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Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective

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Warning! Always wear ANSI approved safety goggles when reading posts by 
Checkmate!  In article <wcydnXwTIuEYT2HEnZ2dnUU7-
QWdnZ2d@scnresearch.com>, pandora@peak.org says...


> 
> On Thu, 02 Nov 2017 21:57:26 -0700, Checkmate, DoW Numero Uno wrote:
> 
> > "Our people are dying. One hundred seventy-five people a day, every day,
> > are dying in the United States from this (opioid) epidemic," said
> > commission chairman Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, one of five
> > politicians who served on (Trump's) six member panel.
> > 
> > "If a terrorist organization was killing 175 Americans every day on
> > American soil, what would you be willing to pay to make it stop? I think
> > we'd be willing to do anything and everything to make it stop. And
> > that's the way we now need to see this, because this is an attack from
> > within. We are killing ourselves."
> > 
> > Oh, really?
> 
> It's the old "war on drugs" surfacing once more.  And I don't think these 
> characters can tell the difference between legitimate use and 
> illegitimate and illegal use.  

They don't care.  It's about politics and money, and keeping those 
prisons overflowing, and giving people a criminal record guaranteed to 
keep them poor and unemployed for a lifetime.  Comparing 175 deaths a day 
to the urgency of terrorist acts, when smoking kills 1315 people a day, 
obesity kills 822 people a day, and alcohol directly killing 241 people a 
day plus another 30 from alcohol-related car crashes (thought that would 
be higher), why all the outrage and self righteous indignation being 
directed at legitimate chronic pain patients who just want a functional 
life?  

I wish I had statistics on how many of those 175 are actually chronic 
pain patients under the supervision of a doctor, and how many are 
druggies that just want to get high, because they've lumped them all 
together... a guy like me who breaks pills in half and only takes the 
minimal amount to stay functional and work for a living, versus junkies 
who are shooting up heroin or misusing Fentanyl... a VERY potent and 
scary drug.  Why do they fail to differentiate between those two 
extremes?  My idea of an opioid "high," is simply to not feel as much 
pain so I can get through my day.  I never actually feel "high," because 
I titrate my allotted amount during the day to fit my pain level.

 
> > The NIH estimates that nearly 34 percent of U.S. adults can be
> > classified as "obese," meaning they have a body mass index of more than
> > 30. By this standard, a man who stands 5-foot-11, Christie's reported
> > height, would be obese if his weight reached 215 pounds. While Christie
> > does not disclose his weight, it appears to exceed the 286 pounds that
> > would place him among the 5.7 percent of American adults whom NIH
> > classifies as "extremely obese."
> > 
> > https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chris-christies-big-
> > problem/2011/09/29/gIQAAL7J8K_story.html?utm_term=.26746c6da25d
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > "According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity and overweight
> > together are the second leading cause of preventable death in the United
> > States, close behind tobacco use. An estimated 300,000 deaths per year
> > are due to the obesity epidemic."
> > 
> > https://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/oehp/obesity/mortality.htm
> > 
> > That's 822 per day... almost FIVE TIMES as many as all opioid users...
> > both legitimate and illegal, and Chris Christie is in that group.
> 
> Indeed.
>  
> > Would it not be equally fair to use the Governor's own words to refer to
> > the obesity epidemic, by merely changing the number of "victims" from
> > 175 to 822?  Let's try it:
> > 
> > "Our people are dying. Eight hundred twenty-two people a day, every day,
> > are dying in the United States from this (obesity) epidemic,"
> > 
> > "If a terrorist organization was killing 822 Americans every day on
> > American soil, what would you be willing to pay to make it stop? I think
> > we'd be willing to do anything and everything to make it stop. And
> > that's the way we now need to see this (obesity problem), because this
> > is an attack from within. We are killing ourselves."
> > 
> > Is there anybody in Trump's Whitehouse who can see the flaws in this
> > thinking?  Even if you take the 175 people a day who are allegedly dying
> > from the "opioid epidemic," how many of them do you suppose are long
> > term chronic pain sufferers who have a long history of successfully
> > managing opioid usage in a responsible manner, and how many are likely
> > to be junkies making Fentanyl tea, injecting heroin, or buying
> > legitimate opioids illegitimately on the street with no medical
> > supervision?  Even if chronic pain sufferers had to choose between a
> > long life of constant misery or a shorter life with at least enough pain
> > reduction to remain functional rather than bedridden, how many people
> > would choose a longer, more painful life?  I think all of us who have to
> > live this way know the answer to that one.
> >
> Again, indeed.
> 
> > 
> > ALSO according to the CDC:
> > 
> > "Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year
> > in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from
> > secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or
> > 1,300 deaths every day."
> > 
> > YES!  1,300 people die every day from smoking cigarettes, but Chris
> > Christie thinks we need to go to war over 175 people dying every day
> > from opioid use, yet tobacco use is legal, and merely an optional
> > lifestyle choice that has absolutely no redeeming value, like relieving
> > the chronic pain that legitimate opioid users need to alleviate just to
> > have something close to a normal, functional life.
> > 
> > https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/
> index.
> > htm
> > 
> > 
> > ALSO, 241 people are dying from alcohol abuse every day, 30 people are
> > dying from alcohol-related car crashes... every day, and 1315 are dying
> > from tobacco use... every day.  Is it too much to ask, to choose our
> > battles a little more wisely?
> 
> I would think so but then *they* don't listen to the likes of us.

I've been listening to the news all day.  Everybody in Government seems 
to be getting caught lying to congress, lying to the public, doing their 
dirty little deals behind closed doors... and we get THIS.  One of my 
favorite quotes of all time came from Will Rogers:

"Thank God we don't get all the Government we pay for!"

-- 
Checkmate

In loving memory of The Battle Kitten
May 2010-February 12, 2017

******************************************************

"I'm simply going to focus my efforts.  I've dropped my trolling
endeavors in six groups just to help increase the pressure on you."

-Baby Matthew "Mad Hatter" Moulton explains how he plans to "destroy" 
me+... back in 2001
Message-ID: <3a893ceb.45886754@news.supernews.com>
            
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Thread

The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective "Checkmate, DoW Numero Uno" <ricksabian1@gmail.corn> - 2017-11-02 21:57 -0700
  Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective pandora <pandora@peak.org> - 2017-11-03 15:33 -0500
    Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective % <persent@gmail.com> - 2017-11-03 13:39 -0700
    Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective "Checkmate, DoW Numero Uno" <ricksabian1@gmail.corn> - 2017-11-03 15:48 -0700
      Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective pandora <pandora@peak.org> - 2017-11-04 00:56 -0500
        Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective "Checkmate, DoW Numero Uno" <ricksabian1@gmail.corn> - 2017-11-04 00:04 -0700
          Re: The "opioid epidemic"... keeping things in perspective pandora <pandora@peak.org> - 2017-11-04 10:56 -0500

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