John Oliver discusses the extent and root of the nation’s epidemic of opioid addiction.
Connect with Last Week Tonight online...
Subscribe to the Last Week Tonight KZhead channel for more almost news as it almost happens: / lastweektonight
Find Last Week Tonight on Facebook like your mom would:
/ lastweektonight
Follow us on Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news:
/ lastweektonight
Visit our official site for all that other stuff at once:
www.hbo.com/lastweektonight
That women in the crowd must've been on a lot of opioids!
wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uh-huh :P
twealve dread do you mean "that woman" or "those women"
Ugh, not you again sorry, that woman
Uh huh.
I thought they just had a really obnoxious bird
And meanwhile they ban weed as a 'gateway drug', but you can get pills everywhere.
Kleavers it's a bullshit excuse. Companies don't want it because it's cheaper than a lot of alternatives like hemp or oil for treatment
we should be glad. though weed should be legalized, the better drugs are the ones you can get legally. that shit gets you way higher than weed does. obviously with worse side effects but tis the price
that's cos they need an excuse to throw black people in jail, and make them provide slave labour
and people can grew it by themselves....
+Hrishi Telcontar black people and white people use marijuana at the same rate. the law isn't targeting blacks. the law is just there and by default, cops target blacks over whites for any crime.
"Heroin is cheaper than painkillers". That's frightening.
I mean, it is.
That is actually the exact reason I became an addict. I mostly smoked weed and started drinking at 21, but a "point" or even a half gram of heroin was technically cheaper and longer lasting than either of those. So, financially, it made more sense to take up dope. Obviously that was stupid and it got exponentially more expensive, but initially it's what got me interested.
Comments section: 1% - people discussing various aspects and consequences of opioids consumption 99% - laughing lady
Far cheaper. I coukd trade my bottle of pain meds 2 weeks worth for 5 weeks worth of fentanyl and heroin and 1 bottle of liquid methadone which i got thrown off of with no warning even though i never abused drugs. Then while in severe withdrawal from tapering so fast someone taught me how to some some black they had and i smoked it up until 5 months ago when i found someone thst had methadone then a subutext hook which i prefer to suboxone. The naloxone as small amount as it is in suboxone.hurts my stomach snd subutext helps with pain and eliminstes cravings but if i could have one 70mg methadone bottle per day for life i know i would be genuinely more.happy.and stable person who can enjoy doing everything love. Methadone fot SOME people can be a miracle drug but subutext works best for the majority as long as they dint have severe pain even then it helps a bit
I mean that’s why people use it. If you were addicted and you had the choice, why would you pick something more expensive, less effective, with worse side effects (track marks) AND is likely cut with bullshit that could kill you if done incorrectly (fentanyl)? Opioids are the gateway to heroin, and you cross that line only when you no longer have a way to afford prescription opioids.
As a black, female chronic pain sufferer. I was treated like a drug seeker while trying to find someone who would actually treat me for my pain. Luckily I have a pain specialist now.
Thank you for saying something about those of us with chronic pain that need some form of these types of medication and can use them responsibly. Like so much in America this isn't an either-or discussion but one that requires nuance.
Yes. So many people are suffering needlessly. Last November Fentanyl was reclassified on the same level of PCP, LSD etc. Deemed no use for medical purposes. Imagine the ppl with chronic pain, in a pandemic right before Christmas now have to immediately come off one the strongest pain relievers on the market. I was one. Luckily I knew this was coming because I used to work in the industry so I was able to prepare with a slow taper. But I can't imagine the people who's 2020 year ended even worse.
This was the comment I was looking for. Thank you! 🐈💜😸 I have a rare genetic connective tissue disorder called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS). I’m born with very little cartilage & what I’m born with my body can’t repair. Also, the very disorder that causes my pain makes me resistant to anesthetics & pain medication. I have multiple dislocations a day. One dr told me I should be used to the pain of joint locations by now. I never know what joint will dislocate. As I sit here my fingers are screaming just from the daily things one has to do with ones hands. I have no cartilage left in my knuckles plus bone spurs on most knuckles from the bones rubbing on each other. I also have severe osteoarthritis in most of my joints. Without pain medication I would not be able to care for myself. I’m 45. My family barely helps take care of me now, without pain meds I would have probably killed myself by now just from the pain. The local pain clinic took _all_ their patients off opioids & put them all on some sort of behavioral therapy. The rate of suicides in their patients skyrocketed. They hired a therapist & started asking everyone at every appointment if they felt suicidal. Thankfully my internist controls my pain meds & understands that something like hydrocodone won’t work, at all, & I’ll need to take it more frequently due to my natural resistance. I still do everything I can to avoid the ER.
My cousin has that and two autoimmune diseases. Marijuana saved her life! Please look into it!
@@MiniM69 I use medical Marijuana daily
Comments section: 1% - people discussing various aspects and consequences of opioids consumption 99% - laughing lady
👍👍 yup
I think she maybe hired to laugh because I’ve heard her laugh in the background of The Daily Show
April Thatcher are you sure it’s the same woman?
To be fair we could barely hear John
@@mrrodriguez2947 did you mean uh huh?
I appreciate that John Oliver brings these things to light, but you really shouldn't watch them all back to back. It's depressing.
I like to laugh while i cry.
Hahaaa, humor is a hell of a defense mechanism xD ... *sob*
Watching all these videos make America look like a unstable Nation waiting to die. but that is Reality.
It's all about seeing it context and maintaining perspective. Every day I remind myself there are so many things right with the world and this country. Those things just don't need fixing so naturally we're not going to spend time talking about them.
your last sentence just fucked up the last bit of hope I had for this country who had done so much good to the world. Once.
"I had 9 teeth pulled out of my head for prescriptions." Jesus christ.
@Alex Pokrandt It is literally a quote from the video you knobhead
one at a time
I love how you have no experience with addiction or recovery but you still cover it with perfection. Thank you John. As someone who has struggled with IV heroin addiction, i sincerely thank you for the way in which you cover addiction.
Are you clean now? From one addict to another, I sure hope so and I hope you're doing great!
@@katy61 I sure am :) its been more than 2 years since I've had to do heroin. Thank god. I'm so grateful that you're clean too!!! Every day is a milestone
@@jevinday I am so proud of you!! That is no easy feat, my friend! My daughters father has been on it for years and he just cannot get it together. Needless to say, hes not in her life
@@jevinday how you holding up?
