If the weekend experience at the hospital this has taught me anything, it is that hospitals are responsible for our country's “War on Drugs.”
Little back story: My sister was sick this weekend and after several test and about 8 hours in the hospital, they determined that her appendix was inflamed and needed to be removed. Common enough, but was shocking because the amount of pain she was in was nowhere near what most appendicitis patients describe.
Before her ultra sound (that was the final test that determined the appendicitis), they asked if she would like some pain medicine before they start because of all the pushing and it being uncomfortable. She said yes, expecting the Tramadol (equivalent to Tylenol) that she was given earlier to help ease her discomfort. Instead, the nurse walks in with a syringe of Morphine saying, “Okay, I’ve got your Morphine for ya!” My sister was shocked that they would bring that to her because she had told them earlier that her pain level was not that bad.
When she told them that she did not want the Morphine, the nurse looked confused and asked “You don’t want any pain medicine?” My sister replied that she didn’t need anything that strong and asked for the Tramadol. If you give a pain rating lower than a 5, why would anyone go straight to Morphine for pain medicine without asking the patient?
Any medicine can be addictive. This, of course, depends on the person and what they are looking to feel. Whether it is the body’s physical need for the drug or a psychological need, anything can be addicting.
So why offer Morphine to someone who says they aren't in a lot of pain and are aware and conscious to know what pain level they are at? Yes, Morphine is a great drug for those who really need it, but where is the line drawn?
With any “high,” people will go to great lengths to find it again once they have lost it; aka, the “gateway drug.” Heroine is one of the substitutes for those who can no longer obtain Morphine; and what happens when you lose the high from Heroine, you move on to another more powerful dose or drug that can cause serious harm to your mind/body or death.
A trending drug that began in Russia call Curse of the Crocodile is a mixture of kerosene, paint thinner, and a few other things that is injected into your body. This is a cheaper form of the Heroine high. The side effects are damage to your neurological system and the deterioration of the skin and muscle tissue at the site of injection. I would post photos but they are not for those with a weak stomach. This article below from TIME was one of the first I read about this designer drug.
Article: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2078355,00.html
Those who want the high will find it. Giving Morphine to someone with a pain level rating of a 4 on a scale of 1-10 is not smart and completely unnecessary. According to TIME, there were 41,502 people that died from a drug overdose in 2012. This article below states that 16,007 alone were from prescription opioids and 5,925 involved Heroin. Another interesting fact in this article is that looking back in 2012, doctors had written 259 million prescriptions for painkillers; enough for at least every American adult to have a bottle. This is the gateway drug. These opioids are turning drugs that are leading to the deadly overdoses.
Article: http://time.com/3612596/drug-overdose-deaths-have-more-than-doubled-in-the-u-s/
So, my question is this: with these statistics, why are we not cracking down on the doctors writing these prescriptions? Yes, going after those who produce the illegal substitute is crucial, but why not also go for the source as well? It will take time, but starting now with the hospitals and doctors, we could create a much better future and potentially have the “War on Drugs” become non-existent.
