Jeff Stahler for August 29, 2019

Almost makes me glad I’m immune to the effects of opioid drugs. Almost. I’m dreading the day I finally go in to have my wisdom teeth pulled.

When I had my wisdom teeth pulled they gave me percocets or some other heavy drug. I ditched them and took Tylenol. That were good enough.

A new preamble to justify big pharma?

We the “People” of the United States, in order to form more perfect corporations, establish multitier justice, insure domestic division, provide for the common defense industry, …

Look at the TV ads, these pills will make your life better. You can take a pill that has as a side effect, death, to cure acne.

I believe there is at least one way to show people the dangers of opiates and other products. The long dead Public Service Announcement, last seen in the 1980’s.

PSA’s were used to place spot tv ads to inform the public of the dangers of various drugs, tobacco, etc. One showed a frying pan holding an egg. The cut line read this is your brain on drugs, as the egg slowly burned to ashes and blew away. It was proven to be the most effective of all similar spots in reducing drug use, but was discontinued. Nobody knows why, although overt influence from government and industry are suspect. There have been no similar spots for over 3 decades.

With so many people strapped to their tv screens, now might be a good time to revive those spots. They certainly would provide more information and use up less time than the insidious ‘join our class action’ legal ads.

Is this opioid mess not a fine example of how capitalism works..and, what is wrong with it.

There is no more effective painkiller than opioids. Used properly, they can save people untold trauma and pain. But they were pushing it as much as any heroin dealer, for all occasions. There are other forms of pain management that should be used as well or instead, depending on the person, but it became too easy to prescribe a pill.

Cannabis binds to more receptors in the brain than any other drug. Its almost as if the brain were designed to use cannabis. However the withdrawal from cannabis is not severe or deadly like it can be with opioids.

For years, I’ve pondered about medication ads on TV wherein the listing of all the potential harmful side-effects is five times longer than the listing of supposed benefits of the medication itself. But then again, I’ve also wondered why all the lemonade beverages are “artificially flavored” but all the furniture polishes are made with “real lemon juice.” Reading labels can be a terrifying experience.

Is that a misprint on the label, for "SOLD your doctor. . . " etc.?

We would like to think that our doctors are better than we are, at least for health matters. But in fact, on average they’re…. average. Natural result: They read the brochure, listen to the spiel, and they’re as convinced… on average… as you or I might be (assuming we spoke that language variant) about the safety and efficacy of whatever is being sold. And so they prescribe based on sales spiels, not actual studies.

Used to be that the FDA and their ilk somewhat protected us from that sort of thing, but that “protection” has long been diluted to nearly nothing. Too bad. Smaller government is good, I hear, so this is one of the prices we pay for that obvious good.

(last part: sarcasm)

The overdose deaths dwarf gun deaths and no call for banning them I guess because they have a legitimate use /s

For people with chronic pain they are necessary. Jeff, the next time you are in your old neighborhood stop by and we will explain to you how it is to live with chronic pain. The problem is that too many people lack any kind of self control.

Proves that Doctors are just people. They are as easily fooled as the Trump voters.

More like “bribed your doctor” isn’t it?

You don’t need opioids then either. Regular Tylenol and Advil will do just fine.