The "Opioid Epidemic" -- A Personal Take

[Warpy]

7. I've been on a steady dose for over 20 years

I use it during the day, only, when I need to be functional. Once you find something you can live with, it doesn't generally change unless your physical condition does.

I managed on the same dose 2 years ago with a broken leg. I'm used to pain.

Chronic pain patients are between a rock and a hard place. Non opiate pain medications cause horrendous problems when taken long term, fatal things like kidney failure and heart attacks. You just can't manage chronic pain with non opiates and expect a person to live a normal lifespan. People can get by with occasional use. Daily use over a long period of time? Nope.

The DEA does this periodically, leaning on doctors and chronic pain patients because they don't dare lean on the drug companies that overhyped the wrong drugs to the wrong people and who are diverting huge amounts of their drugs to organized crime. They'd rather pick on the powerless: coca farmers in South America, poppy farmers in Asia, and pain patients here in the US.

The drug war hasn't stopped anyone from using illegal drugs. It's only been good at destroying our civil rights.