@@TheBoxingCannabyte maybe not so well since they never responded, just hope im wrong.. unfortunately as an opioid addict my self, relapse is extremely high (i think 80-90%). Just hope they respond sometime saying they've kept it up, fingers crossed 👍
I found my single mother dead on the couch when I was twelve. My only sister died of an overdose when I was seventeen, which was nine years after her first overdose; as an eight-year-old child I had to call 911 while she turned blue on the kitchen floor, because I couldn't get mom to get out of her bed to help. Both of them had prescriptions from a doctor up until their deaths. Suffice it to say, opioid addiction doesn't just affect the individuals taking the drugs. Just want to thank John Oliver and the folks at Last Week Tonight for raising awareness.
I'm so sorry you had to go through that...I can't even imagine.
Damn it does not look good for you with those genetics.
i'm sorry for your lost
Getrekttt
Fallacy Inc Damn...
John: People are addicted to opiods That one audience member: AHHHHHHH HAHHHHAAHHHHH
She came for the jokes and she was committed to having a good time, damn it!
I second that laugh. It's easy. Just say NO to drugs! What exactly IS the problem? The answer is no! lmao
@@madisonschmid2010 Great advice for veterans surrounded by death and destruction or kids beaten and abused, screw your annihilated psyche! Just function like johnny easylife! What's the prob bruh?
@@vagabond2866 So basically, you're also a drug addict... Cool story bro!
@@madisonschmid2010 LMAO this was the embodiment of over simplification
9:25 Making "scientific" claims without actual scientific evidence or review should be illegal like defamation, because not only does it harm people it tricked, it destroys the only thing that brought humanity out of blind-faith dark ages: credibility of science.
Ex-fucking-zactly.
Marketing people just doesn't care about credibility.
Nor did John here take any notice of the data or science.
Unfortunately, I have a chronic condition called Central Nerve Pain and I need opiates to survive the day. These meds are both the best thing that's ever happened to me and my worst nightmare. I've lost control before, but thankfully, I got control back after HORRIBLE withdrawal symptoms. I'm glad John spoke of this issue with such nuance because it's an incredibly tough subject to discuss.
I have bad nerve pain after multiple spine surgeries and all they gave me was 30 5mg roxys...it takes me 5 minutes just to get into bed without medication and I'm screaming the whole time. Thank goodness for poppy sead tea. Unwashed poppy has helped me tremendously
@ricksteves3426 My Central Nerve Pain is the result of several spinal trauma in my childhood. The pain started chronically when I was nearly 17 in 2002, when pain doctors were handing out opiates like candy. I started out on 100mcg of Fentynal, and 21 years later, the most I need to get through the day is around 30mg of morphine, but that's due to more spine surgery, a small heart attack that made methadone dangerous for my heart, and a life expectancy notice of about two years. I'm sure I'll have to up the dose before the very end, but I'm happy to deal with a bit of pain and a low dose of morphine every day (those 30mg come in either 7.5mg every 4hrs or 15mg every 12hrs, usually a mix of both).
When ur typing a last minute essay but...
Mitchell Lazarow ME TOO OH MY GOD
SAME I STILL DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO FOR THE THESIS
Jerr Bear Ok ok ok we can get through this together
+Jerr Bear George Washington gay
Use John Oliver as a reward to yourself if you complete said essay. Tis what I did :p.
So Im from germany, but these commercials cannot possibly be real right? Do they talk about drugs like they talk about kids toys in the ads?
Lucas Stark they usually aren't commercials, they are videos that they show kids in health class.
they are real, drug commercials are unfortunately very common
Lucas Stark yep.
haha also that derail, you know whos been having some :D
Uh huh
I had a friend who got hooked to oxycontin. Luckily he survived his first overdose and was given medical help instead of prison time. He's now clean and living with his girlfriend
I started on Norco because of breaking my collar bone at 16. I was up to 30 a day, then moved to heroin by my 30s. I've lost many friends. I'm grateful to be in recovery every day. I also hand out narcan in my town and other clean use supplies.
The thing about John Oliver as compared to other late night shows is he actually brings to light real issues. Everyone else has been on the trump hate Hillary hate wagon but he focuses on serious issues that others don't talk about.
Edifon oj I was just thinking the exact same
They're all hacks, otherwise they wouldn't have the platforms they do. 19 minutes 22 seconds, and not 1 mention of Afghanistan. The driving force behind this surge of heroin in our country and others. Not 1 mention.
Didn't mention Kratom, which is getting pushed back to being a schedule 3 drug because it has powerful, opoid like pain killing properties, but it's not an opoid, it's just a smokable plant, this pisses me off as it was responsible for lowering opoid deaths by offering a legal alternative without the possibility of overdoses.
He also doesn't really give Hillary as much trouble as she deserves, yes, she's better than trump, yes, I hope Trump doesn't win against her, but good lordie christmas when he addressed Stein last week the only one of her issues that he took her down on was the quantitative easing one, and the other was a linguistic used by scientists that she adopted. Since she's not in the field of researching autism or vaccine effects, "I'm not aware" is the scientifically appropriate response. And, next to a No-fly zone, which has been addressed as requiring a war with both Syria and Russia, and Clinton admitted would "Kill allot of Syrians", having a country album about environmental and social concern is just great, actually. It also goes to show that HBO is a substantial source of donations in Clinton's campaign, so while our options are terrible, really, we should have had Sanders as an option to trump Trump, as well as to ensure a less war-like, less self-enriching president coming up.
The only thing that pissed me off about this video is that he didn't mention Kratom. The DEA is trying to make it a schedule 1 drug it hits the opioid receptors in a different way than opiates. Withdraws are similar to getting a cold for most and only lasts a week usually, some do get pretty bad withdraws but it's nothing like heroin or most opiate withdraws. It helps with pain reduces anxiety keeps you focused for me it's a fucking miracle medicine you don't nod your not out of it your just you but a calm more focused you. Thousands have used kratom to get off of heroin and pain meds it has saved countless lifes. But does John mention it no and thats what pisses me off.
There's always one woman in the audience that's just having the bestest of times.
She's on opioids, that's why. Everything's hilarious when you're mellow out of your mind.
mind waves Or the blurstest of times
It was the bestest of times, it was the worsest of time
Falling asleep at random
I want to party with her.
I messed up my back as a kid. As an adult my multiple slipped disks became too much to deal with on my own. My primary care doctor sent me to pain management. I started on hydrocodone and oxycodone. When I was still in pain the Dr then gave me fentinyl patches, then methadone. I eventually woke up in the ICU after a medically induced coma. I'm now off all of them thanks to selling off all my valuable possessions to purchase a medical marijuana card. Thanks to it I get the same effects as I would with an IV of morphine. Yes it does still hurt, but I can ignore the pain, I no longer care so much that it hurts. Downside is now I can't find a job. No one wants to hire a 'stoner'
Was waiting for the "Take that business daddy!" After the cell phone full coverage joke...lol
John: what time is it? Lady in the back aaaaaaAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Blair the cat what’s the time stamp?
