Travis In Austin

Here is what you should be looking at. http://www.webmd.com/news/20110420/the-10-most-prescribed-drugs Education in what sense? Read up all you want about morphine, become a leading expert in it. Then get hooked up to a morohine drip in a hospital for several days and have it suddenly cut off, withiut proper weaning, because you have no insurance, or your benefits coordinator says you need to get out if there. I don't care how educated you are about morphine, you will be dependant/and or addicted. Some just live through it or have no means to physically go iut and get it, others go to a doctor and get other forms of pain meds, others, go off the grid. Education works for alcohol and cigarettes. However, other things are required besides education. Getting it out of advertising and media for cigarettes was a big factor, along with the extinction of the Tobacco "Institute." I do not know the answer, I am generally against prohibition of any drug or substance, but when you get something prescribed by a doctor you figure it is safe and effective and that they are not going to get yiu hooked on anything. But that has not been the case with a lot if substances. Diet pills, tranquilizers, etc. Yet, people for a fact need pain meds. The United Natiins, in the early 60s declared that that access to opioid analgesics when properly prescribed was a fundamental human RIGHT. Personally, I think sugar is worse than all of them the way the food industry makes processed foods and hides 7t from the publuc in low fat hype. It is a slient and deadly killer. At least with heroin you know up front what you are getting into. So what is the answer? I see lot's of complaints, justified, and lots on the other side that are hard cold facts about deaths and abuse. Does anyone have any rational answers to how to strike a balance? Or shiukd they just sell it over the counter at the local drug store?

Perfect example of having to understand an issue enough to be able to research it, Those are the top BRANDED drugs prescribed and sold in US. What you need to search for is most prescribed drug, generic or otherwise. It is a pretty solid fact it us the mist prescribed drug.

Well the same agency posted this:http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/PainkillerOverdoses/index.html I think ODing on prescription pain meds is going to carry a stigma, unfortunately a lot of times it carries the stigma of death. I don't really see a difference between the alcohol and prescription pain medications. They are both legal, one with a prescription, the other if you are above a certain age. With alcohol there is about a 10% chance you will become addicted/dependant, based on genetics and some other factors. With opiates there is a much higher percentage of people who become addicted, or dependant, without regard to genetics, or other factors.

Jeff, Your post really nails it. For short term pain, post-surgery, dental, etc., there is only one thing that is known to work, opiates. The problem is with the treatment of chronic (over 90 days) moderate to severe pain. It really isn't big pharma any more, most of the heavy duty pain meds are all available generically, and a pretty low cost, Hydrocodone for example. It is a balance between trying to identify abusers from people trying to get relief and having a normal a life as possible. A balance between pill mills and doctors who are trying to help their patients deal with chronic pain. Despite what some have posted on here, there is a problem in the US with prescription pain meds. The number on cause of accidental death in the US is the overdose if prescription pain medications. 45 people A DAY die from prescription pain medication overdoses. More than heroin and cocaine combined. It beat out automobile accidents a few years ago and has stayed there. The makers of Oxycotin paid the largest settlement by a drug manufacture, over 600 million for misleading the public about the drug's risk of "addiction." Purdue, the manufacturer, had commissioned studies by doctors and othet researchers to say there was low risk of addiction. Yes semantics do come into play. The drug company tried to play that game, that a minute number became addicted. Thousands became dependent, and Oxycotin sales exceeded a billion a year. I understand the difference from a drug dependence and a drug addiction. I agree with you that is doesn't really matter what word you use, it is the practical effect on a person's life. If someone is drug dependent, using a drug as prescribed, it isn't going to matter to them that they are not addicted when they can no longer get the drug. If they are still in pain their lives are twice as worse, they still have the pain, plus they will go out and find a replacement for it, legally or not. Here us an article, from a peer reviwed scientific journal, Neuron, about the dilemma doctors face in how to treat chronic pain. It is by one of the foremost experts I have ever met on addiction and pain medication, Dr. Fields. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3073133/#!po=2.27273 Here is a great history of opioid use and regulatiin in the United States: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/upshot/painkiller-abuse-a-cyclical-challenge.html?abt=0002&abg=0 Whatever people take from the article wilo be according to their own viewpoint obviously, but I think the last paragraph is one that people need to focus on which concludes with: "Balancing the needs and risks is a continuing struggle." It is a complex issue, one that goes back over 100 years. It is a major public policy question that has no simple answer. Travis

Probably because alcohol is legal and so easy to get, compared to the other drugs. I just saw a commercial for the first time which puts an acronym, OIC, to a condition they call "Opioid Induced Constipation," with some sort of pill to relieve it. When they are making pills to make taking opiates more pleasurable, you just have to know opiate addiction must be in the millions. It takes a big market to run commercials like that. Hydrocodone (Vicoden) is the No. 1 prescribed drug in America. The United States, with less than 5 percent of the world's population consumes 80 percent of the opioids made, and 99 percent of the Hydrocodone made. Not sure if this is good or bad, those are just the facts.

Me too.

That is a good point, I even had to look it up. The wedding party, Matron, Maid of Honor, Best Man do not need to be Catholic, or even baptized. I concur on the San Miguel, but I prefer the dark.

Seems like there have been many great golfers from the Dallas area.

What a beautiful pup. I am very sorry to hear the news about her.

No lawyers in your area? Ohhhhhhhhh, that hurt.

I think you have stated a valid position in a great way. Why would you be banned? Should pain medication be available without a prescription? Should the people who make them be regulated to insure that they contain what they say contain, the proper dosage?

Wardsweb shared this photo with me today. The couple on the Woodstock album cover 40 years later. I have in mind that it was their performance of a lifetime.

