PRESCRIPTION PAINKILLERS. AFTER THE PAIN, THEY’RE JUST KILLERS. – DoseofRealityWI.Gov

Drug take-back day is this Saturday, April 29th. Click here for drop-off locations:  Here for Wisconsin.
This could be one of those I feel helpless things, but for the avoidance of the next young life going off the rails (in the next 19 minutes), there are snap things we can do.  Get rid of extra drugs. Not filling an opioid script is another — or getting a fraction of the prescribed pills. This also helps us not being that next addicted statistic.  Doctors are pretty aware now so ask them about alternatives and they’ll work with you. Watch that teen/young adult wisdom teeth extraction after-care. Ted had dry socket and still refused Vicodin. He functioned and survived fine.

ATLANTA — Tom Price didn’t mince words.

“We lose a Vietnam War every single year to drug overdoses,” Price said. “… It must be stopped.”

That warning, from the secretary of Health and Human Services, reached a receptive audience here last week at a national conference on drug abuse. As Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts put it: “The terrorist threat families in America see is not in the streets of Aleppo. It’s fentanyl coming down your street.” — STATnews.com  April 25, 2017

Having missed the retention gene, I collect headlines, factoids and nuggets.  Passing some on to you. They are crazy, but real.

1. Opioid painkillers only relieve pain for about 2* weeks. After that they are considerably less effective and you are better off with Tylenol and Ibuprophen.  After 6 weeks of opioids, pain actually increases.
2. Opioid deaths in the United States are 3 times the casualties suffered in the Vietnam war.
3. 9 BILLION Vicodin are floating around the United States and half of them are not used.
4. There’s 1 opioid death in the U.S. every 19 minutes. Last year it was every 24 minutes.
5. Drug overdose has surpassed car crashes for accidental death in the U.S.
6. Carfentanil* is 5000 times more potent than Heroin.
   *Carfentanil or carfentanyl is an analog of the synthetic opioid analgesic fentanyl. It is 10,000 times more potent than morphine, making it among the most potent commercially used opioids. Wikipedia
7. 2 weeks of opioids for pain can hook you even if your intent is purely medical.
8. Before we hoist all the blame on physicians, they were initially told that opioids were not addictive. The trials only tracked patients a very short time.
9. In Wisconsin alone, “Last spring, we collected over 64,000 pounds of unused, unwanted drugs. We are third in the country behind California and Texas,” said Danielle Long from the Department of Justice. That’s 3 semi-trailer trucks full of pills, no containers.
10. More than 70 percent of prescription painkiller abusers say they get their drugs from family and friends, with or without their knowledge. Remember that household help, visitors, workers and your kids’ friends have access to your bathroom too. Your dwelling up for sale? Remember that strangers tour it.

*Against the grammar, I used numeric symbols for retention purposes.

Wisconsin Department of Justice is a drug-demo leader with their Dose of Reality campaign. They’re sharing it free to other states many of whom are in. Action for medical, parents, students, business, educators and coaches. Know anyone in those categories? Forward the link — another can-do.