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A comment on Prescription painkiller deaths fall in medical marijuana states. Parent comment

Re:Prescription painkiller deaths fall in medical marijuana ... by vidarh on Friday November 06, 2015 @08:11AM (#10519245)
Prescription painkillers like oxycodone are large recruitment paths to heroin as well as a cheaper alternative once people get addicted and cut off and forced to deal with drug dealers.

So people who are concerned about heroin abuse, should really want to find alternatives to handing out prescription opioids unnecessarily.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Prescription painkiller deaths fall in medical marijuana ... by DanBC on Friday November 06, 2015 @08:52AM (#10519410)
Opiates are currently the most commonly used medication in death by suicide in the UK. (Followed by tri-cyclin antidepressants, anti psychotics, combination opiates plus paracetamol, and then paracetamol alone).

They're also often the cause of accidental overdose.

If you do take opiate meds please keep them in a safe place; don't stock pile them; consider smaller more frequent prescriptions if you or someone you live with are vulnerable.

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Re:Prescription painkiller deaths fall in medical marijuana ... by MichaelGG on Friday November 06, 2015 @02:20PM (#10521388)
... That's so backwards. How about we should find ways to make proper opiates easily accessible, so patients don't need to buy crap "heroin" off the street?
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Re:Prescription painkiller deaths fall in medical marijuana ... by DanBC on Friday November 06, 2015 @03:45PM (#10521902)
Opiates are the wrong choice for most pain. Opiates are only useful for a narrow range of pain. People think opiates are some kind of magic pain removal med, but for many types of pain opiates are not as effective as eg paracetamol.

When a doctor prescribes opiates for pain they often cause an addiction, whilst not fixing the pain.

[ Parent | on HN ]