{"id":1345,"date":"2017-07-07T00:05:07","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T00:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=1345"},"modified":"2023-05-18T21:26:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T21:26:01","slug":"misusing-opioids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/","title":{"rendered":"Misusing Opioids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#opioid\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/20170704-_93010473_drugs-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"AP photo via BBC News, used w\/o permission\" align=\"right\"><\/a>&#8220;Crisis&#8221; or not, opioid overdose is a problem. A lethal one, sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve used one opioid, opium, for millennia. Others have been developed during my lifetime. They&#8217;re all useful: and dangerous if misused.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Drugs in the 19th century\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#laughing\">&#8220;Laughing Gas&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#davy\">Davy&#8217;s Dandy Hangover Cure<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#coleridge\">Coleridge and Laudanum<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In the news\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#opioid\">&#8220;Opioid Crisis&#8221;<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#oral\">Oral Traditions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#poppies\">Poppies<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#prescribed\">Prescribed, But Abused<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#dead\">Dead Counselors<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#realities\">Realities<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#good\">Good Health: Within Reason<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An &#8220;opioid crisis&#8221; has been news for a few years now.<\/p>\n<p>But folks have been using \u2014 and misusing \u2014 drugs for a long time. About two centuries back, nitrous oxide, &#8220;laughing gas,&#8221; was a party drug before being used as an anesthetic.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"laughing\"><\/a>&#8220;Laughing Gas&#8221;<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wellcomeimages.org\/indexplus\/image\/M0017951.html\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20150702-a59d76a97ff02272674b53ed27f4-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Wellcome Library, London, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(Inhaling nitrous oxide, 1807.)<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s always a little nitrous oxide<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#1\">1<\/a><\/sup> (N<sub>2<\/sub>O) in Earth&#8217;s atmosphere. About a third of it comes from human activity these days.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/climate-change-continues\/#stewardship\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/201508ff\/Global_air_pollution_map_produced_by_Envisat_s_SCIAMACHY-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I&#8217;m not sure why I&#8217;ve read about the dangers of humanity&#8217;s nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2<\/sub>) pollution \u2014 but not the nitrous oxide we&#8217;re producing.<\/p>\n<p>My guess is that someone figures nitrogen dioxide is more dangerous than nitrous oxide. Maybe part of the reason is where the gasses come from.<\/p>\n<p>Some nitrogen dioxide comes from bacteria, volcanoes, and lightning. Some nitrous oxide comes from fertilizer and other organic sources. That might make it seem &#8216;greener.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas, the fourth most common. The top three are water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane. Now that I think of it, methane comes from manure, rice fields, and assorted other &#8216;green&#8217; sources.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Anyway, Joseph Priestley synthesized the first phlogisticated nitrous air, his name for nitrous oxide, in 1772. I&#8217;ve talked about him, and phlogiston, before. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/baryons-gravity-waves\/#remembering\">March 24, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Beddoes called nitrous oxide &#8220;factitious airs.&#8221; He and James Watt developed a machine for making the stuff. They published &#8220;Considerations on the Medical Use and on the Production of Factitious Airs&#8221; in 1794.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas Beddoes figured tuberculosis and other lung diseases could be treated by inhalation of &#8220;factitious airs.&#8221; He also developed a &#8220;breathing apparatus&#8221; that let folks inhale substantial quantities of nitrous oxide.<\/p>\n<p>Nitrous oxide won&#8217;t cure tuberculosis, but it makes a dandy anesthetic. It&#8217;s called &#8220;laughing gas,&#8221; since the stuff also makes folks feel <strong>really<\/strong> good.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"davy\"><\/a>Davy&#8217;s Dandy Hangover Cure<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nitrous_oxide#Early_use\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20151702-1024px-Laughing_gas_Rumford_Davy-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Wellcome Library, London, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(A cartoon from the early 19th century: another reason I don&#8217;t miss &#8216;the good old days.&#8217;)<\/p>\n<p>Doctors knew about nitrous oxide&#8217;s painkilling properties; or should have, since <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Humphry_Davy\">Humphry Davy<\/a> had noticed its <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/History_of_general_anesthesia#18th_century\">anesthetic effect<\/a> while working at the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pneumatic_Institution\">Pneumatic Institution<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;d published his research in &#8220;Researches, chemical and philosophical-chiefly concerning nitrous oxide or dephlogisticated nitrous air, and its respiration.