Discussion News, fentanyl, ‘opioid crisis’

[AngelsandFairiesarereal]

Okay so … I didn’t know where to post this & this is just my interpretation, so I wanted to see what others thoughts were on this.

So has anyone noticed when you see on news or news articles they really push this ‘opioid crisis’ & (well actually though do seem to be talking more using the word fentanyl a ‘little’ more) But do you ever notice that in most of these articles & pictures on the news they still show pictures of bottles of like oxycodone or OxyContin. Why? When you read an article talking about all the OD’s & everything why are they still saying opioids & showing pictures of regular painkillers, but they are not using pics of fentanyl & they are not really (or haven’t been for a couple years now) straight up saying these OD’s are primarily fentanyl. Why? I find that strange.

I mean also I’m a chronic pain patient & yea addict (tryin my to be in recovery) because I’ve struggled with addiction (great combo) …. The hoops I jump through to get a small amount of tramadol lol

Anyways it’s really fucked people all around, from pain patients to addicts.

I was at my doctors the other day & said straight up “Don’t you think it’s fucked up that it’s completely legal to drink yourself to death in this country but a cancer patient will actually be denied pain medication?” She actually said “Honestly yes you’re right, some of my colleagues won’t even give pain meds to cancer patients anymore because of the opioid crisis but I’m not one of them, I’ll give a cancer patient pain meds” … I mean how insane is that. Also it seems like they are training more & more doctors to automatically think ‘opiates bad’.

It’s weird in my opinion.

Sorry I’m probs rambling but like I said when I see the news it’s ‘opioids this’ & ‘opioids that’ & like I said then showing pics of over the counter (prescribed) painkillers. Why the fuck are we not saying fentanyl. I mean fentanyl is a completely different beast. Do people generally not understand this?

I don’t know it’s friggin all weird & backwards to me, just seems off

 

[AngelsandFairiesarereal]

I also could just be burnt out from seeing insane switching of ‘policies’ and hypocrisy over the years. I mean back in the day I had to go to jail because me & my ex were pulled over with a bunch of marijuana on us. I guess we were by a school zone? So we actually got charged (since we had large amounts & happened to be next to a school zone) with ‘intent to distribute marijuana in a school zone’ … couldn’t even begin to tell you the shit I went through with all that. But .. now at 39 everyone’s (including doctors) saying it’s okay to use marijuana! What! Maybe I’m a bitter Betty or maybe I have a brain but what the hells up with all the insane inconsistency's & it’s like “oh I’m not a criminal anymore with mj thing … cool” but just seeing huge amounts of people going along with whatever the news says over the years without applying an ounce of thought to it drives me crazy sometimes.

Also … pretty much every argument on banning & prohibition goes out the window if you say ‘okay what if we apply, these thoughts & outcomes to alcohol’

I’m not talking down on alcohol or people that use it. .. they have nothing to do with the fact that I was an alcoholic & am in recovery for alcohol for six years … my issue is with the insane hypocrisy & policies & how sooo many people (including doctors, gov, ‘people in charge’, society ect.) just seems to go along with it. I don’t know … maybe I’m just loca ! lol

 

[gordonliddy]

When you read an article talking about all the OD’s & everything why are they still saying opioids & showing pictures of regular painkillers, but they are not using pics of fentanyl & they are not really (or haven’t been for a couple years now) straight up saying these OD’s are primarily fentanyl. Why? I find that strange.

This might end up being less sinister than you think, although perhaps nonetheless just as stupid as you seem to imply.

I've only looked at this for 90 seconds so take what I'm about to write with a grain of salt. My point is that with what I'm about to say, I'm more or less straight up making it up.

It's kind of like if you're a law enforcement agency and you're trying to get money to fight pimping? Good luck. But if it's human trafficking OMFG all of the sudden you have people's attention.

Like they can't call drug dealers, drug dealers anymore. They're drug traffickers.

Or when kids have a dispute it's not an online argument, it's cyberbullying.

So what is all of this? IMHO it's marketting. No one subscribes to newspapers anymore. So most of what's available online is either mafia published, advertisements for skin cream or it's clickbait. Especially clickbait.

