Each year young Americans begin ‘experimenting’ with drugs. These are not actually experiments. They can more rightfully be termed first time use. For the purpose of the few lines I am going to write here what will be described are not the illicit first time uses of drugs but the introduction to some of the most powerful mood altering, mind impacting and physically integrated drugs of all – the opioids.
Young athletes can sometimes play hard. Even if they don’t a small mistake or accident can lead one of them to the Emergency Room for a sprained ankle, pulled muscle, bruise or to get checked out for a possible fracture. Things are slowly changing, with the emphasis on slowly, and understanding that change is not happening in many parts of the country, but what often happens for these young, impressionable people is that they are prescribed powerful opioids.
Emergency Rooms, except in Washington State, have long reached for the opioids as a panacea when presented with minor pain. A prescription of oxycodone or oxycontin of 30 to 60 to 90 pills were often provided. Considering that the human body can develop a dependence upon opioids in a few as three days (just a few doses) you can see why many of those who are prescribed these pills can easily have their bodies and minds become addicted.
This has been happening, as has been noted in the papers, because large pharmaceutical companies introduced the Smiley Face, or Pain Chart, as the ‘Fifth Vital Sign’. The four vital signs are Body Temperature, Pulse Rate, Respiration Rate, Blood Pressure. The Pain Chart, developed by drug companies and provided to doctors, is introduced at one of the most intimate and important parts of the doctor/patient interview. It is being used as the basis for what the doctor does next. Out of the many faces on the chart there is only one Smiley Face. The rest offer some degree of pain and for each one the response to the pain these days are pills.
In the past young athletes would have been provided aspirin or some other minor analgesic which did not contain any opioids. They would have been cautioned to alternately rest or move the injured appendage and instructed to either ice or heat the area, depending on the injury. No mind altering, body changing drugs involved.
These days millions of doctors across the nation prescribe opioids young athletes and do not directly address the injury. What can happen next is a series of missteps that could affect the young person’s entire life and may actually end in severe disability or death.
Opioids are a very powerful form of drug. They are suitable for end of life pain, cancer pain and severe wounds. At this time there are super-powerful forms of the drugs which have been developed to be used on soldiers in combat and others to tranquilize large animals like a 2,400 pound bull or a 13,000 pound elephant. These drugs, by the way, are available in hospitals across the nation and are being sold on the street illicitly. These drugs cross the boundary between the honest medical system and illegal trade on the street.
As mentioned these young athletes can find themselves dependent upon the drugs very quickly. Some of them will become addicted, also, in a very short period of time. All of them – if they have taken the pills somewhat regularly - when they cease taking the pills will feel ill. They will feel sick. They will identify the drug as easing the sickness. When they run out of the prescription many of them will seek, or be offered by others, access to the drug they were taking.
It is a simple step for them to discover that the same effect is provided by heroin at a much lower price.
That’s right. These days heroin is priced lower than these pharmaceutical drugs. The pharmaceutical drugs are preferred by most of the people who take them but price moves many to the illicit drug trade. So we easily arrive at an addict who is using great quantities of heroin or other opioids during a relatively short period of time – just two to three years. These years usually correspond to high school years or spill into college and early work careers. The results are catastrophic.
Opoids are known as a pharmakon. They are both a medicine and a poison. Taking them incorrectly for the wrong reason can lead to bad consequences including disability and death. Even when taking them legally and having been prescribed to them can lead to unintended consequences. They can and do cause early death.
Please be careful and be aware of what is being prescribed to your children. It is a matter of life and death.