I went through that about a year ago. I had a BlackBerry phone with touch keyboard that I really liked and it didn't matter that I had fumbling fat thumbs. It was way outdated and was not capable of synching ip with calander and other collaborative software so I had to switch. I really like the software and capabilities of the phone, and it was a quick learning process, especially in light of an abundance of kids who can show you how to do anything and everything. I still miss my keypad on the other phone, and am still constantly having it insert words I don't want, like "if" instead of "of". But overall I don't think I will ever go back,even if I could,

Glad you are not, and hopefully a long ways away.

I would settle for the tractor and the boat.

Hmmmm. Well that certainly one point of view, a government conspiracy. It makes perfect sense, especially in light of who the largest opium producing country is. They have tried to synthesize it to little practical result. The other view on this is every opiate based pill is available on the street and has a specific street value. People in fact "divert" and law enforcement tends to get upset when they bust people with 100s of pharmaceutical opioids in every brand and dosage. The other issue is that with the unethical doctor of the 90s they could hook any one they wanted on opiates, or be know as an easy source for writing scripts for opiates. The same exact thing happened with "diet" pills in the 60s, they had housewives addicted to methamphetamine, like Obetrol. It became a schedule II drug and dispensing of highly addictive drugs for weight loss was quickly curtailed. Sure physicians hate it, but they understand that in every profession there are some bad people that have caused the whole profession to be regulated. They would rather have it regulated because in the old days they knew they would lose a patient because they would go down the street and be able to find a doctor willing to write the prescription. Cocaine is available by prescription, as is methamphetamine, morphine, along with a whole host of other things that have been classified as having a significant risk of addiction and abuse. While one view can certainly be that it is regulation run amuck, there is also a widely held view that it became necessary to protect the public from their unscrupulous physicians and drug companies.

Beautiful, the dogs that is. Aweso.e looking shepard, what is the story on Whitey?

Whoa, Cadillac Hearse??????????? So there has to be a great story about that. You are in good company, Neil Young had a Buick Roadmaster hearse that he drove down from Canada to LA and met Stills. So what is the story on that hearse.

Now that is awesome. I am trying to remember the last time I was on a bicycle, probably 20 years ago in Moab and in Vail, CO. I could not even fathom hopping on one and doing that. My hat's off to you. Travis

Thank you for that update, I miss Max.

Jim Clark's Indy winning Lotus 38 car. Yes another example of Anglo design and American Ford power. I loved that car, I had the British Matchbox of that car as a kid. To me,Jim Clark was the best all around driver of all time, at least at the very top.

I have represented many, many people who have become addicted to prescription opioids, such as OxyContin, and found themselves in trouble with the law. Here is a layperson asking in his blog whether that program from the CBC was fair and balanced. http://rockinontheblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/was-fifth-estate-oxycontin-attack-on.html?m=1 There is revolutionary new medication to treat opiate addiction and I am happy to say that there is hope for those who have run into a problem. The difficulty lies with those who have real chronic severe pain, pain meds seem to be the only relief available. I recall Dean discussing going through chronic, sever back pain. Thise with the medical backgrounds, Roger, Larry, Oscarear, Kevin, etc. Are in a much better position to discuss the medical issues surrounding opioids, there adminitration, potential for abuse, safeguards available to try and prevent addiction, etc. I pray my brothers and sister here never suffer an episode requiring the prolonged use of opioid medications.

Well, you will either get it or you won't. I just try to state the obvious and facts. My intention wasn't to insult anyone, but if that is what it takes for people to understand that racial, political or religious views are not appropriate for discussion here, then so be it. I guess all I can say is that if anyone finds me stating what are clearly the rules as found in the terms of service and been repeated in a 100 different ways over the last two months by moderators and administrators alike, then maybe it is high time they look at themselves before they look at moderators or the host of this forum for answers. I like this forum, I would like it to be around for a long time to come. I have seen too many companies eliminate their forums or because of comments expressed in that locked thread. No politics, no race, no religion. If you are insulted about that, then maybe this isn't the forum for you. If it was the manner in which I restated the rules for those who were inquiring about why that thread was obviously locked, all I can say is that people were asking so I tried to answer. It wasn't anything personal on my part. I guess I could have said it another way, like "pretty please, with sugar on top" don't get threads locked by interjecting politics, religion or race into the discussion. Especially, ones with sincere thoughts about the tragedy befallen our service members. I wouldn't really worry about it though, it will continue to happen. Threads will continue to be locked, and people will continue to wonder why they are locked. The big question I have is why is it that when a person announces a tragedy and states there best wishes and thoughts for the victims of that tragedy that is in some sort of way inviting a discussion about the cause of that tragedy? Or asking for a solution to the problem? Someone took the time and effort to post the news, convey their sorrow, and their desire that others join in their thoughts and prayers. If they wanted to know the cause of the tragedy, or the solution they would have asked. I guess it is because everyone here has a genuine desire to be helpful. So in what is hopefully a kinder and gentler way of of trying to be helpful, the thread was most likely locked because it discussed thing which are not allowed by the forum rules and terms if service, namely, race, religion, and politics. However, that is entirely speculation on my part. It is entirely possible that the moderator(s) who locked it may have simply been insulted.

I saw that when it aired live well, by a fluke. He has played two sings with his brothers came out by himself and said he loved the memories of playing the "old" songs with his brothers but he liked doing new stuff too, and he launched into that song. It launched his album and his tour, it was a "come back" for him and revealed how multi-talented he was. Everyone was trying to moonwalk in the days and weeks that followed that show, some better than others.

Would like photo of chihuahuas.