Quote:
Originally Posted by AcGold
With a legitimate hardcore addiction with tolerance and withdrawal there's usually more under the surface and the addiction is a method of coping with serious psychological issues. Rarely do productive normal people turn into meth addicts, it's more often people that have experienced severe trauma or neglect when they were younger. That's not something you can just walk off and tough it out.
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Opiates are a totally different beast. It's now the number 1 problem drug and the original sources for the drug are often totally legal. These are "oxy’s", codeine, and the like.
Had a patient once about 8 or 9 years ago that was on morphine slow release 200mg twice daily for "pain". It started out as a smaller dose the doctor would give him a month at a time. He was always needing early refills because he "lost it" or they "fell down the sink" or something similar every month. So the doctor put him on weekly fills to better control the quantity he was getting. The dose kept escalating as as well as his pain wasn't in control. He was still "losing" them or they were getting "stolen", etc all the time. Finally the doctor put him on daily dispense. This went on for about 6 more months. The doctor got wind he might have been selling some of them so he asked us to witness him taking the morning dose when we dispensed it. The very first day he ended up in emergency with an overdose. He'd never taken them before. They were paid for by the government, and he could sell them to a local dealer for really good money to help supplement his low income.
Another time a guy had a prescription for percocet($5/pill street value) that could be dispensed 70 every week. He actually asked if we could dispense them in 7 bottles of 10.
Then there was the guy who brought in a prescription from the emergency room for percocet. I looked at his pharmanet profile and noted he had 30 tablets dispensed just 2 days prior. I called the doctor and discussed it with him and he cancelled it. When the guy came back he said, and I quote:
" Aw come on man! It's New Year's Eve and I don't even have any beer..."
Keep in mind, if you're on social services or Non Insured Health Benefits (Status) you can make a pretty good income by getting these narcotics. If I get a prescription for 100 tablets a month (that's actually common) that's a cool $500. Even if you're not covered, it only costs maybe $30 in the pharmacy. That's some good margin right there.
I don't know what the solution is, but the problem is exploding in its reach right now and less regulation scares me