 

[AngelsandFairiesarereal]

This might end up being less sinister than you think, although perhaps nonetheless just as stupid as you seem to imply.

I've only looked at this for 90 seconds so take what I'm about to write with a grain of salt. My point is that with what I'm about to say, I'm more or less straight up making it up.

It's kind of like if you're a law enforcement agency and you're trying to get money to fight pimping? Good luck. But if it's human trafficking OMFG all of the sudden you have people's attention.

Like they can't call drug dealers, drug dealers anymore. They're drug traffickers.

Or when kids have a dispute it's not an online argument, it's cyberbullying.

So what is all of this? IMHO it's marketting. No one subscribes to newspapers anymore. So most of what's available online is either mafia published, advertisements for skin cream or it's clickbait. Especially clickbait.

Thanks for your response I always appreciate hearing different points of views

 

[Electrum1]

So has anyone noticed when you see on news or news articles they really push this ‘opioid crisis’ & (well actually though do seem to be talking more using the word fentanyl a ‘little’ more) But do you ever notice that in most of these articles & pictures on the news they still show pictures of bottles of like oxycodone or OxyContin. Why? When you read an article talking about all the OD’s & everything why are they still saying opioids & showing pictures of regular painkillers, but they are not using pics of fentanyl & they are not really (or haven’t been for a couple years now) straight up saying these OD’s are primarily fentanyl. Why? I find that strange.

I'm guessing, but it could have to do with demonizing opioid companies like Purdue Pharma, Insys and all of the others that have been getting sued for years now. Maybe the media/govt has interests in further attacking those companies and/or the outcome of all of the lawsuits still going on

The only CEO that went to prison so far as far as I know is John Kapoor from Insys, and a few other executives from that company

Maybe the media is invested in the lawsuits, for potential ratings or whatever other reasons

It does feel weird tho that they do that with bottles and pills as the images

 

[thegreenhand]

Okay so … I didn’t know where to post this & this is just my interpretation, so I wanted to see what others thoughts were on this.

You're in the right place. Welcome.

I'm gonna change the thread prefix to discussion, rather than news though. That tag is reserved for actual articles.

So has anyone noticed when you see on news or news articles they really push this ‘opioid crisis’ & (well actually though do seem to be talking more using the word fentanyl a ‘little’ more) But do you ever notice that in most of these articles & pictures on the news they still show pictures of bottles of like oxycodone or OxyContin. Why? When you read an article talking about all the OD’s & everything why are they still saying opioids & showing pictures of regular painkillers, but they are not using pics of fentanyl & they are not really (or haven’t been for a couple years now) straight up saying these OD’s are primarily fentanyl. Why? I find that strange.

I mean also I’m a chronic pain patient & yea addict (tryin my to be in recovery) because I’ve struggled with addiction (great combo) …. The hoops I jump through to get a small amount of tramadol lol

Anyways it’s really fucked people all around, from pain patients to addicts.

It certainly has fucked people all around.

If I may ask, has seeing the opioid bans from the addict side and the chronic pain patient side given you any unique perspective?

Something I've observed is that some chronic pain patients (on twitter...) look down on addicts. Some of them blame the issues CPPs face on addicts. Perhaps they think their medical use is more justified? I'm not sure tbh, and don't wanna speak for them. It's just a pattern of discourse that I've noticed in some circles. I'd just be curious to see how you approach the issue, if you see it as a point of contention as well.

I was at my doctors the other day & said straight up “Don’t you think it’s fucked up that it’s completely legal to drink yourself to death in this country but a cancer patient will actually be denied pain medication?” She actually said “Honestly yes you’re right, some of my colleagues won’t even give pain meds to cancer patients anymore because of the opioid crisis but I’m not one of them, I’ll give a cancer patient pain meds” …

A sad state of affairs indeed. I've also heard of hospice patients themselves denying opioids out of fear...

Sorry I’m probs rambling but like I said when I see the news it’s ‘opioids this’ & ‘opioids that’ & like I said then showing pics of over the counter (prescribed) painkillers. Why the fuck are we not saying fentanyl. I mean fentanyl is a completely different beast. Do people generally not understand this?