NukeTwins 00:42
18 days clean from heroin/fentanyl after 5 yrs of use.... it's been a really rough ride, but it's possible. EDIT [2020]: Woah, thanks for the support guys. I'm happy to say I'm doing well. I had a quick slip but got on Suboxone then came off that too! It means a lot for me to see this. Much love and respect to anyone else in the struggle.
Raj Sihota did you use suboxon i hope
Hey keep it up bro
Raj Sihota good luck with staying off.
Raj Sihota stay sober bro. In a month or two you’ll be great
Cheryl Montgomery suboxons do not help.
7:46 The Seagull really enjoyed seeing that toy gorilla.
Thank you
I honestly didn't notice because I was listening to John Oliver 😅
Thanks OP. Not for the comment, but I was looking for the part with the plushie.
NATURE IS HEALING XD
I visited a hospital in America with back pain as a Brit. The doctor gave me OxyContin first as a fit and healthy 20 year old with back pain. This is the cause of the problem.
Holy crap, where in US were you and when?
@@tinacayford7549 Florida, August 2017
@@michaeljarvis6587 Damn, you just needed to say you were in Florida- that says it all.
As a nurse, I’m also pissed at the physicians who prescribe large amounts of opioids to sick people who truly need them for long periods of time and then cut them off cold turkey with no addiction treatment when they don’t need them any longer. This causes people like that grandmother to lose everything. The grandkids don’t understand why grandma isn’t sick any longer but she looks and acts sick for what can last months to years at a time. So they illegally obtain opioids to keep their quality of life and things spin out of control. It’s very sad. People, if you ever get on opioids for a long period of time due to cancer or something serious have a discussion with your doctor before hand and let him know that you know that it is his responsibility to help you with your physical addiction after the medication has been discontinued.
This is a sad part of the world and it makes me angry that this isn't more widely known
Also, opioid addicts should be allowed to buy opioids at pharmacies at reasonable prices, (and be covered by insurance) not be forced into the black market where they end up in debt to dangerous people in order to obtain crap that was cut with rat poison.
The procedure i am familiar with is that recovering cancer patients are weened of in an clinical setting (lower and lower dosage applied over drip)
@Binky D'Eath I never bothered to look what they use, know only that it is an mixture of drugs that is given over very slow drip twice daily for about 2 hours each and success rate is very high (given you have people who return to intact social situations mostly the reason i guess)
@Binky D'Eath How you got the idea that i do not take pain serious and people who need opiates to survive serious is behond me, I said that in europe you treat people in an hospital for removal from opiates, AS SOON THEY DO NOT NEED THEM ANYMORE. That makes to me much more sense than just cutting them off. I had an inflamation of the incestines and it was decided that the side effects of opiates where to dangerous so i had to do without, anyone who had that once can tell you that yes, you want to die NOW. So yeah, i know "kinda" about pain.
Good god who screams like that through the whole show? Fuck.
was looking through the comments to see if anyone else was annoyed by that
uh huh
i was just coming to post about that nonstop wailing...
Tomi Lahren, anybody?
Thunderstriker I
I decided to put the "start low go slow" advice to the test, and I have to say, thanks bro. Worked like a charm.
Did you take her to friendlies for a rootbeer float after?
7:11 That's supposed to be a joke, but true story, when my mother (a hardcore liberal) was in a nursing home dying, the nurses turned on the TV for her and left it on Fox News. We never had cable at home, but she would not have wanted to watch that even if we did.
My wife is a social worker here in Canada. People have no idea how wide spread drug use is among "regular people".
Everyone uses drugs, it's just a question of which ones.
Well... no. :)
I'm in Toronto and methadone is crazy easy to get in Canada so unless you want the high and not just to kill the pain and not get sick there really is no excuse.
Goku learns to Kamehameha
Alex Jhons I am an addictions worker in Canada. It is mind- boggling to me how many professional functioning addicts we have in Canada. I work at the other end of that financial spectrum with homeless & indigent addicts. It isnt any different. Addiction is addiction. I have been to so many client funerals that I feel like an undertaker. I have counselled their grieving families. We need a solution. We need to remove the stigma so that everyone can seek help without fear of retribution. Kudos to your wife & her dedication . I applaud her.
7:52 John: "And yes his name is Ha..." Me: "RAMBE?!" John: "rold." Me: Ohh... :(
Bodo Ballermann dead meme
Harambe isn't dead. He lives on within us all.
Bodo Ballermann Fuck Harambe. Glad he's dead.
Lol I'm pretty sure that was everyone's reaction lmao
**Starts punching dead horse** What? I thought I saw it twitch.
As someone who's had 22 spine surgeries, 2 hip replacements and currently have 7 slipped discs, I find this so frustrating. Part of me wants to say 'let natural selection take over' but my compassion takes that back & says help them w/o f*ing me over in the process
Yes, have some compassion. We could easily not have any for you. You could very well get addicted too. A lot of chronic pain patients have.
I'm from Huntington, WV, I still live and work in the area and what I find interesting is that a lot of people act like this came out of nowhere, and that's not the case at all. There was a slow build-up to it in the 2000s, I remember in I think it was in 2004, I was in high school when it happened. We had something like 10 people OD from black tar heroin, so there has always been a drug issue. It's not a new thing. No, what made it worse was doctors would write prescriptions for opioids not knowing or not caring how strong the drugs really are.
During the entire thing, I was just imagining sitting next to that lady who keeps squealing laughing and hating my life.
Aquila Latin i guess i would have just left... her laughter is horrible!
Mobbymick Y'all are whiny babies, I didn't notice a damn thing
I kinda liked it. It was so real, those are the best kinds of laughs! People usually tone down their laugh because of this very reason. I didn't mind it at all.
I think John Oliver was even getting annoyed
Yeah what the fuck. It's so incredibly forced and over the top, you just know this person is hungry for attention.
Ah yes. My John Oliver binge has brought me to the inevitable "seagull-episode".
Same here. Are you also Dutch bytheway?
Did he mention this on another episode?
@@CanalPapaco No, it's a reference to the lady in the audience :) There's a lady, sometimes, that either sounds like a dying seagull or a peacock screaming.
@@Widdekuu91 thank god i don't know the sounds of a dying seagull. LE: two seconds after I wrote this I've heard it
... But this isn’t the flood video
My cat knocked my Adderall off the counter and my dog chewed up the bottle and ate a few pills :(. That was a few years ago and thankfully he's still alright
“Pain build characters” what are you? Screenwriters?
Catholics.
