re: Had a buddy die of an OD last night.

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I had a root canal on Tuesday and was prescribed Narcos. After reading this thread, down the garbage disposal they went.

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You could have given me that shite

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Pain pills to heroin for most

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That sucks. The few times I ever got prescribed pain pills it was just like super strong ibuprofen.

Maybe they've started cracking down on this shite.

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mental illness and addiction usually go hand in hand

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This is the most important thing that has been said so far in this thread. On the whole, it isn't that most addicts want to get something; it's that they want to get away from something. Drugs and alcohol do that for them.

At any given time, 30% of the population are dealing with mental illness of some degree. It comes and goes for most of us and we deal with it in varying ways. However, when it won't go away and it's intense, nothing short of suicide will stop it. Many take that route.

Most, however, attempt to find relief using drugs and alcohol. They can achieve a temporary abatement of their mental symptoms but the monster of addiction takes over and ultimately consumes their lives.

Those who don't have sympathy for addicts also don't have any empathy for their fractured lives. They need to walk a mile in their shoes.

Psychiatry, support from friends, a loving family and, especially, religion can't give even a respite from the mental anguish that drives most people to drugs and alcohol. We, as a society, need to engage in much more research into mental illnesses.

50 years ago we stopped institutionalizing the mentally ill. We dumped them into the streets to fend for themselves as they were able. The price we are paying is ever more frequent mass killings and a rampant addiction epidemic.

Opioid addiction is a horrible disease.. sorry to hear that man

frick this epidemic. I've had 2 friends die from this shite. Very sorry for your loss.

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This is the most important thing that has been said so far in this thread. On the whole, it isn't that most addicts want to get something; it's that they want to get away from something. Drugs and alcohol do that for them.

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sadly true more often than not.

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The etiology of every addiction is not a mental illness. Many addicted people began using drugs and/ or alcohol to be cool.

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That why I use terms such as most, many, etc.

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Yes, some have endogenous mental health issues due to a chemical imbalance in the brain.

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Many more than you're willing to accept, obviously. Also, mental illnesses are caused by many more conditions than "chemical imbalance in the brain." That's a cop out only someone with no knowledge of the brain's anatomy would espouse.

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Most have been prescribed legal medication to treat their medical conditions

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Your ignorance is as profound as your belief that mental illnesses can be "treated" with current medical technology. Much more research must be done.

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There are resources available and it becomes a personal choice whether to avail oneself of the resources whether it be seeking medical advice, self help groups and individual sponsors , religion, etc.

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Such a stupid thing to say.

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We have sympathy and empathy for those who truly have an internal chemical imbalance. That is a true disease for which the person generally has little responsibility.

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I don't think you know the definition of sympathy or empathy and you definitely don't know what causes mental illnesses.

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Maybe you should walk in the shoes of those who have to deal with the consequences

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My first wife killed herself because she couldn't cope with her mental illness and the addiction that occurred from trying to get some relief from it. Stick that up your unsympathetic arse, where your brain is, and think about it.

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Sorry if that seems harsh but when you have lived through what many of us have experienced we can no longer accept the excuses.

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You know how I know you're a psychopath?

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How much more money and resources are needed? Vast sums are already spent in medical payments for addiction related treatment . There are voluminous programs such as DARE, community counseling services and other treatment centers which are partially or wholly funded by tax payers.

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You're joking. Vast sums, voluminous programs. I think you're confusing the mental health issue with the out-of-control government welfare programs.

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Time to quit hiding behind this disease concept except for the small percentage who are truly mentally ill and very dysfunctional. The rest have choices to make just like the rest of us do on a daily basis.

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Just because you haven't been caught up in a mass shooting, yet, doesn't mean that mental illness is not a major problem. Your need to discount the number of people who struggle with a mental illness shows just how little knowledge you possess.

I hate addiction.
Sorry for your loss.

Tigerssb, I can make the assumption based on your posts that you are obviously a deity that has never made a single mistake, nor have the ability to make a poor choice/decision. It would really benefit the country as a whole if you'd be able to espouse your extreme knowledge to the rest of us citizens. You should petition the president to become the new drug czar.

The likelihood of anyone being able to progress through life in the USA and never once have a sip of alcohol, be prescribed an opiate, or sample marijuana is extremely low, and I would postulate almost non-existent. The people who are predisposed to addiction have the neural circuit activated as soon as that mind altering substance reaches a level that changes their mood.

There are lots of people who actually hate the feeling of any dulling or loss of their senses. The large majority will never have an issue controlling their use and may just go through a use/abuse phase typically viewed as social type use. Any type of adverse outcome as a consequence of their using is enough for them to quit permanently.

For the true addict, the experience is vastly different. The altering of mood allows them to feel "normal". The substance is viewed as an answer/solution to problems in their life that perhaps they didn't even know they needed a solution for. The vast majority of true addicted people will tell you that the first time they used/drank and got the feeling/effect they actually loved the effect. The process was initiated at that point, and since the effect was so novel with such low amounts the illusion of danger was minimized. Furthermore, in the early stages there is a grand overriding thought that the user was in control.

The neurotransmitters involved in the primitive brain pathways are involved in basic survival needs and therefore extemely powerful and reinforcing. These pathways are dedicated to reward systems and memory, as it benefits the organism to positively reinforce survivable behaviors (sleep, eating, sex). The people who are predisposed will have exaggerated responses and neural remapping of the brain which make them on a basic level view the substance as a greater need for survival than the other three.

Because of the essential disregard for higher cortical (decision making) function the pathways strengthen for the addictive circuit and blur the lines between "right and wrong" and become about survival and non survival.

So, why are people able to ever overcome this neural circuitry once it has taken hold? It seems like they are forever doomed, and in some respects that is true. Because the brain has the capacity for neuroplasticity (change) people are able to recover. Unfortunately, this recovery takes time and needs support from other people. The reality is that a true addict/alcoholic is unable to be abstinent long enough to recover by themselves. There is a massive stigma that must be overcome, treatment in general is very expensive and long, and there is generally an inability for the addict to think that they will be able to have any sort of life without the substance.

The 30 day programs to treat a years long addiction is, quite frankly, not enough to be considered a "cure" or "treatment" for the issue. Proper treatment involves the idea that the condition is chronic and will require lifetime maintenance. It takes months for biofeedback loops to be altered enough to reset normal reward circuitry.

Society still doesn't understand the need for any addict/alcoholic to be completely abstinent from any mind altering substance. People offer opiate addicts a beer or an alcoholic some weed all the time unknowingly. People often think that John's issue was percocet, so a beer isn't a big deal. The reality is that the beer is a big deal.

Education, tolerance, and acceptance are what is needed from the addict's social network to maximize their chances of recovery.

All this being said, no addict will ever recover until they have the willingness and desire themselves.