Agree with caveats.

We should be showing pictures of illicit fentanyl. That's the culprit of all these overdoses.

Fentanyl is used without issue in hospitals every day. Pharma vs street is an important distinction.

If your argument is simply that the media should use images of fentanyl, there is no reason they wouldn't be able to use pictures of prescription drugs.

Pedantic, I know.

 

[TheOverdoseKing]

I mean fentanyl is a completely different beast.

I feel like this more or less gets to the heart of the issue. Heroin had a stigma around it sure, but more people never try it. Most people never try fentanyl ever either. \

None of the talking heads on TV, or the journalists writing the articles we read have the first clue how addicting these shits are. I havent read much of this thread yet but fetty is a powder & most people think of M30's when they think of opiates. I would also disagree that the term Fentanyl is being left out of media, I see it all the damn time, it is kind of a buzz word.

The day the average person develops an sense for how crazy addictive these bitches are is the day tides might begin to turn in the US, hopefully it doesn't even take that but it certainly would help. IDK why I am typing oh yeah.

If I was in a position where I was genuinely in need of pain medication (which I was for a while), & a doctor just refused to prescribe it, I wold just let them know, Ma'am/sir I am just going to treat this pain with illicit medicine then... never be afraid to be honest to an MD, they are awesome people

 

[AngelsandFairiesarereal]

You're in the right place. Welcome.

I'm gonna change the thread prefix to discussion, rather than news though. That tag is reserved for actual articles.


It certainly has fucked people all around.

If I may ask, has seeing the opioid bans from the addict side and the chronic pain patient side given you any unique perspective?

Something I've observed is that some chronic pain patients (on twitter...) look down on addicts. Some of them blame the issues CPPs face on addicts. Perhaps they think their medical use is more justified? I'm not sure tbh, and don't wanna speak for them. It's just a pattern of discourse that I've noticed in some circles. I'd just be curious to see how you approach the issue, if you see it as a point of contention as well.


A sad state of affairs indeed. I've also heard of hospice patients themselves denying opioids out of fear...


Agree with caveats.

We should be showing pictures of illicit fentanyl. That's the culprit of all these overdoses.

Fentanyl is used without issue in hospitals every day. Pharma vs street is an important distinction.

If your argument is simply that the media should use images of fentanyl, there is no reason they wouldn't be able to use pictures of prescription drugs.

Pedantic, I know.

Thanks

For the perspective of pain patient & addict, it might sound weird but I actually think chronic pain patients & addicts have way more in common than they realize. I’ve seen same levels of despair and pain in some similar and also a bit different ways (if that makes sense). Also at this point a chronic pain patient at the doctors in a lot of settings these days are actually treated very similarly to addicts. I think the pain patients that seem to blame addicts for what’s happening are doing it out of misdirected anger, anguish & fear. I also have seen chronic pain patients that are addicts that kind of think well I’m a pain patient not ‘one of them’ but when we have convo’s and fears about getting our meds refilled very similar convo’s. Also I have PTSD & am in a trauma group for survivors of violence & trafficking ect. & pretty much everyone in those groups have permanent injuries & pain but also self medicating issues so there’s pretty much no judgements in those groups because most of us are going through the same thing of dealing with chronic pain, flashbacks & night terrors & just wanting to medicate to pretty much ease at least something (but also trying to support each other on trying to be healthy as we can about it all). Sorry I’m a little sleep deprived I hope I’m making any sense.
I get uncomfortable though when I’ve been in some chronic pain groups & heard comments about addicts, the interesting thing I’ve found is that if I don’t get angry but explain it to them in a calm kind way they seem to actually ‘get it’ more…. but a lot of these are in anonymous support groups or forums as opposed to Twitter. I’m not on Twitter & I would assume people are more wildin out in there due to a more social media vibe.

Also … side note I’ve struggled personally with scenarios of say I take a med that reliefs pain a little… & then feel relieved or happy. & then in my head I’m like ‘am I happy because I’m getting relief from pain in this moment or is this the addict in me being satisfied’ (kinda screws with me)