Hahah 😂
well, it is nice to know that john's audience's laughter and clapping is in fact real lol
IKR? everyone looks like they're complaining about the lady's laugh but it just shows how true and genuine the show is
Migas Almeida still annoying though
The fuck you talkin bout, Last Week Tonight is a studio audience
Yeah. The laughter is never the same laughter volume
With a guest SEAGULL for this one! XD
I work with addiction clients every day. It rips my heart out. I wake up in the morning to emails of 15 year olds o.d.ing over night. Its a horrific problem & not a laughing matter. Fentynol is a whole new nightmare. Its destroying lives & families. Addictions are killing our youth. Lets make a positive change. A sober world would eliminate my job & I am ok with that. I would rather be unemployed than have to explain to another family that their child is gone & why. Until that day I will continue to fight the battle.
Fent, oxy, and other opioids ARE legally available and widely prescribed. That's why we are in this mess.
don't forget that there's also tons of long term chronic pain sufferers who actually need and benefit highly from the proper usage of these drugs who get a fair bit of quality of life from them and do not abuse them recreationally. the benefits far outweighs the potential harm for them. so do not be so quick to throw the baby out with the bathwater while trying to correct these terrible issues surrounding these medications.. one blanket solution does not work for or is needed for all.
Sgtspork I do agree that there are definite benefits and quality of life to many people. I apologize for omitting that side of prescription medications. Sadly, I deal with the darker side of them & tend to dwell there. I did not mean to discredit their benefits when used properly. Thank you for correcting me.
ada a Although this is good in theory, the reality is that there will still be black market drugs. This is why fentynol is available via prescription but also created in bathtubs. Greed supercedes. Regardless, a solution is absolutely necessary. Over the course of my 22 year career I have seen literally thousands of overdoses that haunt me. I have had to counsel families whose grief is overwhelming. I just pray a solution.
pandora morgan
I went to treatment for opiate addiction 3 months before this video. I'm still sober, 3 yrs + 7 months later. Edit: I was given every opiate known and ended up on heroin.
as long as it stayed in poor black neighborhoods.america turned a blind eye.but everytime white middle class gets addicted to a substance it,s a tragedy.Fact.
True. If it was blacks, it'd be blamed on blacks.
Sad but true
And what's sad is that the opioid crisis hurt POC and white people.
Truth
In the 90’s, we had the “crack something” that impacted urban ghettos almost exclusively. Crack Edemia? No that’s not it.... Crack Epicenter? No, still not right. Crack Evian? Ok, someone help me out.
Somebody's dying in the audience....
rey skywaka hahaha she keeps coming back to life and dying again in different shows. I heard her in Trevor's show and Seth Meyers', now this as well.
better get her an Oxycontin prescription
If you are too stupid to realize that these are concurrent and not consecutive videos, then yes Virginia you are stupid.
or getting pregnant
Kitel
Damn what a coincidence.. Today I have one year sober from opioids. This video made this day even more special for me :) Shout out to John Oliver and the Last Week Tonight team for helping raise awareness on this very important topic/issue.
Lord Trees how's that irony? F- see me after class
Great job, man! Keep up the good work :)
one year, congrats. but a lot of addicts will relapse because they'll want to reward themselves for being sober for so long. if you just tell yourself that you've made it this far, might as well keep going and not waste all those years of determination, you won't lose. keep going man, we're rooting for you.
Lord Trees keep the good work up :D
Rainbowdiamondz I probably should have said coincidental, but I was referring to situational irony. Just edited it lol
i've worked as a rn in a hospital for 10 years now and they amount of pain killers we were told to give for things like literally a stubbed toe is ridiculous-meds 10x as strong as morphine. We were even told how important it was in school to "adequately control pain" and tested on it-aka educational brain washing. it's a serious problem
I currently had surgery on my toe because I stubbed it and nothing worked until he gave me oxycodone so shut the fuck up. You are supposed to give the patients are prescribed.
Riordan Parata not true actually. I’m legally responsible for anything I give, even if a doctor orders it. You’re knowledge of the medical field seems archaic. You’re so quick to jump to hostility over a simple post that I think you missed my point, and it makes me wonder if you might not have developed an addiction yourself you’re not willing to acknowledge yet (hence your quick jump to brash aggression). Over prescribed pain meds are a serious issue in our country, and as a nurse I was there to witness it. Also, I have to wonder why you’re tolerance was so high. Most people without any opioid tolerance are knocked out from a low dose norco O_o
I've been denied appropriate pain relief from a painful neurological disorder and my life exists between the couch and bed. I'm forced to live in agony because there's a fortune to be made in denying pain relief to those of us with broken bodies. Not every pain patient is an addict -- the worst addiction I've seen is powerful people who are addicted to profit! Give us our opioids, give us our lives back, and stop trying to protect us from ourselves. America went through one disastrous attempt at Prohibition a century ago. Why are we trying it again, with even worse results?
@@krisaaron5771 there’s no profit to be made from denying pain medication. You’re being denied because the government is cracking down on doctors prescribing pain medication and they can’t legally justify prescribing them to you. The pain meds won’t take your pain away-just temporarily mask it. You will get a tolerance for it quickly and dependence. Then you will still have your pain and poison withdrawal on top of that-which will just make everything worse. Opioids are dangerous. We bred a nation addicted to them. We are trying to correct that problem now. Sorry about your neurological problem, but opioids wouldn’t even be the ideal medication to deal with a neurological pain.
This needs to be updated. Because as of right now predue is filling for bankruptcy so they won't have to pay any fines.
I grew up in San fran.. I have 4 friends who survived heroid addiction and now work at rehab and counseling centers.. and we have buried 12 friends from back then that died from heroin, alcohol, abuse. I watched it all only using marijuana and I'm proud to say I still use marijuana and I'm surviving cancer very comfortably.
@Kaptain Kid wait what are you on about? If you consider something prescribed for pain everywhere and has just now been relegalized in the US "using" then you're honestly just an ignorant fuck. Weed has helped my mom get off opiates and heroin but she's still suffering from permanent damage. Weed is a god damn miracle and the reason she's still around.
@@OMGFuziion I certainly hope that person at least gets just as angry about the use of alcohol and nicotine.
You live in a Progressive and compassionate state. We are not all so fortunate. Many states punish cannabis users still, leaving not many alternates.
