Obviously drug abuse is a hugely complex issue that I could never summarize in a short comment, but I would be interested in seeing if heroin abuse rates would decrease if doctors in a given area prescribed fewer prescription opiates. I also think more education should be given on usage of opiates when they are prescribed; I was on strong opiates (morphine and dilaudid) for several months and despite being very conservative with my use (for fear of getting a dependence) my tolerance still went up significantly over the period - had the source of my pain not been treated, I could see myself having had far more issues with getting off the drugs.
And through my own process, I had people around me who seemed to think that if a doctor prescribed it, then it was pretty much safe to do whatever in the name of reducing pain. I had a hard time explaining to them that the actual "drug" part of heroin is very, very similar to the drugs I was being prescribed - prescription pills just seem "cleaner", I suppose.
Obviously drug abuse is a hugely complex issue that I could never summarize in a short comment, but I would be interested in seeing if heroin abuse rates would decrease if doctors in a given area prescribed fewer prescription opiates. I also think more education should be given on usage of opiates when they are prescribed; I was on strong opiates (morphine and dilaudid) for several months and despite being very conservative with my use (for fear of getting a dependence) my tolerance still went up significantly over the period - had the source of my pain not been treated, I could see myself having had far more issues with getting off the drugs.
And through my own process, I had people around me who seemed to think that if a doctor prescribed it, then it was pretty much safe to do whatever in the name of reducing pain. I had a hard time explaining to them that the actual "drug" part of heroin is very, very similar to the drugs I was being prescribed - prescription pills just seem "cleaner", I suppose.