Addiction vs. Dependence

[Guest guest]

" National Institute on Drug Abuse, " NIDA on

" Addiction vs. Dependence "

There's a 0.03% chance you'll become addicted on narcotic medicine if

you're a pain patient.

That's 3 hundredth's of 1 percent!

What does this tell us about Drug War Propaganda?

This is what distinguishes the pain patient who is tolerant to and

physically dependent on morphine, from the addict who is also

tolerant to and physically dependent on heroin. Both are self-

administering an addictive drug several times a day. But while the

addict takes his drug to get high, " mellow out, " and largely avoid

life, the pain patient takes his drug to get on with life. This

apparently subtle distinction between the contingencies surrounding

drug use lead to a remarkably different outcome for these two

different kinds of users. Heroin addicts are lost to themselves, to

their families, and to society. Not only can't they work, but they

are almost certainly engaged in criminal activity, and they are at

high risk of a variety of infectious diseases, including hepatitis

and AIDS. Indeed, intravenous drug users have become the major vector

for the spread of AIDS into the heterosexual community in this

country. Current estimates are that more than 55% of addicts in New

York City are HIV positive. (16) "

" Pain patients, by contrast, couldn't be more different. Being on an

opioid allows them to interact with their families, to get out of

hospitals, and to go back to work. Indeed, their efforts to maintain

their health are in marked contradiction to the utter disregard

addicts show for their health. If we wish to equate addicts with pain

patients, the more appropriate comparison is with the under treated

pain patient. "

" He is in the hospital or inactive at home, he is a major drain on

his family's emotional and financial resources, and he does not

contribute productively to society. "

" Another difference between addicts and pain patients comes when it

is time to get off the drug on which they are physically dependent.

For addicts, this is a major hurdle. For the pain patient, it is

typically an uncomplicated process. ... Drugs have a completely

different meaning to pain patients, however.... "

" Because of the meaning of drugs in an addict's life, drug addiction

is a chronic, relapsing condition. Because of the very different

meaning of drugs in a pain patient's life, drug addiction rarely, if

ever, occurs after opioid use has stopped. (10-12) This is a crucial

point. The data most often cited to link addiction to medically

administered opioids were derived from studies with addicts. (17-18)

In the first place, this group is highly unrepresentative of the

general population. In the second, it is made up of highly unreliable

people. Self-reporting about drug use by addicts is not the method of

choice in studying drug use. (9) The more appropriate data to address

this issue have been derived from retrospective reviews of large

numbers of patients who received opioids to determine how many became

addicts.ost important among these are the legal barriers we have

erected to limit the use of opioids a Of 24,000 patients studied,

only 7 could be identified who got into trouble with drugs as a

result of medical administration. " *

" The conclusions of this discussion are clear: (a) dependence and

addiction are not equivalent to each other; ( patients who become

dependent on opioids during the course of medical therapy rarely

become addicted to those drugs; and © in managing pain with

opioids, there is little need to fear addiction. Tolerance to opioids

is rarely a problem because it is possible to continuously increase

the dose. Dependence is only a concern when prescribing drugs with

antagonist properties and in managing withdrawal. "

" If addiction is not a reason to avoid using opioids, many of the

other reasons that have led to widespread under prescribing can be

addressed more directly. Mnd the lack of knowledge among health care

professionals about the proper use of these agents. " End.

________

7 out of 24,000 would be: 7 into 24,000 = 0.0002916. In percentage

that would read: 0.03% or 3 hundredth's of 1 percent!

And yet, the Drug War's Propaganda has even uncaring doctors telling

their patients: " If I give you that you'll become addicted " when it's

NOT true at all. At Three Hundredth's of ONE percent, it's nearly

impossible to " addict " a valid pain patient, and ALL pain patients

SHOULD BE a " drug seeker " just like any diabetic SHOULD BE

an " Insulin seeker! "

" There is better than a " 99.9% chance that you will NOT become

addicted if your doctor gives you adequate and ongoing opioid

medication for your suffering, if you are a valid pain patient! Take

this page to your doctor at once and demand the pain control you have

every right to have. " Skip Baker, 2001.

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Risk of Addiction Small say Experts:

http://www.docguide.com/dg.nsf/DGNews/0EBCE61FF58E3C148525688C005E4A89

?OpenDocument&f=y

" You will not make any patient an addict if you give them drugs to

treat their pain, " says Henry Farkas, MD, MPH, Medical Director of

the Northern Chesapeake Hospice and a staff physician at Union

Hospital, in Elkton, MD. He pointed to the results of a very large

study done in the 1980s, which found that only four patients became

addicted out of 12,000 treated with opiates for pain. " It's just not

a problem for more than 99 percent of people, " he said. "

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URL of this page is:

http://www.widomaker.com/~skipb/Scheme.html

[Guest guest]

,

I'm so glad you posted this. There is an entire nation of people out

there who have been brainwashed into believing that relief from pain

automatically means becoming addicted(possibly the dependency

confuses issues), and therefore is bad. Attitudes MUST change! In

some ways, America is so backwards....

Take care,

[Guest guest]

,

I'm so glad you posted this. There is an entire nation of people out

there who have been brainwashed into believing that relief from pain

automatically means becoming addicted(possibly the dependency

confuses issues), and therefore is bad. Attitudes MUST change! In

some ways, America is so backwards....

Take care,

[Guest guest]

,

I'm so glad you posted this. There is an entire nation of people out

there who have been brainwashed into believing that relief from pain

automatically means becoming addicted(possibly the dependency

confuses issues), and therefore is bad. Attitudes MUST change! In

some ways, America is so backwards....

Take care,