The Oxycontin Express
7.86
Ratings: 7.86/10 from 72 users.
In this Peabody Award-winning edition of Vanguard, correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to South Florida - the Colombia of prescription drugs - to expose a bustling pill pipeline that stretches from the beaches of Ft.Lauderdale to the rolling hills of Appalachia.
The OxyContin Express features intimate access with pill addicts, prisoners and law enforcement as each struggles with a lethal national epidemic.
Florida has become a pill popper's paradise and the main source of an illicit prescription drug pipeline. Lax laws and little oversight have led to a booming number of storefront pain management clinics that liberally dispense potent narcotics.
Don't blame doctors. Blame drug abusers. As a chronic back ,knee, and shoulder pain bearer, I have used opioids many times. Once I was taking 80mg a day of Oxycodone for 8 months. When I stopped taking them, I was scared of withdrawal. I had a hard time sleeping for a couple days, but felt ok.....not good for a few more days, then never touched again. I use Physical Therapy and legal pot. Works better. Addicts are born, not made. Addicts treat themselves....They OD, or finally seek treatment. There's no excuse for abuse. If you are a smoker, daily drinker, or gambler, don't use and for sure don't abuse opiates...it's a one way road.
Don't blame doctors?! Are you serious? When Oxycodone first started coming out they said it wasn't addictive, and not to mention there have been SO MANY doctors who have busted and charged because of the way they are prescribing opiates. In my city it is so beyond difficult to get prescribed any opiates at all, and the doctors at the pain clinics in this documentary are passing them out like they are candy. I don't think you know much addiction.
Yes, Canada no longer has oxycontin. We have something called oxyneo... now, that is much harder to misuse and it doesn't work as well either. Also the Canadian govt now requires all doctors to reduce every patient on pain meds to a much lower level. While I do agree with this for the most part, it is hurting those that are in legitimate, serious pain and the only way they are able to work is by taking their pain meds. I don't know what the answer is to this problem...
Candada sells Tylenol with codein over the counter lol
I have to take pain meds for the last 7 years bc of a cervical injury. Don't get me started about the absolute bull I've had to go through bc of public ignorance, vengeful mothers' displaced anger, legislators' draconian knee-jerk reactions and the black market drug dealers reaping a profit.
When taken as prescribed, opioids are a safe medication. If some ashole decides to take 3x hsi insulin medication, he's going to ER just as fast as someone who took too much opioid meds.
AND, if you look at the coroner's reports on the supposed 'opioid overdoses' almost without exception, there are two major factors:
1) There was either ETOH (alcohol) or Benzo's ( all the -azepams, like valium, klonopin, librium, xanax, etc) or BOTH in addition to the opioids.
2) The deceased was almost NEVER a patient... almost always it is someone who was NOT prescribed the medication, got it from a drug dealer somehow, and decided to wash down a few opiates with alcohol or some other pills... Lights out, retard. Sorry, I have ZERO sympathy for those people.... and I'll tell you why.... THeir need for reckless chemical recreation is the root cause for deaths, AND the draconian measures that follow, which result in two things.
1) Shortages at the pharmacy, and no recourse for legitimate patients... all you will get from the pharmacist is "We are out of stock". Don't bother asking when it'll come in, bc they don't know, and even if they do, they won't tell you, bc they are afraid of being held up. And, you cannot call pharmacies to ask if your LEGAL prescription is in stock at the location, they will not tell you...
you have to go there in person, and after standing in line, AND waiting an extra 5-10 minutes for the pharmacist to go in the back and check in the secured storage, to be told, "We are out of stock"....
back in the car, find another location, drive there, get out, walk in, wait... "We are out of stock"....
back in the car, find another location, drive there, get out, walk in, wait... "We are out of stock"....
back in the car, find another location, drive there, get out, walk in, wait... "We are out of stock"....
back in the car, find another location, drive there, get out, walk in, wait... "We are out of stock"....
back in the car, find another location, drive there, get out, walk in, wait... "We are out of stock"....
...Ad nauseam...
...all this while in growing pain... getting into and out of the vehicle, and the wear and tear on your car, of repeated starts and stops, city traffic, speed bumps, and the growing panic that you will not find your legit meds.
And you must do this MONTHLY, bc you can only get a 28 days supply.
One month, I went to 22 pharmacies in one day, until I finally went back to my Dr and said, 'This piece of paper is useless..." and she had to give me a substitute, that was less effective, shorter acting, and yet, more expensive... and whaddya know... within 3 months, that medication started becoming scarce bc others in the 'chronic pain population' had been switched over as well.
Here's the thing.. .legally you are not allowed to 'hoard' your medication... ie, save the medication that you haven't taken, and you are required' by law' to take the medication exactly as prescribed.... which means that by the evenign of your next 28 day Dr visit, you should not have a single pill left... but if there isn't any at the pharmacy...? Suck it up, Buttercup.
2) Street value goes up, so the drugs dealers are making MORE money from stolen meds.
==
This all happened in 2012-2013 in South FLorida bc some "journalist" on Vanguard, Mariana Van Zeller did a piece called "The OxyContin Express", which she got a 'Peabody Award'.... If you ask me, she should have been criminally charged... they gave some non-legitimate patient, drug addict, money and a ride to various clinics so he could get scrips, then filmed him while he SMOKED them, in his mom's house, which they later interviewed while she's boo-hoo-hooing about her other son who OD'd... and that was just priceless... The mother sits there saying her son was supposed go to rehab on a Monday, but the preceding Saturday night went to a party and OD'd... What the did you expect?!?
These 'journalists' even took him to a dope hole to buy from a dealer... and then film him smoking pills... it was insane... but she got a peabody award.
The net effect of the 'journalism' piece was a massive reaction from mothers, who went after legislators, who decided to put quotas on pharmacies, which is what caused the I was describing above. And the net effect? Legitimate patients suffered, drug dealers made even more money... great job, idiots.
The addiction to this medication is real!!! My husband is addicted after getting his hand really hurt. And now I'm desperate because I don't know what to do. He doesn't accept the fact that he's addicted and now he just takes them for pleasure. I know he's not far from death and it's horrible to be alone in this.
