, "low level" dealers and users to jail and costing us millions more a year in court costs, law enforcement expenditures, and not addressing the problem that already exists. Typical Trump thinking. Just say no, and it will go away. Put the little guys in jail, and the big guys get to continue recruiting. Increasing the prices of street drugs and crimes that surrounds the addictiveness of the street level drugs.
Sort of reminds me of Arizona. Spend millions of dollars on food stamp fraud drug testing to catch one person using drugs. One. Over three million dollars spent, to catch one guy and save about five "THOUSAND" dollars. Why? Because of the popularized idea and propaganda suggesting all people who use food stamps (or the "SNAP" card) "sell" it to supplement their drug habits.
Most people don’t realize it’s based on actual income and most users of SNAP couldn’t afford, even with help, to have a "drug habit" That most users are seniors and Children. Most are American born Citizens, who have to prove it. Yet the rumors linger. Why? Could it be so the Republicans can somehow "justify" removing a program designed to help low income families, seniors, and kids, based on internet lies, rumors and fake news spread to give doubt about who actually uses SNAP and why?
The opiate problem is the same pattern of thinking; except the lies and propaganda come from the very people it will harm the most. The pharmaceutical companies producing these drugs. Profits would decrease, say, if marijuana were decriminalized and reclassified.
If we begin to see addiction as a disease or a mental disorder, rather than a crime. If we put tighter rules in place to restrict or minimize those who can actually get the drugs to real pain patients with specific guidelines to insure they are prescribed and used by the person they are prescribed for.
I and my wife are chronic pain patients. We have used opiates for over 20 yrs., along with other regiments of medicine and therapy. Those of us who use it, know the risks and are dependent on opiates to be able to function somewhat "normally" in today’s society. For people who use them "as prescribed" They are lifesavers. They allow us to be at a reduced pain level throughout the day. Aspirin and Aleve are more like breath mints than medicine. Tens units actually increase our pain levels. Acupuncture, most insurance won’t cover, and isn’t very successful on REAL pain, sometime increases it to. Physical therapy just agitates and exasperates the underlying problems. With the recent "federal cuts" to the NIH funding, alternatives and cures are not even a logical possibility for most of us.
My wife has a disorder called DYSTONIA. Almost impossible to diagnose 20 yrs. ago. It causes a severe twisting in the body and cause nerves to misfire and pull in directions the body was never designed to go. Physical therapy worsens symptoms for some. Dystonia Worsens with stress, fatigue or anxiety. Dystonia patients become very self-conscience and usually withdrawn as symptoms Worsen with stress, fatigue or anxiety and Become more noticeable over time. Normal things, people take for granted, cause extreme pain, embarrassment and cause family and friends to quit coming around. The exact cause of dystonia isn't known. But it might involve altered nerve-cell communication in several regions of the brain. Some forms of dystonia are inherited.
Depending on the type of dystonia, complications can include:
Physical disabilities that affect your performance of daily activities or specific tasks Functional blindness from dystonia that affects your eyelids. Difficulty with jaw movement, swallowing or speech. Pain and fatigue, due to constant contraction of your muscles. Depression, anxiety and social withdrawal.
Dystonia also can be a symptom of another disease or condition, including: Parkinson’s disease, Huntington's disease, Wilson's disease, Traumatic brain injury, Birth injury, Stroke, Brain tumor or certain disorders that develop in some people with cancer (paraneoplastic syndromes), Oxygen deprivation or carbon monoxide poisoning, Infections, such as tuberculosis or encephalitis, Reactions to certain medications or heavy metal poisoning. I watched the woman I loved and married, worsen every day. She was misdiagnosed over and over again, and got worse over the years we chased a diagnosis and answer. She was over medicated to the point she couldn't walk. Her Disorder caused her to be unable to sleep, eat, and go out in public. Family and friends accused her of faking it. Of wanting attention. Of just trying to get drugs. She has been called a drug addict, a faker. Mentally ill. The "helpful" suggestions like “take a hot bath”, “get more exercise, get some sleep, and use these vitamins, creams, braces”. “Ignore it” and it will go away; all exasperated and alienated her. She paid a hell of a price, "TILL" we found that "one" specialist who immediately knew what she had, and began the only course of treatment available to relieve the "symptoms" that she presented.
Botulin injections relieved some of the twitching and twisting for a few months at a time. Pain medication allowed her to function almost normally again. A combination of medicine helped with other major problems. She began a workable regiment of medicine and injections. It was never a cure. Over the years the formulation has been tweaked. She developed an immunity to the type of botulin she had started with. Pain meds were changed and tweaked to keep her from becoming immune to them to. Certain time of the year like the fall and winter means increases in pain and symptoms and her meds are adjusted accordingly. She is someone who "needs" pain medication to be able to function somewhat normally with her other treatments. She has abided by the "new" requirements. She is drug tested monthly. They do random pill counts. She gets MRI’s and X-rays and blood tests regularly. She obeys the rules in order to be able to get her medications.
Since the DEA started attacking pain clinics and shutting them down; (and some needed to be shut down), we have had our medicine stolen a couple of times over the past twenty years. We bought a safe to keep our medicine in. We take other precautions to, now. We never bring any medicines in that aren’t in a regular shopping bag. We peel the labels off of bottles, before throwing them away. We shred any info attached to the medicine sack from the pharmacy. No one knows where or when or what we get. No problems with theft since then.
There are still many things Trump "could do" without causing harm to those who need them. A federal database connecting all US pharmacies, would insure people didn’t get meds in, say Arizona and fly to Indiana to fill 2 or 3 more scripts for sale on the street. One script per month per person anywhere in the USA. More extensive spending on finding actual cures, instead of relieving the symptoms. Research also leads to better, more effective treatments and medicines that attack the disorder on a cerebral level. Deregulating and declassifying marijuana so it can be legally tested on different symptoms and cures for some problems. Testing at a federal level could open the door to new and better treatments. Get the DEA and USDA out of the doctor’s office and back in the streets and labs, where they belong. Heroin is an a major upswing as it is now cheaper and more readily available, because of the focus given to legally obtained, doctor prescribed medications, instead of Heroin. Quit pretending "all drugs" come from Mexico. While some do, most are legally shipped from China and other sketchy trade partners. We can’t inspect the containers coming into our Country, so many tons are imported daily. Crack down on new "designer" drugs that are made in local home labs. Keeping an eye on increased sales of certain chemicals could prevent new ones being designed.
While Trumps border wall may make some of his supporters feel he is taking a stand on drugs, understand, in reality, it won’t even slow it down a little. The money supposedly being spent to stop incoming drugs, would be better spent on treatment for addiction, adding inspectors at our ports to inspect all containers coming in, closing down oversea drug mills. With what we don’t use, we could offer low income housing to vets and poor folks, keep meals on wheel alive for those who depend on it, and offer additional funds to the NIH to help develop better treatments and cures for those who suffer daily from diseases and disorders we know too little about, but effecting so many in our Country.
We don’t need another "WAR ON DRUGS" WE need a "WAR ON DISEASES AND DISORDERS" funded and backed by our tax money. "JUST SAY NO!" didn’t work before. Sending low level dealers and users to jail for longer sentences never worked. Classifying marijuana "illegal" never worked. Why are we trying the same worn out programs and ideas again and expecting a different outcome?
It’s like the tax breaks for the rich will somehow help poor people and our Country. It almost destroyed us in 2004 through 2008. It got abused to the point we almost went bankrupt as a result of deregulation, tax breaks and loopholes. Now, were getting ready to give it "another try", cause who knows, it MAY work THIS TIME? How about let’s get real, instead?