Here ’s why opioid addicts are victims

Tom’s feet are shackled so he can’t bolt from the hospital bed when the prison guard isn’t looking. The guard places handcuffs on him when he walks to the bathroom and stands just outside the door as Tom relieves himself. Despite being treated for a deep tissue infection in one finger, Tom is in generally good shape — lean but muscular with the strong hands of a workman. Back in his room, sitting up in bed, he holds up his hand wrapped in gauze and asks about returning to his carpentry job when he’s healed. Tom is not unlike many of my patients who are victims of the opioid epidemic. He had started taking opioids legally for back and joint pain related to his work, but he overused them in escalating doses as his tolerance grew, a common pattern in chronic opioid use. His addictions escalated from there to include heroin and, finally, methamphetamines. It took only a year and a half after his first narcotic pain pill to wind up in jail as a result of his addiction. The term “victim” aptly describes those in the thralls of addiction to pharmaceutical-grade opioids. To place the blame on Tom or the tens of thousands of other Americans who are chemically dependent on the medications is to miss the larger picture. Much like fast food or sugary beverages, these pain medications have been aggressively pushed on consumers — in this case, doctors, hospitals and the American public — by pharmaceutical companies. The maker of OxyContin, for example, spent $200 million ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Medications Pain management Source Type: blogs