I feel awful for those who become addicted to opiates it is a horrible disease to have but having said that there are thousands of treatment centers to help people get better. The people with chronic or acute/chronic pain (pain that is not only chronic but with a type of illness where you get injured or worse on a consistent basis) where are we to go when we have tried everything in the country that is non opiate and it wont work and there is no surgery to fix us. NOWHERE that is where. We are expected to suffer, I not only have an extremely painful disease but it causes a mountain of other diseases and I also have a terminal disease.
I am supposed to suffer for the last few years (if I even last that long) or could the doctors actually read up on this stuff and realize the FDA is making recommendations not laws at this point. They have given them tools to help rule out the majority of addicts that come in to their office such as personality tests, past medical records and the access to look at any prescription they have filled in the entire state to avoid doc shopping. When we finally had the geneticist pinpoint my illness he wrote that the best thing they could do for me was take care of the immense pain I suffer and I had wonderful docs who did just that for over 4 years, I kept every document, every conversation with my docs written down and NEVER had a miscount or bad drug test. Now I have been cut down to 1/4 of the medication I was on and I was doing great on it... doing PT and seeing a shrink that only deals with chronic pain. Now I am bed bound and can not walk.
The truth in the statistics as of 2010-2015 is less than 20% of those going to pain clinics abuse their meds. The other 80% are compliant because they have no other options... and the 300 overdoses quoted per year does not include the people who are desperately in need of these medications that are now committing suicide rather than deal with horrific pain or buy street drugs. That number is much higher as well as those who turn to alcohol for pain relief and end up ruining their lives and their families lives. Why... because we have a small proportion of people who can't handle their medication the rest of us have to pay the high price! Believe me when I say that almost all people with chronic pain would LOVE to give up the narcotics just to have a cure and be themselves again.
I totally agree I worked in the middle of the nonsense . I did my do diligence to help patients suffering. Now I 've become a patient from some drunken but hole in Florida
Well said.
I suffer from chronic pain.i have a back fusion and rods..among other problems.my Dr.wants me off the meds he is worried about addiction and says im in pain because of the medication?
I disagree im in chronic pain because of a back injury and a surgery that messed up my back worse than it was.
I am now having to go see a psychDr.
Unfair to us who do not abuse the medication.
Sadly many "abuse" the medications and die from overdose.
parents could have done every thing n their will to Hellping their addict child addiction is a disease and until you have been addicted to something stonger than you being addicted to choclate you wont under stand the power of control these addictions have on u
First off,I was hooked on oxycontin for about 8 years and had one hell of a battle. Thanks to methadone(yes it is a wonder drug if used properly)that helped to control my addiction,I have worked steady for years,advanced to management in one job followed by getting a job with very nice benefits. So,there are success stories out there,especially where methadone is concerned,however,like some of the very uninformed statements on here,the stigma stops people from sharing their success stories. Methadone is a very dangerous drug if abused or mixed with other medicine,however,it is the most intensely studied,most regulated and has the most stern laws around. Like ANY medicine,including aspirin,nyquil or any OTC drug,methadone is very safe if used as prescribed but like any medicine can be abused and cause problems. Yes,some abuse it and those give the rest of the people a bad name. However,with all the regulations,bottle checks,random tests etc. those who abuse it do not stay in the various clinics very long these days. Methadone on the streets has declined over the past 10 years. Suboxone is now much more abused than methadone. I wish all those battling addiction would realize that if you use these replacement therapy drugs correctly you can be free to get your life back and become a productive citizen. First off,realize that Methadone was never designed as a detox drug BUT a maintenance medicine,one that allows the patient to live a normal life free of the relapses,ups and downs of serious opiate addiction where less then 3 percent of hardcore opiate addicts ever get totally clean. So realize that methadone is probably something you should not take unless you are going to take it as a diabetic would insulin..daily probably for life. That is where the problem lies,people think taking methadone will allow them to detox but it is just as addictive as the other drugs but its ability to absorb slowly and leave the body slowly allows the patient to avoid withdrawals and live a more normal life making the patient feel the way they did before ever becoming addicted. I am a huge methadone advocate and if you hear the horror stories from people it is those who are sadly misinformed or many who have been kicked out of clinics for not following the rules by failing drug tests,bottle checks etc. Methadone has been around for half a century and its track record is unmatched compared to any other method of dealing with hardcore opiate addiction. Good luck to all of those battling addiction. Yes,the war on drugs is a total joke that just allows the wealthy to become wealthier while allowing them to jail and control a certain segment of the population,the very segments those in control fear. Lot more to this than most realize. Peace people.
In the past I thought,It is so messed up to take a heroin addict and get them dependent instead to a drug that has a much longer withdrawal instead After spending years seeing heroin addicts and trying to help people and seeing my friends turn to the needle and then to methadone, I have to say it is the ONLY successful treatment I have seen. I have seen people go to rehab 8+ times. I have seen the worst needle junkie who i thought wouldn't survive another year, he couldn't move his left hand or wrist because of an infection from shooting up. Now he is employed, he can move his hand, he isn't desperately obsessed with his sobriety like those crazy AA/NA people. He got his life together and he is alive and it is because methadone has helped him so much. I advocate its use as well. It was hard to realize how wrong i was about something! applause for you Hugh, keep preachin the good word! :)
sorry to sound stupid - the video is password protected and was wondering what the pw is?
Thank you
Pharmacy = Drug Dealers
Vanguard was so dope. Current TV was real life. It showed programming
how to be educational, enlightening and thought provoking. Real
television, real journalism. Nothing like this heartless, artless,
spineless filler fluff bull**** we're fed on cable television in the
United States today. It brashly exposed the many hypocrisies and
injustices in our system, and spurred critical thinking and promoted
awareness.
It's no wonder the CurrentTV brand was quickly
purchased and dissolved by the Al Jazeera Media Network. Shortly
thereafter being re-constructed and re-branded as "Al Jazeera America", a
CNN-MSNBC-FOX clone. Except AJA boasts a foreign born anchors with
foreign names, giving the illusion of an alternative viewpoint, an
outside source. Meanwhile the Al Jazeera America studios are based on
34th Street, in Midtown Manhattan.
It sounds like you need some Ritalin, bc that rant was so off topic I think you may have posted on the wrong website
So doctors prescribe the drug 'legally'; patients become addicted; patients - bombarded by the notion that free market/supply & demand capitalism is THE way to go as it fuels the notion of 'the American Dream' - decide to utilise this economic philosophy to make a small profit; and the result is.... All the doctors get off scot-free; the folks who get addicted are considered somehow immoral and worthy of our contempt; and the ones who try to show a bit of initiative (and try to make some money because there is a DEMAND which they SUPPLY to) get arrested, imprisoned for 7 years and separated from their families????