Kaptain Kid name checks out
I'm Dutch and we have drug-legalisation (officially it's 'reluctant acceptance' and not legalisation) for certain ones. I believe those are Hashish, weed, (some people want xtc legalized, since it makes people cuddly and happy and it's already widespread being used, so it'dgo against illegal/wrong produce) mushrooms, and anything calming, which would probably also be opiods then. I know two people that are addicted (in a common way, not a drug-seeker way, they live at home, they're just miserable because of the growing cocktail) that were prescribed too many pills and have a great fear of stopping the process gradually. I don't know people personally that are on opiods or addicted that live on the street or..youknow, go to great lengths to get them. I googled how our situation is, and it says this; (I´ve translated two seperate websites here.) "In the beginning (in the Netherlands) opiods were prescribed to people that were on the brink of death and in a lot of pain. Despite the fact that it is forbidden in the Netherlands to advertise heavy medication (prescribed ones, anything other than vitamins and the 250 gram Aleve Feminax type stuff)we had a bit of an opiodscrisis ourselves, it has already subsided a bit, but there's still reason to worry, because there are still people addicted to the opiods aftet the treatment has already finished. They're talking about combining weed and opiods and thereby keeping the amount of opiods low, or combining it with paracetamol. And about giving enough painkillers for 1 week after a hip-operation and not assuming the patient needs a month's worth of opiods. Since 2019 the opioid-prescriptions by doctors, has been declining again with 6%. But 5 to 10% of the thousands of people getting it prescribed, will become addicted and that's why it's still such a worry. Marcel Bouvy (pharmacutical university blahblahblah) "We were on time to prevent American situations from happening, but it is still a serious problem in the Netherlands. The tip of the iceberg will end up in addiction-clinics, but besides that we still have a large group of people who have been using these substances for years and are having difficulties getting rid of it."
They dont give a shit about you and your health. The next time you go to the doctor approach the conversation with a healthy amount of skepticism. Could save you from shit like this.
This is the main reason people get into life ruining medication like SSRIs and anti depressants. They literally ruin your brain but people just take them because a doctor said they should smh.
Ryan Marshall I think I'll never go tired of saying this: sometimes antidepressants are needed. But they are not meant for being the only treatment course or having to take them for decades.
Alex Vignolo cynical much?
SSRI's have never been proven to be safe or effective.
Dr.Smarty Pants Some doctors might care, but they all have to worry about the bottom line. Insurance billing policies force doctors into some shady practices. I've had 2 different doctors enter some seriously bad things into my medical record, including kidney failure and hepatitis, for which I had absolutely no symptoms nor any test results to justify them and not disclose this to me, simply to file another CPT or ICD10 code and collect more money from insurance.
At my university, students have been trained on nalaxoen and a bunch of us carry kits with us everywhere. Kits we got from the university itself
What university
@@reidthebigcheese7351 bitch ass nigga
@@emontibeller7156 used to be free/basically free about a decade ago but thanks to conservatives it is now £9k per year.
Clearly you’re not in the US.
I was once given Vicodin for pain after major surgery. It did literally nothing for me. The doctor prescribed such a low dose that it was ineffective for my weight. The pharmacy actually called her to make sure because it was a dose normally classed for a 110 lb woman. I was a 210 lb woman at the time.
that story is bs. they dont dose for weight.
I was given large amount of pain killers for almost a decade. I began have issues with them and couldn't stop.the crazy thing was when I went to my doctor and told them I was addicted and needed help I was kicked out of the practice for violating patient agreement for pain killers.
Brad Beining I'm sorry this country is so upside down and that had to happen to you. Hope you were able to find help and get clean man.
That's because you had a shitty doctor. I went through the same thing and they helped me get off of them with acupuncture and other homeopathic stuff. The Doctor/Practice can make a world of difference.
Daddy D 3 years now.thanks
Brad Beining Congrats. I celebrate 4 myself today on the dot.
Ya there is a huge range of how these affect people. Some people have a lot harder time and then there are lucky people like me who don't get affected by addiction. Though its not that lucky if you consider my body adjusts so quick after just couple weeks the drugs barely affect me at all so I have do just deal with any pain that lasts longer than that. It also means I have take higher doses of certain things which is more dangerous. Oxycontin By 3rd week I had to up to 3 pils to be affective so i said fuck it and threw out the bottle and just delt with the pain of a broken jaw. In surgeries doctors have to use higher amounts of knockout gas and i would still end up waking up and they would have to increase it to put me back out. Didnt even get high from Marijuana when I was in college, Dont like the feeling of being drunk at all so dont drink especially after 1 year of going to bars I got tolorent to the point where I could drink half a bottle of taquilla before I even started to feel it, Too damn expensive so thats probably biggest reason stopped drinking haha soon as i felt the hurt in the bank, just trying to pick up some bar slut wasnt worth it hahaha
10:12 somebody in the audience killed pterodactyl... ...twice
*is continuously killing pterodactyls through the whole show...
Jachym Tichy yea wtf is that?☺
Alfonz you know, a flying dinosaur
pterodactyl at 19:12 let out a great plea of help
Johnny I believe he ment the sound, not pterodactyl.
Thank you John Oliver for being the first I've ever heard raise awareness of the reality that those of us terminally ill do exist and need these drugs. I'm the posterchild for treatment. I'm a bedridden quadriplegic with cancer. I was denied pain medication for 6-months by a so-called doctor that called me a criminal pill-seeker.
John oliver tells a joke Lady in audience: ambulance impersonation
@west Ashley what
I had opioid medicine after my tonsils were removed. However, I only had one dose before my mother took the entire bottle because she was worried I would become addicted. It was only as an adult I realized she took the pills herself. #fuckedup #mommyissues
that's rough friend.
She still did you a solid. I found out my mother kicked cracked when she found out that she was pregnant with my youngest brother at tender age of 25. Really opened my eyes a bit more that day.
Opioids aren't THAT addicting, you can definitely take them short term under doctor's order. All cancer patients, for example, get morphine during their treatments but not all become addicted
@@Exantius9 are you pharma employee? You lie like a rug! They alter your brain chemistry and it takes years for the frontal lobe to recover.
I got prescribed a bottle of Hydrocodone for a sprained ankle when I was 12. My mom never got the prescription filled, and I'm glad she didn't.
John Oliver - "The solution won't be quick, it won't be easy, it won't be cheap" And it won't be done
Not while ever the drug company's are making billions of dollars.
Your right, everyone will just sit back and wait for the drug trends to shift to meth then blame the poor people of color again!! I am a social worker that works in the addition field and have lost faith in the government to care any Americans that are not rich oligarchs!
metadon a substitut to heroin without the kick, using opioids only palliativ, some more placebos, setting the true cost the society have. medicins are the front dealer and responsible for the therapy controlled by insurance based on case, statistic, behaviour, praxis, plausibilety and second meaning.
Don Miller I want to like this, but that seems almost pessimistic.
@@DS-tv2fi bitch ass nigga
Purdue was sued for 8 BILLION and lost, and they're bankrupt now. At least one good thing happened in 2020
Sorry to burst but reseal your bubble that was actually trying to get out of 8 billion, but luckily the judge prevented it.
Now I understand why my doctors pumped me through with oxycontin as soon as I woke up after my last operation. Money. I was 13.
