radiojohn

March 5 Issue is "The Opioid Diaries" and is the entire issue. Full of photos and no other content covering other topics. Quite a statement.

Don Craig Loc: Saranac, NY

How about a link, if we're going to talk about pictures, let's see pictures.

radiojohn

Hard to link to a printed magazine that just came in the mail.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Not really, but thanks for the tip on the story!
http://time.com/james-nachtwey-opioid-addiction-america/?xid=homepage&pcd=hp-magmod
Amazed at the access to the people, let alone the images!


More on the photographer, James Nachtwey here:https://www.ted.com/talks/james_nachtwey_s_searing_pictures_of_war

SteveR Loc: Michigan

As much press as mass shootings are getting, this is one area where so many lives are being senselessly lost that could be saved with proper oversight and governance. It's beyond me that we have fought a war on drugs and yet one of the most devastating drugs is being manufactured and sold legally.

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

I've read a lot about this epidemic recently. And that's what it is. An epidemic. The problem originated with the big pharmaceuticals. They pushed the product on physicians with what basically amount to bribes to push the product on patients. Very addictive products and very profitable for Big Pharm and doctors with lower ethics. The number of doctors in my area who have been charged with crimes and lost their license is incredible. They're basically known as "Pill Farms" even if most is injected. Get a patient addicted and you have repeat business. Everybody is making money except the ones who are dying from an overdose. Disgusting.

JPringle Loc: Australia

A health and welfare problem the world over.

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

We've also had a "War on Poverty" and look how good that has turned out.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yep. America is addicted to Vicodin. It’s insidiously evil... even more so because Big Pharma/Big Med “legitimizes” it. But so is tobacco evil, yet for very different reasons.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

It all comes down to one word, guns included.... impulse.

BB4A

Absolutely agree.

I travel regularly, and I'm also amazed when I get back to the US and find EVEN MORE drug advertising on TV... It doesn't happen anywhere else in the World (most countries restrict advertising to over-the-counter drugs).

If the drug companies took just one month of that advertising budget and gave that to an EMT and LEO supported Charitable Medical Facility to take the initiative in treatment and reviewing the "why's and how's?" of people descending into and then climbing out of this addiction epidemic, then just maybe, we'd start to see a way out of this crisis? If nothing else, it would probably fund the treatment for a thousand or more human beings in crisis, which would be a damn sight better use of that advertising money, than trying to convince me every 10 minutes that I have some obscure disease and need to tell my doctor to prescribe for me some even more obscure drug?

How can we help people over their need to self-medicate with something, anything, when every other advert (I swear on some channels it's more than 50%!) we see on TV is counselling us to ask for a drug to immediately, painlessly fix our problem?

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

A random seemingly mindless shooting might be an impulse. Getting addicted to a doctor prescribed pain reliever is hardly an impulse. It takes time.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

To take the drugs are impulse. Takes 30 minutes to make up thier mind if they like them.

pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

Ban drug advertising just like happened to tobacco products years ago. I'm not talking about baby aspirin. I'm talking about prescription drugs. The ones that tell you to ask your doctor about so and so and then spend half of the commercial talking about the side effects. Your left eyeball might fall out. One leg might get shorter than the other. You might experience puss in your stool. If you experience any of these problems stop taking this drug and consult your doctor right away. What bullshit. It's as bad as the personal injury ambulance chasers. Need to go back to banning attorneys from advertising on TV.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

But then we won't know how much more dangerous they are than the original ailment.