Well then... There is really something rotten in the state of Denmark/Florida/W Virginia, etc..... call it what you will, but if THIS is how America treats its citizens - and if THIS is how American Sheriffs think/act/behave as a result - then I completely and utterly despair of the way your country treats humanity.
First there was SLAVERY and RACISM
Next came COMMUNISM
Then came HOMOPHOBIA
And now we have ADDICTS. Well done, America. Land of the free, my arse...
Vanguard was so dope. Current TV was real life. It showed programming
how to be educational, enlightening and thought provoking. Real
television, real journalism. Nothing like this heartless, artless,
spineless filler fluff bull**** we're fed on cable television in the
United States today. It brashly exposed the many hypocrisies and
injustices in our system, and spurred critical thinking and promoted
awareness.
It's no wonder the CurrentTV brand was quickly
purchased and dissolved by the Al Jazeera Media Network. Shortly
thereafter being re-constructed and re-branded as "Al Jazeera America", a
CNN-MSNBC-FOX clone. Except AJA boasts a foreign born anchors with
foreign names, giving the illusion of an alternative viewpoint, an
outside source. Meanwhile the Al Jazeera America studios are based on
34th Street, in Midtown-f--king-Manhattan.
Yes, bc when I think of America I think of slavery communism and homophobia *squinted eye roll*
Slavery happened in biblical times and still exists today, silly. And homophobia..that’s mostly a middle eastern/Muslim thing.
I wish some doctor would prescribe you some pain meds, you’re such a perfect *victim* already.
One love,
Tony Smehrik
The fix is coming it will be in the form of a locked dispenser.
I hate these people who are bored with their lives so they go out and expose other peoples weeknessess. you sick b....!
Jeez, man the war on drugs continues to intensify. I think this doc is overstating the problem to a certain degree, Oxy is addictive as are all narcotics within a few weeks of being on pain killers one becomes dependant. legitimate pain patients will all become depenadant. Doesnt mean they become like 'Tod' who snorts the stuff and doctor shops.
One thing is true Oxy is definitely more addictive . Its pretty much off the market in Canada, and people who were prescribed the drug for legitimate reasons did become addicted to it, not because it produced a euphoric high, it just didnt work as prescribed
So many of these things promised to be a panacea for pain. The most effective painkiller may the cheapest one: Methadone but true junkies dont like it. Where is the fun in drinking Tang laced with Methadone
methadone is about 100 times worse,more addictive, worse/longer withdrawal symptoms.. and does nothing to curb abuse because people will mix opiates on top of the methadone
Those ' doctors ' need to be dealt with. And i'm not talking about the authorities, because they don't care. Proper community action. No ambiguity,
@ popsnuff. com you are right but keep in mind that pain pills like Oxycontin can also be used responsibly.
i have been through it addicted for 15 yrs its not a disease it a choice allthese people that die from it i dont feel sorry for them they choose to do it so live with the aftermath
You are the only addict actually speaking the truth.
The Colombia of prescription. I resent that. How about talking about the American addicts?
I believe that addiction, be it narcotic and/or alcohol, is not a 'disease', but rather the result of a series of choices. It is not fair to blame the politicians, Pharma's etc, doing so just emphasizes on a society that is more about blame than self determination, self-respect, and choice. People need to point the finger at themselves. Addiction is ugly, I personally was raised in that environment, but I chose not to live that. I'm not claiming to be better than those that do choose this life, far from it actually, we have a right to live how we chose, but our society must stop with the enabling and blaming.
No one mentions Purdue Pharma, The company making all the Oxy's. They would normally not be allowed to make any product from opium which is illegal in USA. With the help of very expensive and sophisticated equipment, they directly extract the thebaine from the poppy plant, thereby making it legal to distribute as a pain medication, and not as an illegal substance. Oxycontin, and all other oxy-labeled medication is derived from thebaine, the single most potent constituent of opium. Some other constituents include morphine, and codeine. So thank our government, and companies like Purdue Pharma for allowing these legal loop-holes continue to destroy lives. Not only through addiction, but through incarceration. The USA, is not a democratic country anymore. It is a hypocritical swarm of gangsters (pharmaceutical companies, politicians, and police).
todd's a f!@khead.. how could you be so selfish and hurt your mother like that.. Remember this people.. THE BODY IS A TEMPLE!
don't BLAME the drug or the system... everyone has a choice.. drug abuse is the problem! whats so wrong with getting high anyway? i personally haven't tried it but i will if i get the chance. life is about experience.. nothing is worse then REFINED WHITE SUGAR..
come back here and tell me what you think ten years from now, when you've seen your friends die from overdoses, lose their houses, cars, wives, girlfriends, friends, ripped off everyone in their family, lived on the street, can't keep a job, and gone through the horror of withdrawal symptoms, puking and shitting your pants, crying and praying for death. I've seen all that happen. Getting high is not the same from drug to drug. Stick with the pot n shrooms my friend.
what if a bottle of Oxy cost what a bottle of Tylenol did? who has to rob to afford Tylenol. And, "HPS", good call on the sugar... Rats that became self-addicted to Cocaine picked sugar-water over a shot of Coke when given the option. Enjoy your soda, Juan! I'll stick with a shot of OxyMorphone IR!
I'm not going to completely defend crimson obsession but one thing he said is kind of dead on.
"When you know real pain you dont get addicted."
After 30+ years of recreational substance abuse including pot, alcohol, meth, cocaine, etc, and reducing or eliminating entirely such self destructive behavior, worsening scoliosis and several slipped and herniated discs have caused an intermittent Sciatic nerve pinch, AKA Sciatica. I know it's pretty common so some here will know exactly what I am talking about. On a bad day it's not just painful, you curl up in a little ball on the floor and try not to cry if you're a man. You can't get up and answer a phone or do anything else and I guess that's better because if I could get to a sporting goods store I'd get a 12 gauge and end it.
A friend who gets a generous supply of Oxycontins and Vicoden due to her own chronic pain has been kicking me down some as needed. The VIkes are not the best, they buzz me too much yet don't effectively block the pain. The Oxycontin is effective and doesn't dull me too badly.