Na, wasnt for the pain definately the money
I was given Percocet for wisdom teeth surgery. Despite them knowing I was super sensitive to medications and have to take the least strong dose of all cut in half. I almost overdosed. It was for money definitely. They could’ve given me ibuprofen.
Wow, the woman laughing is totally freaking out
She is so annoying
She's probably on opioids!
@@blackcountryme But she's not high... just 'pseudo-high'.
That's Salacious Crumb from Star Wars. kzhead.info/sun/i5GSZr2ee3Sjm3A/bejne.html
She’s great
I feel bad for the poor audience members who came all this way to see John's show and wound up stuck next to a seagull. Edit: I can't believe I have to explain this. I'm NOT dissing John or his show, I've been a fan for years. Watch the episode first with your volume turned up.
HIYAAAAAAAAAAAAA HA HAAAAAA HAAA HAA HA
Lolololol
I'm happy for her
Uh huh.
Do you have any tostitos?
I was given ibuprofen when I had my tubes tied and I was SO MUCH PAIN. I finally talked my doctor into giving me opioids but she wouldn't give me more than 2 days worth. I wanted to cry every time I moved for a week. Had I known they were going to be stingy with the pain meds I wouldn't have had the surgery.
America 2016: "Make America great again". America 2019: "Dog becomes heroin addict and loses everything".
this video is from 2016
2020: "Hold my beer"
Three times in the emergency room, I've had to argue to NOT be given opioid pain medicine.
Jill Hurley Consider yourself lucky.. I've been to the ER with severe pain, three different times in three different places, only to be told "We can't treat pain here.. Go home and maybe try some ice or heat or something.. Maybe some ibuprofein.." Left the hospital in tears all three times..
Shakeweighter I've heard that from another person. I don't understand why, even though I was in severe pain, I had to argue to get a non-narcotic, while others elsewhere can't get it when they need it. I am sorry you had to deal with that pain and frustration.
Jill Hurley same! Dr seems to offer narcotics rather quickly IMO. I keep a laminated note in my handbag that says "No Narcotics" bc my body really cannot tolerate them well. The fact my sign is laminated seems to make Drs pay attention quickly. works for me!
its crazy. when I had a c-section, they only gave me Tylenol and Advil for pain. when I went to emergency due to a miscarriage, the doctor gave me morphine for pain. I didn't take it. it seemed excessive to me
You mean opiate pain medicine. Opiod medicine is *any* medication that acts on the opiod receptors...
I stayed up until 2:30 am to watch this because I can't afford HBO....
Yousef Elraghy same
Yousef Elraghy same.
It comes out in the morning in Norway
Yousef Elraghy same bro
me too
I'm an addict, in recovery - heroin was my favourite though. I didn't start from prescribed drugs, but i got there too, people who no idea just how bad codine can be in an addictive context. Thank you for John oliver 🙏 for your great journalism!
This segment is pretty much season 1 of painkiller on Netflix.
If we looked more closely at the Portugese model and took the best from that, the drug problem as it currently is, could be dealt with quite easily. Let's get off the _tough love_ bollocks and accept that people need love and understanding, not judgement, and more separation from people. Stop criminalising drug use and treat it as a medical issue. We don't lock up people for choosing alcohol, so why the double standard with other drugs?
In my view extremely important to most western countries: accept that people need love and understanding, not judgement, and more separation from people
Or we could do like the Philippines and just murder anyone that sells drugs because fuck it drugs are bad mmmkay
ryan green what i hear about the phillipines and thailand is that people there seem to be very happy even though they dont own much money. My comment is more about social behaviour than drugs that you are relating too
There is an unspoken, cultural agreement that needing to be loved, or some form of social intimacy, is something shameful or should just be ignored.
It's the private prison industry that pushes for tough punishments on anything they can get away with. When there is a big injustice in the United states, it almost ALWAYS goes back to one thing: profit.
My adopted brother's biological father died of a heroin overdose. I can't even begin to tell you how much that has fucked him up, and the rest of our family by extension.
fellsbadman
Mikey Mouser ya that's one A.C.E. usually you'd have 2 or 4 tho
"I can't even begin to tell you how much that has fucked him up" - uh, you just did.
Jeez, you're a really sensitive person, aren't you?
My brother started taking heroin after he used prescription drugs as a teenager. He ended up killing a man and is now in jail. I'm pretty sure when he gets out again in 2 years he will probably start taking heroin again and probably die of an overdose at some point.
I was given a script by my doctor a few years ago for an anti-anxiety/depression medication that he said is quite addictive and can be sold - but because he trusted me (i am trustworthy, dont worry) so he wasnt worried about giving me a large script. I was too scared to really take it as a suppliment to the medication i was already on because i was scared i would get addicted to it.
oprah-phobia an irrational fear of orprah does not exist., a fear of oprah is totally rational
I CAN'T PAY TAXES ON THIS CAR OPRAH PLEASE STOP YOU DID NOT THINK THIS THROUGH
18:54 The censors must have slept and missed that one. It's a gift to us all. 😂😂😂
This is KZhead not national TV.
its HBO not national tv
Right, but the LWT KZhead channel always edits out the f-word for some reason.
They dont have to its just considered normal by the older demographic. So a lot of company's still censor words so they can reach the widest market. You will find a lot more things left uncensored as time goes on as the elderly die off. On the flip side being overly PC will see a rise as the younger generation has a huge thing for being PC.
Being politically correct has everything to do with not marginalizing people (I'd say minorities, but unfortunately even women are regularly targeted). It does not however have anything to do with the anti-cussing puritanism the US suffers from.
Actually, sometimes people ARE denied pain relief because the medical staff assumes they're addicted.
Yeah it's crazy I had to fight with my doctor to switch from Suboxone to Subutex because he thought I would have abusive even after coming with him with 10 plus years of clean urine from a methadone clinic and giving him three months of clean urine including swabs and I have to fight so hard to make that simple switch doctors are not helpful and wanting to get you necessarily better I'm a firm believer in herbs
@Epic says who?
Happens all the time. If you're a chronic pain patient and walk into an ER, even when you say outright "I don't need pain relief" you're treated like scum and often denied care. That's why so many don't bother anymore and are dying at home.
@@unbroken1010 The 485,000 deaths per year from tobacco?
Reverend Rusty That’s how it should be
A doctor I went to prescribed me with oxycontin for back pain and little other treatment. In just a few months I developed tolerance and it lost its effect. I realized I had to get physical therapy and off oxycontin to get better. I did it, but good riddance. This was around 2013...
I had a codeine based pain killer for about a week a few years ago and sometimes when I get really stressed I still think about it, it scares me how long one week of prescribed drugs has stayed with me
AAAAAHHHHH..HAAAAA HAAAAA!
