Deaths from Opioid Overdose Tripled

[liveonearth]

US Deaths from opioid overdose tripled between 1999 and 2006 according to CDC Data. The drug leading the charge for the grave was methadone.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/709744?src=mpnews&spon=12&uac=89474MT
I talked to a junkie on bus#9 the other day who had been through hell but not died. He had a good idea what his protocol would be for getting people unhooked from methadone. It involved taking pts through a series of other high powered drugs, each to be given for a time period just short of the dependence/addiction-inducing timeframe. He was sure his method would work.

Comments

different strokes for different folks...

[beauregard45.livejournal.com]

i think addiction potential is variable from one person to the next. The feeling I get is that it is not the same for every person. Some folks are pre-disposed to it chemically in their brain, others are not. So, if it takes 51% of a 100% whole person to be an addict, then whether the 51% or more is caused by chemical or mental, it does not matter. You can be in a bad relationship but be mildly pre-disposed chemically, say 35% mental, and 16% chemical, and wala, you have an addict.
In this previous scenario, if you work on the mental, you can help the addict.
or, the other way around. But I do think some folks are a bit more pre-disposed to being a chemically (brain driven) addict.
maybe a bit simple, but that is the feeling I get.
anecdotally, I am going to Colorado next weekend to visit family, notably my father. He was a long term alcoholic until about 49 years old. I get the feeling he had a strong pre-disposition to a chemically derived dependency.
just the opinion of an ACOA (adult child of an alcoholic...)

Re: different strokes for different folks...

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

The irony of this all is that mental IS chemical. Change either one and you change the other.

Hope your trip to CO goes well.