The opioid epidemic has exploded in the United States over the last several years. And it has hit our brave men and women in the military at an alarming rate. We have been in a long and gruesome war in the Middle East since 9/11. Not only have we lost thousands of soldiers, but we have tens of thousands of Wounded Warriors.
My close friend, Ryan, was one of the first units deployed to Afghanistan after the World Trade Towers became a pile of rubble in downtown New York City. Ryan is a Marine and was extremely healthy and fit in his early 20's as he went over seas for the first time. But Ryan and members of his unit were blown up as they were driving on a dirt road in Afghanistan. Not everyone survived the blast, but Ryan was lucky enough to make it. He ended up serving 3 tours in the United States fight against Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden.
Today, Ryan is a physical shell of the warrior that fought so bravely years ago. He walks with a cane and has excruciating back and leg pain that keeps him from getting out of bed some days. But Ryan isn't an elderly man. In fact, he won't even turn 40 for a few years. He has been taking opioids on a daily basis for years, that were prescribed by his doctors at the V.A. But they have also been hard on his body. If he doesn't take them, he gets sick.. so the cycle continues. Ryan did try medical cannabis last year and that has been the best relief he has felt in years. But he had to jump through a million hoops to get approved for a medical cannabis card in Illinois.
Why isn't our government embracing medical cannabis? The side effects are minimal compared to opioids. There aren't withdrawals when you stop taking it. And it doesn't even have to be smoked. Most people take their medical cannabis in pill form or gummies or in cookies.
Our government HAS embraced opioids for decades. Pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars every year from prescriptions. And when a persons prescription is empty, they are turning to the black market to get the same pills they were just picking up from their local Walgreens. OxyContin has gotten as expensive as $50 per pill. Once a person can't afford that, they turn to a much cheaper high, heroin. This is a cycle that is killing people across the country and devastating families everywhere. It's time to take a harder look at how we help our Veterans and our family members deal with chronic pain.
Do you know anyone with an opioid addiction? Do you have chronic pain and how do you deal with it? I would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers!
You are so right.... KEEP UP
This is 100% true, Nice post man! keep them up
Thank you for reading and commenting!
why is this happening, simple big drug companies, like it said in the post they make billions of dollars for pushing this stuff, and if cannabis was legal yes they would make some money from it but this is something that the person could grow themselves and cut out the big drug companies, there for they lose money and the zombies they are pushing and dealing to, big loss for them, therefore it will be a slow and BS road to get cannabis out there more
opium to can be grown by urself
I would stay well away from opioids if you are not VERY knowledgeable on using them. They are extremely addictive.. my source is some of my own holistic patients and my mother! I have seen sick people who have never had addiction issues suddenly get hooked on opioids so please take with great caution ♥.
Cannabis on the other hand is as far as I am concerned one of the if not "THE" best holistic medication anyone with an ailment/terminal disease could take for themselves. Other than a possible "high" effect there is little to no harm that can come from using large amounts of this medicinal plant it is simply magnificent. @scottybuckets, thank you so much for taking the time writing this post
Lots of love to you
Thank you for your insight!
thanks for a wonderful write up. I did re-steem your article..
Great, great read and article, however; Is like to add in that if they have tried psychedelics, marijuana could be extremely uncomfortable like it has become for me after trying them. Also, not everyone gets the same effects from the same chemicals as others, so I'd say both, but let THEM choose what they feel works best and give them a support team to keep them from getting addicted to opiates. I appreciate this post a ton.
Edit: I promoted it with a small amount of steem dollar because I feel people should see this.
Opiates in a controlled environment such as a hospice or hospital ward has endlessly more merit for pain and supressing suffering, but other than that surely marijuana is far less addictive and far less dangerous to consume/take as a medication.
I don't think its a solid black or white decision and must vary from person to person, which strain of marijuana to which type of opiate used, history of the patient and any other factors to consider!
Either way, as a NON smoker or consumer of marijuana i think it should be indeed made legal worldwide to stop it from being a gateway drug and normal everyday people can buy it from a reputable establishment, rather than shady drug dealers who could put anything in it or expose customers to other more dangerous drugs. Marijuana needs separating and can then be taxed, regulated and controlled with common sense! Denial of its widespread usage and criminalising people is just beyond ridiculous and not working in the year 2017
Cannabis! Opioids are reaching epidemic levels with their dependency! Opioids certainly have their place but this has gotten way out of hand
Great read.
Opioid pain relievers, e.g oxyconton, morphine, heroin. All hit the opioid receptors in our brains.
These are very concentrated forms of opiate which our body was never originally designed t consume, while raw opium is a much more natural, safer form of opiate.
Pharmaceuticals have ruined opiates for us you might say by giving us highly concentrated opium while raw opium is a lot more natural.
All plants are to be respected, clearly no respect for this plant by most pharmaceutical companies resulting in what we see above by @scottybuckes. Same goes for cocaine, the more concentrated and further away from the natural form the more problems we get.
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This post brings up such a powerful point, we need to help wounded soldiers to the absolute best we can, and with how addictive opioid medicine is it will almost certainly lead to further issues, I have seen addiction to and withdrawal from painkillers, they are both horrific.
keep up the excellent content, mate.
Big Pharm doesn't have our health nor best interest in mind. Opioid addiction is money.
smok weed every day
The opioid epidemic hit the wounded warriors particularly hard, and it spanned generations of veterans. Now, thanks to the DEA having to crack down on all the prescriptions handed out at the VA, we have a bunch of unmedicated veterans at high risk for self harm. This was caused by unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies who sought to profit off of our suffering. The least they could do, after putting us through all that, is give us access to medical cannabis to cope with the mental and physical fall-out of being a cog in the Global War on Terror.
Greed and Money is why. It's sad but very true..
first thing first governments dont care about the people but the people who put them in the seats of power. These are now big pharma companies, military tech complex and agrogiants. Opium and marijuana has been grown traditionally in India and both have their uses . Opium has made it into a great business and marijuana is on the way . I use marijuana and i find it to be good for my thinking and musical creation process. i never liked opium and have kept for life threatening scenarios , habitual use of opium is very bad for health , as i found out when i was advised opiods for an ear infection. it took me months to feel normal again. THC and CBD are better for regular usage , person remains functional and can do regular chores. Quality of Marijuana makes a huge difference.
Thank you for the post...Great content..and AGREE
Hahahhaa...
Very good.