YAAAAAAAAAHHHH
Mc Whopper perfect
Mc Whopper
Mc Whopper .
Mc is Whopper is the best
Damn John Oliver is so sharp with his words...does anyone even come close?
Yes
Good one, dude.
Allen Beneli he's just another English man coming into the USA to try to tell us how to live and In embarrassed so many Americans don't see that. It's like a bad divorce between us and them: we moved on and they can't let go, keep ringing the phone, and generally pestering us. The embittered Ex nagging and trying to get us back. Get some self respect folks and push back against these smug, passive-aggressive assholes.
You don't see the irony in your statement? We're the ones telling every other country how to live. Only we do it by sending in the military, not comedians.
Michael Fisher How the fuck can *you* be so stupid not to know the difference between defending a doctor being able to practice the standard of care vs being arrested by the DEA and thrown in jail, (reminiscent of the panic in the 1800's and do your realize you're probably out of your depth with me yet?), and defending an object called an Opoid? Why can't YOU make the distinction in this, dingbat?
Watching Dopesick, waiting for next episode so came back here just to realize that this is that one episode where the lady is REALLY enjoying herself 🤣
2:48 i thought an AT&T joke was coming up😂
There's a tropical bird cawing in the distance...
Spoutnik her laugh is killing me
Is that a layover sound effect or real people laughing, i wonder. i often hear repetitive familiar laughs tones.
It's allowed: she's an endangered species. Thankfully.
Green Universe I’ve seen pictures of his studio, it’s definitely a live audience. You can go to his yelp page and see reviews from people in the audience lol
the rare Atlantic Claque
What really sucks is that this trend of greedy, selfish behavior leading to public endangerment and a massive cleanup effort is not just present in opioid companies, but in almost every major company in America. I'm all for capitalism and free markets, but the amount of greed present when such systems go unregulated for so long is astonishing, and it destroys the concept of ethics when things like this happen. It's really depresses me, because when you realize how bad of a place we're in, you also realize how utterly screwed we are. Like I said before, massive cleanup effort, and no one wants to do it....
+Isaac Bromgard Believe me they are trying to "clean up". But all it's doing is hurting those of us with legitimate chronic pain even worse than we already have been. Now they treat all of us as though we are addicts looking for a fix. Punish the bad drug companies and their unethical employees. Punish the addicts masquerading as patients who break the law and make us all look bad. But DO NOT punish or judge those of us with serious chronic pain issues that just want to be in less pain and use our medications properly and responsibly, which MOST OF US DO. If everyone understand how badly these attitudes and this ignorance is hurting SO MANY people that just need legitimate help with their pain, all I can say is that they should be ashamed for making us go through even more pain than we already have. Disgusting in every single way and WRONG!!!
jbmp1390: I'd be more than happy to follow your advice, believe me. But it's REAL hard to tell someone who's a legitimate chronic pain patient from someone who's trying to scam you. I myself got lucky with a workers comp doc who put me on buprenorphine patches - ten years and they still work fine... literally gave me my life back.
Well said.
sorry bud, this is capitalism
🤔👊😪😪😪✌
I was prescribed oxycodone at 16 back in 2001 for a couple years then it was dropped and I switched to heroin after buying them got to expensive and my tolerance built up. I'm now 3 years sober and grateful for every day I have now. I lost several friends to it and it's a horrible thing watching others suffer on it now knowing what they're going through
I had a stroke 7 months ago I have been making me laff everyday it's hard when I have a double stroke ain't too much funny but I find u funny ty for making me lol ur good keep doing you I was greatly surprised by the fill on dance number loved it also funny and talented I just started watching two months ago I be checking for you everyday
Do an episode on antibiotic resistant bacteria.
jfkusa123 super virus'. Thats gonna kill us all.
Almost killed my dog. Scary fucking shit. He's fine now though. :)
simon Eeks what do viruses have to do with antibiotic resistance?
do it its for the best good
Viruses and bacteria are two different things. Antibiotics are used to fight bacteria and antivirus is used to fight viruses. I would stay and explain, but just google it.
Who let the seagull in the back door because it keeps yelling
I noticed the seagull, I feel sad for the seagull’s partner.
I just found out about your show this morning due to your recent coronavirus video in my recommended section. i absolutely love you! hilarious yet informative videos on a very broad variety of topics yet each video goes into the necessary details! I was wondering if you can make videos on animal abuse as that's something that really needs to be talked about.
Almost every single person from my graduate class, in both places, and I bounced back and forth between two highschool's, two big highschool's in PA, almost every grad has a friend or knows someone who died from an overdose.
"Babys don't feel pain" is one of those tacky arguments that hospitals themselves use as a pro-argument for circumcising newborn babies without general (sometimes even local) anaesthetics and not providing pain meds after the procedure. So, that's that.
As was common in the US in those days I was circumcised as an infant without anaesthetic. My mother expressed her concern over this but was told she was being a silly young mother and not to worry because babies didn't feel pain anyway, and that good mothers had it done to their boy babies to prevent cancer and genito-urinary tract problems. However, when I was returned to her after the procedure she said I trembled as if having a severe chill, and though I'd barely cried before that I cried almost steadily afterward. When she complained they sternly and rather threateningly told her she'd misunderstood them and that she'd better calm down and stop making false accusations. She said she felt so ashamed and guilty for allowing herself to be bullied that she'd nearly had a nervous breakdown.
@@ljdelaney2286 Tacky. Questionable. Ignorant. Careless. Irresponsible. Immoral. Deviant... There's many right words to describe that.
Imagine being next to that lady in the audience. Props to John Oliver for not breaking his concentration.
I find it more real when he actually does break and do a double take to someone reacting to something he's said.
@@BardBreaker I love that shit
I'm pretty sure l would be like that woman. I get excited when listening to John.
She's really enjoying herself!
Recovery from opioid addiction is possible, and you don’t have to do it alone! There are wonderful people waiting in the 12 step meetings ready to love, embrace, and guide you into this new better way to live. Hugs, love, and blessings to y’all. Namaste 🙏
I try my hardest to stay away from pills! But I have to use a few for my liver and they work but the side effects are annoying when I come from a healthy athletic background.
I had four teeth taken out last year, and my oral surgeon was extremely hesitant about giving me a Hydrocodon prescription. He also made it clear that I shouldn't take them unless I actually had to. Thankfully, he did such a great job I didn't need to take more than one. But I could tell how nervous he was about prescribing them for me. If you are given an opioid prescription, be very careful and only take them if you absolutely have to.
Who let the Velociraptor into the audience?
Timg95 omfg ik, I was so annoyed
soooooo annoying
Is the velociraptor replacing Rich Evans?
Alan!!
I thought it was a seagull?
