Eric Mayhew Jr. wanted to break his more than decade-long addiction to opioids — one that started when his doctor prescribed them for knee pain.

…When it comes to withdrawing from opioids, medical experts and addiction counselors agree that you will be far more successful with support than trying it alone. But traditional treatment can be expensive and time-consuming, if it’s even available. Many treatment centers have long waitlists.

…A study published in July 2017 found kratom is used for self-treatment of pain, mood disorders, and withdrawal symptoms that come with prescription opioid use. It was found to have few negative effects, including nausea and constipation, but generally only at high doses or when taken frequently.

…“I think the cool thing about it is this guy went from injection drug use to nothing, and all he had was a runny nose,” [director of academic development in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Edward W.]Boyer says. “It’s similar to something like methadone or any other opioid, but what is different is withdrawal from those substances is far more involved.”

People who use kratom typically don’t have withdrawals, says McCurdy, the University of Florida professor.

“That it helps them stop their cravings for going back to opioids and helps them with their mood. They feel good. They mention that they aren’t lazy like when using opioid prescriptions or addicted to opioids. They feel more productive and are doing things they love again, returning to a normal lifestyle.”

McCurdy’s research on mice shows kratom has a clear potential to treat opioid withdrawal with few side effects.

“It is probably addictive, but its addictive equivalent is something like coffee, which isn’t surprising because the leaf is in the coffee family,” McCurdy says. “We firmly believe that it will be very good for treating opioid withdrawal.”

…FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, says people who use medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction cut their risk of death from all causes in half.

Turning to Kratom For Opioid Withdrawal

What’s the hurry to classify Schedule I? Is someone about to lose money over it?

Federal agents arrested the founder of a major drug company in an early-morning raid Thursday on charges stemming from an alleged scheme to get doctors to prescribe a powerful opioid to patients who don’t need it.

Drug company founder John Kapoor arrested for alleged opioid scheme – CBS News

Note to lawmakers: Stopping the opioid crisis isn’t about education and it certainly isn’t about doubling down on addiction treatments with high rates of recidivism. If you want to stop something, go after the source of the problem.

The Enquirer sent 60 journalists to cover an ordinary week in this extraordinary time. This is what an epidemic looks like.

Seven Days of Heroin – Cincinnati.com

Jeezus….

No, Kiessling, that’s not right. You totally fucking missing what is right in fucking front of you. Drug dealers aren’t the ones responsible for these deaths. Drug companies that push opiates onto the population so they develop addictions which lead them to abuse illegal drugs are the fucking murderers.
….You ignorant, self-righteous, dumbass!

Source: A 7-year-old told her bus driver she couldn’t wake her parents. Police found them dead at home. – The Washington Post

Last year, the New Hampshire legislature passed a bill banning the sale of kratom to minors. Rodler showed up to testify and was surprised to see dozens of people in Goddard’s case who used kratom for pain.

Especially given the state’s heroin crisis, she says she sympathizes with people looking for pain management options that don’t involve opioids.“

Those who are trying to do a safer, legal alternative to opiate medication, this was a great substitute,” she said. “Maybe schedule I is too harsh.”

As Kratom ban looms, New Hampshire users push back

Yah, think? You soulless fucking nanny-state hack. Do you think making more people criminals and the tying up of scarce state resources on something that is basically no worse than an energy drink is too harsh?

You think the DEA is being interested in putting people in jail than keeping the public safe is a problem?

No shit, Sherlock?

Trust assholes like the ones who passed the NH bill to make things worse in a cruel and dehumanizing way and act holier than thou like they are fucking saints for doing so.

Assholes!

“It got to the point where I was stealing from stores, breaking into car windows. Everything but prostitution. I was living in the streets. Sometimes I wouldn’t shower for weeks at a time. Then one day I was walking down 149th by Lincoln Hospital, and I bumped into a drug counselor named Mr. Crespo. He took me to get some food. He gave me a few dollars. And he told me that I didn’t have to live like this anymore. I went to the methadone clinic the next day. And now I’m hooked on that instead of heroin. It’s a mixed blessing. At least it’s coming from a doctor and not a pusher. I always know where my next fix is coming from. I can work now. I can pay bills. I can be reliable and productive. It doesn’t get you high like heroin, but it takes away the urges. But it’s like liquid handcuffs because the withdrawals are just as bad. If I stop for twenty-four hours, it feels like fire in my bones. And they only give you one dose a time. So I get to the clinic every morning at 6 AM, and there are already one hundred people in line.” [emphasis: mine]

humansofnewyork

Sigh….

If Clinton wins over millennials, she’ll almost certainly win the White House. And the best cure for millennial apathy is legal weed.

Marijuana Can Fix Hillary Clinton’s Biggest Problem

Mmmmmmm, well….

Perhaps she’d be better if came out for state’s right to legalize and federal decriminalization approval of medical mj. She could pivoting to how it (non-opiate pain relief) could help prevent the opioid crisis from snowballing (if people don’t start opiates, they don’t get addicted to opiates) and how it free up criminal justice budget dollars to fight violent crime when pushed on law and order.

Drugs are significantly more potent than heroin and many other opioids.

Why Superpotent Synthetic Opioids Are ‘Crazy Dangerous,’ DEA Says – ABC News

Sigh…

Makers of prescription painkillers have tried to weaken state measures aimed at stemming the opioid crisis that has killed 165,000.

Politics of pain: Drugmakers fought state opioid limits amid crisis | Center for Public Integrity

Opioid prescriptions: the true gateway drug to a life of addiction.