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.

In 2007 I had severe bursitis in both shoulders. My orthopedic surgeon did prescribe vicodin for me, and it was the only way that I could get to sleep. At a certain point, though, he cut me off. You can't believe how angry I was, especially since he didn't want to do surgery on the one shoulder that required surgery until I had neck surgery for a pinched nerve which was causing pain to go down my arm. He wasn't sure how much pain was from the bursitis and how much was from the pinched nerve....until he finally did the surgery. However, I was able to get relief from a great physical therapist. Long story short, the point being that it all goes back on the doctor. In my case he cut me off. I do realize in the case of some patients with much more serious pain situations than mine than pain meds needed for a much longer term, including the more addictive ones like oxycodin. I never did feel an addiction towards vicodin. It just seemed like stronger tylenol to me.

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?



I remember when drug advertising first was on TV. It was so strange to see a commercial they went thru potential side effects. Here, take this pill for joint pain but be leery of potential headaches, nausea, cancer, etc, etc. It seemed the side effects were worse than the initial problem.
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?