Still I can't stand taking them and have only taken about 10 in 4 months time. Cant see getting addicted.
Only 40% of Chronic Pain Patients experience WDs... Even if they are injecting 200mg of Oxy a day. The euphoria is a bonus, feeling like you don't want to die is the real purpose though...
I'm proud to say that I'm free of that evil drug after having been prescribed it for years. I broke my back in 2007 and was immediately prescibed Oxycontin. It was an easy downward spiral, considering I had a drug plan, in which I only paid 0.35 cents for 200 Oxycontin 40mg per month. My doctor loaded me up with drugs, in which over time I needed more and more. In Canada, they used to be very slack about doctors writing these pills. Today, Oxycontin has been removed from the market and stricter laws are in place. I blame the physicians for having the ability to feed the addiction and ruining people's lives. I went cold turkey from Oxycontin, and with the grace of my mind/spirit, I conquered. Not all people are lucky and end up dead. I reflect back to those days, and I wonder how many others have been ruined from this?
"Ask your doctor about X or Y." You hear that in almost every pill commercial. If your asking your doctor isn't he just your dealer?
I find it entirely inappropriate that "Nurofen for Children" is advertised next to a documentary titled "The OxyContin Express" Trying to hook them young, are they? Pharmaceutical Companies, as well as legitimate doctors, are the drug dealers of this decade, as irresponsible as Pablo Escobar was in his day. They need to be held as responsible as any one else.
i knew some ppl that loved pills.
Before they died? Or they don't love them anymore?
Has anyone ever bothered to ask where all this opium is coming from?
i would have to think the government,for a lack of other words.
Of course they have, it mainly comes from Turkey but, also from Asfghanistan and Asia. But it is sold to the pharmaceutical companies in a legal trasaction and is neccessary to make most narcotic pain pills, which are needed medications. The problem here is not that pain pills exist or where they get the ingriedence to make them, its the doctors that over prescribe this stuff and big pharma who over looks and even incentivizes doctors to do so. Its this modern mind set that we should never feel pain or be depressed or something is wrong and, that if something is wrong medication is the immediate and obvious answer. Its several different things really,I don't think you can put your finger on just one cause. If doctors would make it harder to get, use it ligitimately, it would help but it wont stop the problem all together. They inacted several laws in my state, which at one time had a really bad problem, which make it really hard to abuse opiates. Still though, doctors can't always tell when someone is faking and enough people manage to get these pills that I could still go buy one off the street. It has helped reduce the problem to below epidemic levels at least, and thats a real start.
You mean the poppy fields in Afghanistan that American soldiers are guarding?
Yes, those poppy fields.
pakistan iran afghanistan.. vietnam,burma,laos, thailand.. mexico..and columbia???????
Opium is worthless for making Oxy... Papaver bracteatum has much more Thebaine in it... Thebaine is what everything from Naloxone to Oxy to Buprenorphine is synthesized from.
Opium comes form Afghanistan they supply 90% of it.
the reporter is hot
This is a complete DEA-party-line hit piece. The fact is that most Chronic Pain patients are under-medicated, and live lives of misery because the DEA puts so much pressure on physicians to under-prescribe. My late wife had to travel to another state to find a pain management specialist who was willing to prescribe enough narcotics to relive her pain enough that she could pursue a diagnosis... and once her condition was understood and treated, she no longer had a need for huge doses of Oxycontin.
I think it is extremely unlikely that pain clinics in FL are really so free to prescribe and dispense. My wife's pain doc was under constant DEA scrutiny, and spent time each week going over his patient files with the feds, to prove he was being vigilant. Other heroic pain management docs have been incarcerated for giving more relief to their patients than the DEA thought was appropriate.
This movie seems to be made by a local TV news reporter, a sensationalist exaggeration. I've had some experience with those people, but that is another story.
Oxycodone-based products are a great relief, a gift of God plus technology, for people who live with chronic pain. The fact that some people abuse them to deal with psychic and emotional pain is not terribly relevant. Those people need other kinds of pain relief.
as previously posted, i live in the ft lauderdale area. this doc contains NO exageration, at least in relation to the local problem (i havent met any "oxy commuters" from appalachia, so i honestly cant comment on that problem). i worked with a young cat a few years back who wandered around with 2 qt sized bottles of oxy's in his backpack (had a kidney transplant due to organic damage from the tylenol "cut", so he had scrip "card blanche"). he had a few doctors he had scrips from, so he had legal access to several THOUSAND pills a month (most of which he sold to finance his purchase of real heroin, as the opioids that are legal didnt get his jones anymore). a friend of a friend is currently doing a mandated 20/no parole for scrip kiting-stolen pad violations. another ex coworker is on the revolving "jail-parole- dope it up- back to jail" carousel for a few years now, with no end in sight. another coworker just got his "legit scrip", and has a "sponsor" that funds his doctor visits and pill purchases in exchange for the lions share to sell. another aquaintance crashed his car through a few back yards while parking in a state of "pilled to the gills", took out a couple of ac units, a few fences, and a neighbors parked car. the local cops declared "he has a scrip, no dwi/dui violation here". as i previously posted, the owner of the largest chain of local "pain clinics" was a previously convicted heroin trafficer, and turned a daily profit of roughly 20k from his "patients"(that's 6 million bucks a year, assuming "closed on sunday" status). the stats on numbers of pills dispensed tells the whole story.population just over 2% of the national pop, yet 30-odd% of the opioid scrips written annually. anywhere you go locally, you will see at least 1 obvious pill zombie wandering in the crowd, often several. why is it allowed to continue? because the pill pushers donate heavily to local political campaigns, have connections to the folks with "dirt" on the local leaders, and MOST importantly, provide indirect access to a huge reserve of extra curricular funding for local cops (directly provided by shaking down the low level street dealers), job security for the local criminal justice employees of every ilk, and huge funding for the local "industry" of offender residential treatment/halfway house facilities. the local DEA is much more concerned with interdiction of international shipments of illicits from foreign lands, rather than headline-less policing of the scrip writing regs. of course, the fact that just about every example of government here is blatantly corrupted at a banana republic level is a huge contributor as well. the problem is all too real, all too pervasive, and provides a HUGE local blight. ODs are down a bit, burglaries are up though, stick ups too. those are the obvious glaring symptoms. less obvious is the forklift operator that damages goods because he's lit up. the slow brake pedal application due to a mind "opiate sludged" that causes a minor wreck even less so. the lost productivity. the increases of basic overheads like insurance for both private and business interests. the siphoning of huge sums from the local economy to be concentrated in the hands of the various profiteers, usually hoarded rather than invested in local business/industry. this isnt some madeup phony "propaganda expose". unfortunately for this area, it's ALL too true.
