Quote Originally Posted by brokencrow
The pain med issue is not so simple.

I was a hospice volunteer for 10 years. Saw a lot of people die, week in and week out. Some people loved what we did, some considered us pill pushers. Frankly, there is a grain of truth to both. I remember when Jim And Dave brought Kim to the inpatient unit. She had ovarian cancer. The nurse and I went in to her room to administer some morph, she was squirming up and down in bed with pain. She kept saying, "no, don't do this, don't do this." I felt so bad, I knew what she wanted. She wanted to die with a clear mind. She was into the Bardo (see "The Tibetan Book of the Dead"). She didn't want the drugs. On the other hand, had a neighbor, and subsequent friend, Bill who died of the AIDS. He was on pain meds and got very tired of them. He didn't like the way they made him feel. But he needed them regularly, and he complained of being treated like a pariah at the doc's office for that. The sad fact is when we become sick in our society, our wishes are often dishonored and control of our lives are ceded to people who have no idea of what we go through. To me, it's an issue of care. I think one should have a right to control one's treatment.

One needs to look at the history of drugs, particularly in the United States, to get a feel for the issue of drug abuse. The golden age of drug abuse, contrary to popular belief, was NOT the 1960's and 1970's. It was the 1870's-1890's. Civil war doctors dispensed tens of millions of opium pills to wounded vets. By the 1870's, opium dens were popping up all over, even in small midwestern towns (I know, I grew up in one and learned its history). Opium and cocaine were widely available and used. Prominent citizens, like Thomas Alva Edison, used the stuff. All that changed in 1914 with the Harrison Act. Alcohol bounced back from Prohibition, drugs never did. An ethos came into being that folks didn't know what was best for them (often true!) and that anything in pill form needed regulating. Today, this is even being extended to vitamins (soon to be reg'd).

Having said all that, there's parts of the US where scripts for pain meds are freely dispensed (eastern Kentucky). The sad fact is, I can easily score pain meds with no script, but going to an MD for them would be a different story. I keep wondering how the drug companies & wholesalers reconcile their books with all the pills going to the street. Must be big money, because the Feds don't seem to look their way.

All the best to you, Gore. Frankly, I think you deserve medicinal relief from your pain.
Not going to make another huge post because I have some things to do here I need to get done, but yes, you hit it right on the head. The 60s and 70s had nothing on the 1890s where half of congress were Morphine addicts.

Hell, even the pot back then was stronger. People say pot today isn't the same as it was in the 60s and 70s so that Parents can be hipocrits and tell their kids not to do it, which is also half assed truth.

The strongest pot the US had ever seen was in the 1930s. Also, the stronger the pot, the safer for your body it is. If smoking it is a health risk, then stronegr stuff wouldn't need to be smoked for the desired effect.

Also, smoking Opium won't ever cause cancer. I bet someone is going to love that comment, but it's true. Opium isn't burned, it's heated, therefore, there isn't any smoke, and therefore, no risk for cancer.

Anyway, I'll check back in a while. And thanks.