What’s sad is that people who aren’t familiar with addiction or refuse to research the deeper nuances and complexities to it are so quick to blame people and believe it is solely on them. So many factors can play into addiction.
Watching this on bed rest post surgery and have been getting oxy. Felt the need to remind myself exactly what the pills are for and have already started to stop using them as the pain is going down. It’s terrifying how addicting something like these can get and those who are prone to addiction I pray for
“Uh-huh” I wish those executives would be held personally responsible and jailed. The multi-million dollar fine is just a drop in the bucket to their company, especially compared to the money they made. They often just consider it something to factor into the cost of business, and will keep on until serious consequences are enacted.
I actually went to the THesaurus.com for "Uh-huh" And... yeaaaaaa That clearly means yes.
consumermilitia !,, A
These people literally deserve to be dragged into the street and beaten to death with a fossilized dinosaur penis. I'm not kidding, they deserve it.
Seven former Insys executives were arrested in December 2016. And then their stock price increased 40% in August 2018 when the Department of Justice let them off with just 150 million in fines over 5 years.
@Eli, did you even watch this video?
I was given Tylenol after a kidney transplant because doctors in Ohio are so scared to write scripts. It's insane, how do people who NEED pain meds can't get them but a bored teen can?
Other pain patients I advocate for and with are wondering the same dang thing.
The Black Market.
OMG... tylenol is death to kidneys...
first of all the grand irony here is, Tylenol (or acetomenaphin) is significantly worse on your kidneys (& liver!) than any actual opiates are. That's not to suggest an opiate isn't harmless on your organs, of course not, but Tylenol typically is actually worse, in the longer term. That's the reason that when OxyContin was formulated to the 12 hour extended release protocol, it's oxycodone in the singular, pure form, not oxycodeone mixed with Tylenol (aka Percocet) or when it's mixed with aspirin (aka Percodan, these are just brand names) because taking ONLY the oxycodone is ultimately "healthier". But the FAR more important point here, being prescribed just Tylenol in the immediate aftermath of MAJOR SURGERY, which is what having an organ transplant is, is quite literally medieval, it is beyond barbaric. That is taking the "hesitation to write for opiates" waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far. You might as well give someone a lollipop after they've suffered a gunshot wound.
this is a white problem bc i have a serious degenerative condition and cant get opiods to save my life lol
John Oliver your shirt and tie combos are beyond James Bond level fashion caliber, exuding excellence sir. Day time news casters are jealous of your phenomenal taste and wish they could speak with your level of passion and honesty. Thank you for giving news with actual facts(unlike many) about topics needing more attention.
It's a tough situation. I was prescribed oxycontin when I had all of my wisdom teeth removed on the same day, and I took it fairly regularly for the first couple of days, but then I was fine. However, some of my very close family members, including a parent, struggled with painkiller addiction after being prescribed the same thing. It's a tough situation that, like John says, doesn't have an easy solution.
Why is there a dying peacock in the audience!? Someone put the poor thing out of its misery!
I feel like that lady is in every episode and she annoys the crap out of me.
What-If Machine futurama is bae
Daniel Bras Shut up, baby, I know it! ;)
7:46 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
she needs her medication
Yeah I’m currently a drug addict and have been for almost 6 years... I’m only 25 years old and I have panics attacks when I come to the realization that I am actually a drug addict. For the first four years, I didn’t consider myself a “junkie” or that I had a need. People think it’s something you can just stop or that we do it to get high, but it’s the closest thing to mind control I can conceive. It’s like one minute I’ll do anything to get a fix and immediately after I feel like crying and contemplate suicide after I do get it. I don’t even get high from it anymore, I just use it to feel normal. And I don’t even know who I am until I get the drug and after I take it I can barely remember the thoughts I had or what I did except for fiending down another fix so I can not feel so sick and terrible. That’s how powerful the fixation is and I feel it’s legitimately like mind control. I go to rehab tomorrow I severely hope this time I can be done with it forever, I just want it to end & I really don’t want to die and I want my family to be proud of me. This is something that’s so hard to explain and only other long time drug addicts can understand. The first two or three years was not nearly as difficult and mind altering as it is now. As time goes, the more difficult it gets to leave the life style. I wish I never did this or even touched oxycodone / oxycontin. I’m fucking terrified half of the day every day, and the other half is trying to get the drug so I can go back to feeling strictly normal. Sorry for the rant, I apologize. Although the closest I ever got to recover was because of a medicine called lyrica. If I could find more of it, I might be able to make it because that eliminates 75% of withdrawal symptoms. For anyone that needs this advice, it’s a non addictive prescription medication and will actually allow you to get some sleep and not feel so sick while detoxing.
the way you describe what you're going through, it really moved me. I hope you are doing ok.
I hope you’re doing ok
How are you doing now? I hope you’re okay.
Lyrica and gabapentin both but lyrica is definitely better. I have read on gabagoodness forums and shit that lyrica CAN be addictive. Benzos acton both sides of the gaba receptor like alcohol, lyrica and gaba act on the non-addictive side (is how it was explained to me) but I agree with you, it definitely helped me. I take gabapentin, suboxone, and clonazepam (Been on clonazepam since i got back from my 5th combat tour, combat PTSD is a bitch)
also check in with everyone here asking how you're doing if you can, pls :)
I'm watching that new show Dopesick and it's so good. It's a drama series about the opioid crisis.
it all punishes the people who truly need this medications!!!
That's what worries me with these opioids stories. I had a terrible car accident in 1991. Nerve damage in my right side from my neck to my hip. Back then they gave you so many drugs. I was on Vicodin ES, two muscle relaxers, Valium an anti-inflammatory. After a couple of months of not knowing where the hell I was half the time, I told my doctor I wanted to do physical therapy and get off of this medication. That was almost thirty years ago. I am now prescribed 3 10mg Norco per day. That's it. I do my stretching exercises daily and keep my weight down. I reduced my pain medication from 320 Vicodin ES pills a month to 90 Norco. Worked 2 jobs all that time, raised my son alone, took care of my home. But even though I have a 30-year record of NOT abusing my medication, my new doctor in my new state refuses to issue me any. I am being treated like an addict, which infuriates me. They have to stop lumping hydrocodone in with heroin and fentenyl. They are vastly different. I, on my own, got off most of my meds by requesting and doing physical therapy. I reduced my pain meds..on my own...by 65%. 30 year history with same doctor. In my opinion, I am the poster child for responsible drug use. But when I try to find a doctor who will continue a treatment that has been highly successful for 30 years, which is the only thing allowing me to remain self sufficient and working ...the doctor tells me to apply for disability. Wtaf? The doctors need to keep a watchful eye on their patients and prescribe in their best interests. The government needs to let the doctors decide what is best for their patients.