You are a rare case. Its NOT an exageration AT ALL man. I lived it. I am from FL, also had insurance, have a sister in law in jail for dr shopping and also had over 300 a month for 2 years. I almost died, had no life, lost 30ls and YES THEY COME FROM EVERYWHERE. Texas, Virginia, Kentucky, my dr's parking lot was a source of MANY jokes because it had literally NO FL PLATES, save the docs.
Now, that being said, yes, the drugs have a place.. but including naloxone in the manufacture or something like it is a must. Thats all.
I had a drinking problem for 12 years and understand addiction on a personal level. Thank CHRIST I never got into opiates and pills...
this is capitalism
That's exactly right. Figuratively and literally.
Shame these poor folks are fat and ugly and medicating the pain they feel watching the top 1 millionth of 1% on TV strut their stuff. The pain they are in from not being able to have love leads them to a "love drug" that releases the love chemicals of oxytocin.
wrong! oxycontin does not impact on oxytocin but on opioid mechanisms not so much increasing the feeling of love but rather decreasing the pain of not being loved
Re: RMO, cannabis can be extracted in various forms so you don't need to smoke it. Such as pills, sprays, oils, etc.
Just smoke some chronic and it will ease pain without getting addicted and ****** up. Cannabis should be fully legal, but no it isn't and opiates such as Oxy are... The US makes me sick, long live Holland, where there are coffeeshops and medical dope clinics ;)
I unfortunetly am terminly illy ,the pain I would feel witf out my meds ,annd I hahe felt it ,is enough to drive you want to commit suiciside.It nust not have reached your shores yet but the firm tat produces oxycontin has found a more virile and instananis form called oxy...., .it mamaes contin look like a fresh mint, Having been a sustance abuser for 27 years it confounds the doctors and consutents how im still here ,Dont be stupid like I was,I I have died and been resusitated 8 times ,a cat ownly has 9, Dont be as stupid as me,I also have to ta take 56 other types of mmeds just to live anoter day many of them are alsu pain neds so THINK ON.
Slaine lat.
The problem that I have with documentary exposes like this is they can (and have in the past) caused the public-Congress-FDA nexus to make the legitimate prescribing of pain medications almost impossible to rationally obtain because they've over-regulated the patient-doctor relationship to the point of making physicians paranoid with faux-concern about losing their licenses to practice. Similar legislative over-reaction was true going all the way back to Carrie Nation in the early 1900s and Harry "killer weed" Anslinger in the 1930s. In New Jersey, it's just starting to loosen up a little as far as doctors prescribing Schedule II & III drugs for real purposes. Mercifully, these parsimonious prescribing practices aren't true within the VAMC system because veterans advocacy organzations won a Patients' Bill of Rights which includes an article on vets' right to pain relief.
Your right, as usual the nation will over react if they act at all and then they will try to fix this with more bureaucracy. It’s like we have lost confidence in people’s ability to apply common sense and assess each situation on its own merits. So we set up generalized rules and so forth that everyone just clings to instead of really looking at each request and analyzing it accordingly. My dad, a Korean War vet in his seventies with COPD, was turned down for pain narcotic cough syrup just last week. The man has COPD, a chronic respiratory disease, and his chest is full of phlegm. He could get pneumonia if we don’t get this stuff out of his lungs. He coughs so much he can’t even sleep. Today I will get him the meds he needs if I have to buy them off the streets, and d@mn the consequences!!
I haven't watched this yet but plan on it. Oxycontin, if used properly and as prescribed for chronic pain is fine. I've had four serious back surgeries and have been on opiates for a very long time and as Jeigh said, a person taking it properly can live perfectly normal lives. I'm one of them. If used wrong or too much, like anything else, of course it's going to wreak havoc with the mind and body (and society). The only time I had a problem with it was when I couldn't get my prescription filled and I had to go cold turkey without it for a day or so. I had a few withdrawal issues but not bad ones. You have to ween yourself off of these drugs if you're on them for pain and let them gradually get out of your system. You can't go cold turkey. But people are taking an opiate that has been around for years and using it in the wrong ways. I was not high once from this drug. Just saying!!
Your right, you can live a normal life on opiates. I was working and very successful when I was addicted. I never got high either; I just took enough to kill the pain (broken spine) and make me more sociable. The problem comes in when you can't get it, which is going to happen eventually. Now you are sick and cannot operate. How do you go to college or hold a job when about once a month or so you run out of pills and get sick for a few days? So you start buying a few here and there off the streets, which you tell yourself is o.k. because it is the same meds you take from the doc anyway. Besides they make work so much easier and as a result you are happier at work and are starting to move up the ladder. The only problem is that pesky running out every once and awhile, which causes you to miss work and is threatening your success- so you have to get more of them. This is exactly the trap I fell into years ago and I am still trying to climb out. In fact this is the pattern for white collar addiction to the letter. White collar addiction (my own term) leads to blue collar addiction (again my own term) almost without fail. I ended up losing my career, well over thirty grand or so in fines and court costs, put my family through h3ll, and left myself alone and starting over at middle age. As long as you take it as prescribed you probably will not experience much problem, though you may be damaging your body. It’s when you start running out every month that you are in trouble. You can’t operate without them because you get so sick you can’t get out of bed and people can tell something is badly wrong with you. So you end up buying some here and there off the street so you can go to work or school and maintain a life. Now you are breaking the law on a regular basis and you are addicted- it is just a matter of time before it all falls apart.
I understand and can relate to much of what you said. Watching this documentary brought back memories of my own life in Florida. I strongly believe I saved my life a few years back when I got on a bus, went to a new state near family, and got into detox. This documentary could have been the end of my own life. The trouble with living with pain (automobile accident) and being on opiates .... they only last so long. Every 4 hours I needed more. I couldn't function. I couldn't work. I ran out all the time. I would sweat, and shake. I'd wake up violently in the middle of the night, my legs shaking and completely soaked in sweat. I admit I did use it because it also made me feel more social, happier, more productive. I was addicted. My doctor only coddled me when I went to him in tears fearing addiction, which gave me the excuse I thought I wanted to take as much as I wanted. In-state Florida "detox" only made my situation worse. I was now dumbed down on other medication as well as being addicted and feeling withdrawal. I knew I had two choices. Get on that bus, or die. --- My situation is much better now, although I'm still an addict. I'm on methadone and probably will be the rest of my life. I have a life now, however .. and I'm happy and functioning and no longer in fear of dying. This hit me so hard that I truly believe I have PTSD because of it. Just the idea of visiting Florida makes me nauseous.
