It's hard to understand U.S. drug policy when prescription opiates are legal

Opioids have a legitimate place in the pharmacopeia for acute pain and cancer pain.

I fell down and smacked my right quadriceps pretty bad and had severe bruising and pain -- I was off my feet for a few days. The urgent care doc prescribed 1 week of Percocet and I refilled for another week. The pain relief was welcome and I did not have problems.

When I had oral surgery I was sedated with a mixture of Fentanyl and Midazolam. No problems.

I have seen people who've received opioids in the hospital for a few weeks have problems when they get out. The big scandal now is over the use of opioids for chronic pain such as back pain, neck pain, knee pain, etc. For those uses opioids are big trouble.

From personal experience I can say that when you are post-op and need them, opiates are the only answer sometimes. During pain, addiction potential is very low.

The problem comes when doctors continue to simply prescribe the drugs without including a pain management specialist to continually monitor their usage.

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