its their our fault

ITS THEIR OUR FAULT
this permeates all of the corners of the us
the big cities the rural areas the poor states the rich states
everywhere
we are all affected by it
this
opiate thing

i was watching the civil war by ken burns the other night
i also have been reading a book about a civil war doctor
they just lined up those shot up soldiers
took the saw those surgeons did
sawed off above the injured area
wiped off the saw
grabbed the next leg or arm
sawed it off
sometimes for several days without stopping

now those guys usually died from infections
some survived
many got hooked thats right
on heroin or morphine

ok so they sort of had an excuse
we now in the united states today
we dont really have an excuse

why do we have this opiate epidemic
its
big pharmas fault
congresses fault
pharmacies fault
federal and state governments fault
and
yes
go walk into the bathroom
look in the mirror

thats you
its your fault
you and i have the power to vote
either we dont care
or
we arent enraged enough

heck
this epidemic has hit the core of america
the middle class white folks
usually when this happens
things get fixed

here is sort of the story of how all this happened
yes i was part of it
since
i wrote prescriptions
and
i vote

heroin and such opioids have always been around
peaking at times
like in those solders after the civil war

the opiates were used
to treat pain
to treat sorrow
to treat then the addiction

a few years ago
the federal and state governments decided doctors werent aggressively
treating peoples pain
so
they began to reprimand doctors for not writing for enough pain meds
the push began
even i who didnt over prescribe this stuff
felt the pressure to well over prescribe
i loosened up my prescribing
heck
its no fun to get drugged in front of the state medical board
with your own lawyer
getting your name in the news
getting your name on the medical boards website
he got reprimanded for not treating peoples pain

now
that never happened to me
but it did to others

we all felt the pressure

now that i think back
i do wonder if some of this was not some conspiracy by big pharma
to get us to prescribe more of their drugs
you know they have powerful lobbyists
who spend millions influencing those folks that we vote into office
they provide these good looking drug reps to sell the stuff
giving away all kinds of free stuff
like meals trips etc

then big pharm really jumped in strongly
pushing their narcotics
on tv ads
sending those reps aggressively to visit with primary care doctors
who they lied to about how these powerful narcotics worked
like hydrocodone and oxycodone
all of this increased the supply the flow of these narcotics
out into the public
initially all legal

then
eg people having orthopedic surgery got all hooked
they needed more drugs
they started seeking more drugs
they stole from others
they faked pain at doctors office
some even sold theirs on the black market

the middle man
those companys that distribute drugs in the us
even
started leaking drugs into the black market

the flow of drugs became almost like a flood

then
congress those people you and i elect
decided to tighten up
on all of this
to stop the flow somewhat

first they started going after the doctors again
making it known that we were all over prescribing
just the opposite of a few years ago

yes
we all felt the pressure
we all cut back
probably too much

heck
i had oral surgery recently and they didnt want to give me pain meds
sorry
i almost demanded them
i am glad i did
since
there was 2 or 3 days of severe pain that thankfully resolved quickly
sure glad i had those few pills around to help

so now
we have created a large pool of addicted folks
we have started to under treat pain again

where do those folks turn to for relief
addiction centers
these are becoming underfunded and the new health law doenst help either
then
its the streets

the narcotic supply was dwindling and expensive
so
enter heroin
its cheaper
works fast
hooks you real good

now we are back to the civil war era
we really havent progressed much have we

we didnt solve it then
we arent solving it now

sorry
i wrote all this
but
i dont really have a solution to present to you
except
we can all vote cant we

if they the politicians think they will be voted out
they will start doing what it takes to solve this problem
but
probably not before then

this seems to be one problem that affects both parties equally
its a non partisan issue

the organicgreen doctor