Yeah I did the methadone thing for a while and now take suboxone. Much like you I will probably be on it for the rest of my life. I hope not but, I have been on it already for like four years and every time i have tried to get off them I have been unsuccessful. If I manage to make it through the first couple weeks of being too sick to operate the long months of depression that inevitably follows ends up doing me in. I finally reached a point where I just decide to stop worrying so much about this issue, take my meds as prescribed, and get on with life. One problem most addicts face and never even identify is that their life is dominated by conversations, thoughts, actions, and so forth all to do with addiction. They consider themselves victims, broken, wrong, etc. and feel guilty. They spend hours reading up on their addiction and listening to others talk about theirs in some effort to better understand what is wrong with them. They sit around and formulate apologies and so forth for people they feel they wronged at some point due to their addiction. And of course they spend hours in self reflection trying to figure out why they do what they do. Now if a person does these things in the service of putting it all behind them, they need some kind of closure or something and then can move on- that's great. But what generally happens is people just get stuck here in victim land, they wallow in their mistakes and regrets and become obsessed with being the addict, the broken one. These silly twelve step programs don't help, telling people they will always be addicts and have no control over it- teaching them that they must turn their lives over to some higher power in order to be well, etc. First of all you are not un-well; you are no different than everyone else. Human beings are susceptible to addiction if exposed to certain drugs for long periods of time, that’s not your fault nor is something that is wrong with you. At this point worrying about how or why you were exposed to the drug long enough to get addicted is pointless and counterproductive. Your objective should be to rebuild a normal life and put this all behind you, beating up on yourself or blaming some doctor will not accomplish this and will only complicate things. And anytime we are dealing with empirical reality, and especially our own actions within that reality, there is no higher power than ourselves. Work on your addiction and do whatever it takes to put it behind you. The day YOU choose to stop seeing yourself as an addict is the day YOU will no longer be one. Good luck man, there is a whole world waiting out there for us now- don’t forget that!
People that haven't been through it, don't understand the fatigue, depression, and lack of motivation that goes on for months after physical withdrawal. It's why so many people just never make it back. Even when you kick, you're still fu'd. I agree with you about the twelve step thing.they want you to repeatedly confirm, to yourself and everyone else, that you're an addict, which makes it worse. Every time you say my name is so and so, I'm an addict or an alcoholic, that's an agreement you're making with yourself, and it gives you an excuse to keep using. Better to acknowledge it once, then let it go and simply live your life the best you can like you said.The less you think about it, the better. When you focus on your addiction, you give it more power.
These are words of wisdom wald0
Thank you, they are words based on experience which is the soil in which wisdom grows. I wish I would have known that when I was younger but, don't we all?
These are Opiates. Used for thousands of years to effectively manage pain. You could take them your entire life, and live just as happy of a life as anyone else, as long as you were able to manage your medication, and not pick up any bad side habits, like chain smoking. There aren't a lot of long term side effects with opiates. Try drinking a bottle of whiskey a day, and see how long you last. When someone abuses something, It's a mental health issue most often, and almost everyone has a little of something. The ignorance on this forum is shocking. The real epidemic is the SNRI's!!! Our soldiers and children are being doped to death (often via suicide) thanks to all of these wonderful anti-depressants and mood stabilizers that not a single quack psychologist in the world, can tell you if, how, or why they work. Over 300 thousand deaths in the US attributed to these drugs last year, my sister was one of them, and for some reason, the evil ole opiate, is an epidemic. BS open your eyes people.
I could not agree more. We live in a nation of Puritans who seem to want us to suffer pain sans relief like a hair shirt penance. See my post above yours.
Also, many of Big Pharma's innocuous analog drugs, claiming to be non-narcotic and, hence, non-addictive, have worse side effects on the body and mind than natures' time-honored poppy.
I'm sorry for your loss. Losing a sister must be really hard. If these drugs are kiling three hundred a year, which is only a tiny fraction of the amount prescribed, they should also be looked into. I don't think they have the destructive potential of opiates though. You don't see a huge street trade in paxil or cymbalta, people are not killing to get it, etc. I know a guy that at one time was one of the most successful and well adjusted people you could ever hope to meet. He got addicted to opiates though and could not get his fix so he robbed a pharmacy at gun point knowing full well he would go to prison or get killed in the proccess. I haven't seen or heard of anyone on cymbalta or paxil doing anything remotely like this. Don't get me wrong I am not belittling your concerns or loss, the drugs you speak of should also be watched very closely. But don't kid yourself into thinking opiates are fine simply because you know a few people that managed to use them correctly without negative side effects. I can name countless people that have used SNRIs correctly with no side effects worth mentioning- according to your logic that means they are not a problem.
*psychiatrists. Psychologists do not prescribe anything.
Locking up these addicts when they need help makes no sense whatsoever. Locking up a child's mother for seven years for having a medical condition puts a lump in my throat. It is so very sad. Where in the hell are the lawmakers in Florida? in cahoot's with the physicians....? I cant believe this is happening down there. Bottom line, opiate addiction is a MEDICAL condition. If someone is vomiting, shitting through a screen with blood pressure out of site, they are physically dependant and do not belong in jail. They should be put in medical detox and then taught coping skills on keeping a drug-free life.
I think this all amounts to socio-economic status. Sadly, the more money you have, the better lawyer you can get, which in turns, gets you off with a light sentence and/or a mandate to go to rehab. What do they do with the poor, who abuse, lock them up. The biggest tragedy of this -besides the mental and physical harm- is that others are treated horribly and unfairly and the rest are given special treatment. D:
They bust kids for pot and this **** can be legally obtained.
