Opiod addiction is a MAJOR problem in the US - probably in Canada as well. And we now know that it is one of the causes of the heroin epidemic - can't get your opioids from your doctor anymore, cheaper and easier to just buy heroin and shoot up.

Quitting is difficult - I was taking an opiod derivative - one 30 mg pill three times weekly - before my pulmonary rehab. It allowed me to do much more exercise which helped me lose weight and helped my breathing. But after a few years, I realized that on the afternoons of those three days, I crashed - just really pretty much passed out. I realized it was the drug and quit - it was not a pleasant 2 weeks or so, but I finally got through it. I was taking 1 pill just those three days - maximum dose is EIGHT pills daily. Clearly, my body chemistry made me very must at risk for addiction to this drug. Never again - not worth it.

That was how I felt, Anglopilia. I am very healthy, and even though the pills got me through some rough times....and enabled me to go out and work when normally I wouldn't have been able to. which probably didn't help my knee because the doctor said not only was it bone on bone, but I had worn grooves in the bone...I worried what I was doing to my over all health. I was also prescribed 8 pills a day. When I told my doctor I wanted to quit, he upped my dosage from 4 pills a day to 8. I have no idea why he did that. I didn't even know until I picked up my prescription at the pharmacy. So, I took that opportunity to slowly wean myself off of them and quit. I had quit them once before....cold turkey and that was a month long ordeal but it could have been worse if I had taken more of them.

Back to the original question - why not try something different? This BC idea sounds like a program worth a go. Here we do nothing and continue to have problems.

In the Netherlands, heroin is available for free from the government. Its use and dosage are also tightly controlled, as are the facilities for use. They have a much lower rate of overdoses and almost no criminal activity for heroin and other such drugs.

Sounds like a bad idea to me

If we legalized all drugs....in about a month, most of our problems would be over. We could do that.................

marilyn, to me, this question is not unlike our runaway gun and mass shooting problem. We know what happens if no change is made - the consequences continue with no change.

We don't know what would happen if something different were to be tried. There's nothing to lose (in both areas) from trying something different. They say there's nothing more stupid than to do the same thing the same way repeatedly and expect a different outcome.

It is not like the machines are dispensing Vicodin. But still .... this premise seems different than say medical marijuana.

I think it's good to have both "harm reduction" strategies, as well as programs to help people who are ready to quit. The article says:

"The [dispensing machines] would be linked in real-time to monitors and accessed using biometrics. The small quantity of pills dispensed and severity of the users’ addiction make it unlikely that they would sell their pills, he said. And if they did, the pills would be safer than toxic street drugs."

I'd support my tax dollars giving this controlled approach a try, even if it's not perfect.

Scott, no its not Vicodin but its still a very strong opioid acting in the body no differently than vicodin. Its also a narcotic and controlled

I'd rather establish clinics where addicts could get free, safe oral and injected doses as prescribed for them -- or decide talk to the same clinic staff about getting free of dependence, entering a free recovery program. (Key is having inpatient programs available *immediately* on request.)

Where such clinics have been established, overdosing incidents have decreased dramatically, along with the hospital and paramedic expenses related to responding to them. Health and social woes related to shared needles end. The crime rate drops, along with related police and incarceration expenses.

What's the barrier to creating these clinics? "Moral issues?" (How's that working out for us?)

chisue, that's how it works in the Netherlands.

Obstacles? The reluctance endemic in American politics to try anything different. And the arrogance to think that something done successfully elsewhere isn't worth considering. "It wouldn't work here. We're the greatest country on Earth".

I think another obstacle is the idea -- the very idea!!! -- that someone might cheat the system. An unworthy might take a benefit they didn't earn -- outrageous!

Me, I believe that "perfect" can be the enemy of "good enough to be of value." No system designed by humans is perfect. Someone can always figure out how to get around the safeguards. The trick is, will more people benefit than cheat? How many benefit, vs. how many get away with cheating?

There are a great many solutions to problems that are not tried because money is spent lobbying and advertising against it. Who pays for the negative ads and lobbying? The companies who profit from the problem. They KNOW what the solution is. Why now this problem when it wasn't before? Well, someone saw there was money to be made from these highly addictive drugs.

So when we can get together and say enough, we can solve this.

Hydromorphone is dilaudid, way stronger than vicodin.

Thanks for the information about the opioids. I knew someone who was addicted to Vicodin which may have contributed to his untimely passing. I also think this issue could tie into many doctors treating symptoms rather than causes.