Then what should chronic pain sufferers take? Opiates may not be ideal, but it is one of the best options available.
Personally I do not believe that GP's should prescribe pain killers. They either under prescribe (fearing everyone will become an addict) or over prescribing (often the wrong drugs).
Pain is a very complex subject (people of different thresholds and biological responses), it should be left to specialists.
Agreed, but they should also be allowed to use opiates. Canniboids do not operate on the same receptors that opiates do, and the mechanism of pain relief is different.
They are not substitutes. Just options that may work for patients depending on just what manifests the pain and how they need to manage or cope with it.
One significant consideration is how well a person can function in a cognitive sense on both options. This varies extremely widely among people, and it's not simple to understand what will work for who.
They (opiates) are effective, but do require education and management. I am short on time, but one thing near completely ignored in this discussion is the pain trigger for medication and how that differs from other triggers and addiction.
Secondly, there are natural and effective addiction treatments out there that can work extremely well to get people off opiates. We don't talk about these because money and morals...
I have got myself off them, right along with a dozen others. The tolerance, once understood, and combined with things that work to marginalize withdrawl, is a solvable problem for most people.
Frankly, I've been asked to publish by medical practitioners and so far have not for fear of a legal option being scheduled away for profit.
Just know this dialog is not inclusive. There are powerful interests aligned against making this all workable.
The oxy manufacturers want to sell. The moral authority don't want people to get high, and cannot differentiate that from legit pain management.
Both do not want to face remedies and education needed to keep people out of trouble, and society contributes with an irrational dialog about these things.
In the 90's, I ended up there, did research, solved it for myself and to date, many others.
The dialog is broken. We can manage this to a net benefit for the vast majority of problem cases today. That we don't have THAT discussion is the problem, not the drug.
BTW, it has a 4 hour effective life, not 12. This is widely known. The whole 12 hour relief line of discussion is avoidance. True. 4 hour relief being bad is also avoidance, given there are meaningful, workable options out there today.
Personally I do not believe that GP's should prescribe pain killers. They either under prescribe (fearing everyone will become an addict) or over prescribing (often the wrong drugs).
Pain is a very complex subject (people of different thresholds and biological responses), it should be left to specialists.