I'm sorry that undercover cop bit with the guy who was pretending he's in pain then busting addicts that are addicted mainly because of a flawed system is sickening. Sad that so many things are becoming heartless rackets, Military to invade the countries with drug ingredients, Medical drug industries peddling the **** then money made from incarcerating addicts. ****** up.
how about cracking down on the real criminals, the manufacturers
Manufacturers of what? What are YOU addicted to? Would you feel the same way if you no longer had access to YOUR drug of choice?
These medications have ligitimate uses as well as being addictive and dangerous. The manufacturer would seem to have very little control over how their product is used. Unless we discover they are incentivizing doctors in some way to prescribe thier meds when they are not ligitimately needed I don't see they have done anything wrong.
I reAS SOME TIME AGO THAT THE HEADS OF THE COMPANY THAT MANAFAC TUREA OXY
I read some time ago that the heads of the company that makes oxys were fined something like a hundred and twenty million for not disclosing just how addictive the properties of oxys were, they knew and kept the info to themselves, and on a side note ,here in Canada they have taken oxys of the maket and replaced it with other drugs that will suppres pain but dont give you the "happy floaty feeling", this caused much suffering among the native population on northren reserves where the amoubt of users was well over 50 % percent on some reservations, but you can still but oxycodone wich is allmost the same, save for a molecule or two being different. I used oxys recreationally for about five years,, it is a trully horrible horrible drug to come off of, the mentall depression I sufferd when coming down from it was suicidal like, I hated my life and had no positive thoughts of any kind, and didnt want to ride my motor bike, or go fishing in my boat , or do anything it was just brutall to say the least. its a horrible substance that should never have been released to market, but the bean counters saw the potentiall for making HUGE buck$$$ and after all isnt that what modern medicine is all about?
Its realy even worse than you think man. Did you realize for pennies a pill they could simply add naltrexone or naloxone to oxy's and they would no longer be able to be shot up, crushed and ingested, or snorted. They would still have their usual time-released effect as long as taken orally as intended but, if you crush it or shoot it up in some attempt to get all the drug at once and get high it would simply block your receptors and leave you in immediate withdrawal. The naltrexone or naloxone when activated knocks all opiates off of our receptors and then binds them so nothing else can bond to them for about three days. Its what they give people in the case of over dose or recovering addicts that want to bind thier receptors so that even if they give in and take something it will have no effect. It would not conflict with the oxycodone in negative ways so there is really no excuse for not adding it other than people will of course no longer want the drug so badly and they will of course lose money. In fact there is no reason it couldn't be added to most opiate medications abused in such ways. There is no question that it would reduce over doses and addiction in general. Yes people will still take the pills but, they will not be able to get the extreme highs they get now from it. Most oxy users will not ingest thier pills without crushing them first, as it doesn't get them high. I am not sure how it would effect smoking it though, which has become the main way people seem to do oxys lately. But there are many waxes and fillers that can stop this problem, they make the pill impossible to smoke. I other words there are technical solutions to this problem that would not require for the drug to be discontinued. These solutions would also help reduce the amount of regulation, money, and effort we spend on this problem every day. There are answers, even relatively easy answers, to this problem. The question really is will we continue to value profit over human life, because as long as we do this problem will only get worse.
just fyi: the active ingredients in naloxone and naltrexone that block the effects of opiates block them no matter how the pill is ingested (sniffing, smoking, shooting, SWALLOWING aka "taking them orally as intended"). therefore, including naloxone/naltrexone in pills to prevent abuse will render painkillers ineffective to those taking them legally for pain control. not the solution we are looking for.
Crimson: You are probably very young. You are most certainly very immature. If you pay attention during your short stay on this planet you will come to realize that every last person on earth is addicted to something. That (obviously) includes you, and you are just as weak as all the rest of us. When your particular addiction is taken from you, you will scream and claw the walls just like any junkie.
Unless you use your own weakness to walk a mile in the shoes of the poor outcast who needs help and not judgment, woe unto you. Learn this and learn it well my brother...we are all the same. The only difference between one addiction and another is form, and that is all. Addictions may look different to the untrained eye, but to wisdom's vision all addictions are the same, be it food, gambling, smoking, sex, alcohol, heroin, power, porn, money, religion, etc.. It's the price of being human.
Ease up. It's a long way down, and we need each other.
At your side,
Derek
Well said Derek
yes, I've actually heard that addiction are behind the mechanisms in the brain. You're brain rewards you for things you do with good feelings, reaching your personal goals, or your favorite daily habit like taking a walk. Unfortunately, we have discovered ways to externally stimulate our brains for those good feelings with drugs. Be it pain pills, to caffeine to the food we eat. Yes, everyone is an addict in some form.
@ crimsonobsession is it any wonder that your body has attacked itself by the bile and venom that you bring forth from your thoughts and energy.. I would look into changing your attitude before your need to change others
Have the same problems in Éire , except for the fact that it's the physically and mentally ruinous benzodiazepines ( Valium , Xanax , Dalmane etc) rather than opioids that are being abused . There are respected doctors making a very comfortable living dishing out these poisons .
Don't forget to milk them goats now ya' hear? These hicks, why they continue to survive sucking down these poisonous drugs is just amazing really.. Looking at these fat old prison women just makes me sick to my stomach.
The doctors who give away large volumes of pills like oxy and morphine are the real problem. My aunt abuses them. It hurts our entire family. It's truly awful to see. It makes people turn evil. But it's all legal through a doctor.
just goes to show how addictive these prescription drugs are. when that guy after seen his brother and wife OD. and he still take it not a bother to him.
they should lock all them doctors up
they are clearing out the oxy for the coming of archaic revivified vegetables.
Oxycontin, is no longer available in Canada
Pft. This is one issue i could care less about. Its just pisses me off how hard i had to work to get help with my real pain (turns out its crohns disease) and how little they have to do. I hope they all OD. Weed out the weak willed idiots . I took every drug they mentioned on this video for months up till my surgery then some after. It was SO easy to just stop taking them. I still have a bottle of oxycodone sitting in the closet one year later. When you know real pain you dont get addicted. If your kid dies of an overdose you were a terrible useless parent. End story. Shut down those pain centers and maybe you're hurting some people with a lot of real pain who have been going to Dr. after Dr. with a real issue getting no relief. It happens.
Perhaps we should "weed out" the weak bodied as well. Don't want bad genes passing diseases (like Crohns) to the next generation. Or you could just grow a heart and have some compassion for very sick people.
They are stupid not sick! How anyone can feel that they deserve compassion is beyond me. The pills were not forced down their throats and nothing is getting them to stop. In that one guys case not even the fact he has a dead brother, a dead wife, AND a CHILD. Stupid , selfish, weak. Also i would consider not procreating if i had a real genetic disease like maybe Huntington's. Crohns is more of a maybe its genetic disease so herp derp.
Are you trolling? Are you just naive?
Look man your compassion or understanding would be nice but really is inconsequential. Who cares if the mighty Crimsonobsession thinks these people are weak. The point is that they have an impact on society that we all feel and therefore we have to do something about this. Now we have already tried your genius approach, calling them weak and giving them a swift kick in the pants did nothing Einstein. Not even the opinion of those closest to them does any good so do you really think your disapproving will change anything? The reality is you are not trying to change anything are you; you are just spouting a bunch of self satisfied verbal diarrhea so you can blow off a little steam. Well, I am so sorry you got frustrated or were inconvenienced and couldn’t get your drugs. I mean what an affront to justice that the great and mighty Crimsonobsession would have to prove he is really in pain before they would just give him potentially addictive and definitely harmful drugs. Small intellects see small, localized problems defined in black and white, while larger ones see a much more complex and subtle issue possessing many shades of grey. Every person in the world has an addict inside them just waiting to taste the right drug and boom, you’re hooked. Now I am sure you don’t believe that, no not you, you could never be an addict- right? Well welcome to the very thought every addict has before they get addicted friend- see you are already exhibiting signs of addictive behavior and you don’t even know it. You just rest assured in the fact that you are the one that is different, above it all- and I’ll see you down at the clinic eventually. Probably not for opiates, as that doesn’t seem to float your boat, but there are many other flavors on the menu.
Well said, He may get it some day, we can only hope. Karma is a bitch!
i live in the ft lauderdale area, and have a bit more than average knowledge of the more pertinent facts on the issue. the largest chain of local "pain clinics" were owned and operated by a convicted heroin trafficer. a crackdown roughly a year ago finally got his opiate candy stores closed down, and he and his md bearing partners charged with illegal scrip writing. our current governor resisted the implementation of a "doctor shopping database" as long as politically expediant, probably due to his long association with the largest "legit" wholesaler of opiate drugs on this planet (he ran the company until elected, then his business affairs were put in a "blind trust" to remove appearances of potential conflict of interest). the illicit trade in perscription opiate drugs is a HUGE problem here. the vast majority of "pain centers" were nothing more than scrip mills, providing inexcusable multiples of fatal dosages to individuals on a recurring basis, with no limit at all on the number of clinics one could shop at for more prescriptions. there is an industry of "scrip buyers" that provide the funding for both clinic visits and pill purchases, and in return they get marketable quantities to wholesale at 1000% markup. i couldnt tell you about interstate rings, or scrip commuters, but i can tell about the true human cost here, locally. the availability and quasi-legitimacy causes wholesale abuse of the pills, which in turn bloats addiction rates. congrats on your easy road to weening yourself off opiates, but also please realize that conservative, therapeudic use of some of the commercial compounds is far less of an addiction hazard than "recreational abuse" is, due to dosage levels required to "get high" (codeine is also VERY easy to OD on, as the line between "wow, im so whacked i cant feel my face" and "holy crap, i just fatally overdosed" is razor thin). the tylenol based combo pills are causing a huge glut in liver and kidney damage among the abusers, meaning longterm exponential increases in health costs for this growing subset of the population. the jails slowly fill with the "small businessmen" serving multi-decade mandatory sentences for trafficing "post scrip", while those who reaped profit from the "pre scrip" trafficing are legal untouchables. lost productivity, lost investment capital, lost potential, lost lives. this is in NO way, locally at least, some "minor problem". it's a blight, it negatively impacts the common man on a daily basis.
Enlightening facts, thanks for the post.
For the most part I'm jaded enough not to care about corrupt politicians but it's truly sickening that the governor of FL does not do more to stop this huge problem.
as i previously posted, the current sitting governor (rick scott), until the second he was sworn in, ran the LARGEST "legit" wholesaler of opiates on the planet. such financial ties were his personal ticket out of whatever tobacco road he was raised in, and into the aether of "self made millionaire". his personal financial stake is now in a "blind trust", theoretically removing him from direct control of his investment capital, and thus eliminating potential "conflict of interest".he fought tooth and nail to prevent the "doctor shopping database" from going through, but a few timely ODs made it too politically hot to resist. his company also happens to wholesale the drug test kits his admin mandated for the required testing of both applicants for public assistance, and random testing of state employees (struck down since on "5th amendment" grounds, as the state needs just cause to collect bodily fluids, while private industry has no such impediments). aside from mr scott's personal financial stake in the trade, there is also the political ties forged through decades of contributions to our local political machines. our tax base is wholly property related (no income tax), so unless blatantly engaging in the worst forms of trafficing, the "top tier" of the economic chain in the business are viewed as "high value citizenry" because they have lush homes, and usually own the business property they work out of (huge income for the various levels of government). from a "war on drugs" propaganda perspective, it is a "low quality" windmill to tilt at, as it tends to condemn "legit business people" as "cartel lords", has no "international menace" supplying the substances, and provides VERY low impact "photo ops" during all too rare busts. our status as a nexus of world drug trade of wholly illicit nature (coke, weed, steroids, xtasy, speed, etc) provides myriad opportunity for dramatic news footage and seemingly impressive stats without pursuing these "quasi criminals". very little is done because the political machinery gets lots of lubricant from the industry, individually and collectively, while very little propaganda value comes from enforcement, with the added "bonus" of a muted local vox populii, as so many either hold scrips, know those who do, or directly or indirectly profit from the problem.
Yes but they help many folk too with pain, God i would love 300 Oxy a month, its a dream come true. But my stupid country don't run like yours. Be grateful people with pain get help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
why in the world do you need 300 oxy a month? I fully sympathize with addiction as a former oxycontin addict but unless you are dying you do not need that much medication! You'll only need more and more and more until, what, exactly?
american pain anyone? lol.. they TRIED to help me kill myself.. thank god the gov for once in my life did something right. U can go on forever with personal stories if you live in FL. Its real, its sad and its hopefully almost over.
For someone who has experience the prescription drug industry, you ignorance is unfathomable.
I dont have experience with the prescription drug industry . I only mentioned experience with prescription drugs. herp derp.