&#8221; That was in <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/researcheschemi00davygoog\">1800<\/a>. But doctors didn&#8217;t start using it as an anesthetic for decades.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, folks in the British upper crust were having a blast, using it as a recreational drug. Davy used nitrous oxide as a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Humphry_Davy#Pneumatic_Institution\">hangover cure<\/a>, and became addicted to it.<\/p>\n<p>Avoiding pain makes sense, usually. I&#8217;d be concerned about anyone who enjoys it.<\/p>\n<p>Feeling pain is no great virtue, by itself. And there isn&#8217;t anything wrong with using painkillers. Within reason. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p2s2c2a4.htm#1431\">1431<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2279\">2279<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>The perennial popularity of sickly Saints notwithstanding, there&#8217;s nothing particularly virtuous in being ill, either. Or being healthy, for that matter. And that&#8217;s another topic, for another post.<\/p>\n<p>Health is a gift from God. Getting and staying healthy is a good idea. Again, within reason. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2288\">2288<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2289\">2289<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Misusing drugs is <strong>not<\/strong> good for my health. It&#8217;s also a bad idea. A very bad idea. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2291\">2291<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"coleridge\"><\/a>Coleridge and Laudanum<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kubla_Khan\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/20170704-800px-Xanadu_on_Map_of_Asia-329-desaturated.JPG?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Not all &#8216;artistic&#8217; folks are physically weak and a bit odd. But Samuel Taylor Coleridge fit that stereotype. He&#8217;s the poet who wrote &#8220;Kubla Kahn.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Childhood illnesses left him with chronic ill health. He may have experienced <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bipolar_disorder\">bipolar disorder<\/a>, but folks didn&#8217;t know about that at the time. He got married because 19th century society expected that sort of thing.<\/p>\n<p>He and a friend started planning a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pantisocracy\">pantisocracy<\/a> in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>It would have been one of the many 19th century <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Utopia#Economics\">utopian<\/a> communities. What most of them had in common was the idea that communal living was a good idea.<\/p>\n<p>Coleridge&#8217;s pantisocracy didn&#8217;t work out, and neither did his marriage. He also learned that laudanum wasn&#8217;t as risk-free as folks apparently assumed.<\/p>\n<p>Laudanum is a tincture of opium. Coleridge said that he started using it to deal with chronic swelling in his knees. I figure that makes sense.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#3\">3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve learned quite a bit since then.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"opioid\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">1. <\/span>&#8220;Opioid Crisis&#8221;<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-40136881\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/20170704-_93010473_drugs-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From AP, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-40136881\">Opioid crisis: The letter that started it all<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nBBC News (June 3, 2017)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Canadian researchers have traced the origins of the opioid crisis to one letter published almost 40 years ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The letter, which said opioids were not addictive, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in 1980.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Dr David Juurlink says the journal&#8217;s prestige helped fuel the misguided belief that opioids were safe.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His research found that the letter was cited more than 600 times, usually to argue that opioids were not addictive.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On Wednesday, the NEJM published Dr Juurlink&#8217;s rebuttal to the 1980 letter, along with his team&#8217;s analysis of the number of times the letter was cited by other researchers&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m not sure that a single letter, no matter how influential, is the only factor in what looks like a massive lapse in judgment. I&#8217;d like to think that medical research involves more than reading one journal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Opioid&#8221; is a newish term, and includes opiates, drugs that come from opium, and synthetic drugs that are chemically similar to the stuff. We&#8217;ve known about, and used, opium for millennia. Some opioids are quite new.<\/p>\n<p>As I said before, they&#8217;re useful \u2014 or we can misuse them. Whether they&#8217;re &#8216;good&#8217; or &#8216;bad&#8217; for us is our decision.<\/p>\n<p>Western academics say that knowledge of opium goes back to about 1500 BC. That&#8217;s when someone wrote about it. That bit of writing&#8217;s been preserved, so it&#8217;s evidence that opium was known at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Fair enough. My academic training was in the Western tradition. I understand the value of written records.<\/p>\n<p>I also think Indian scholars are probably right. Some of them say that oral traditions passed along for millennia were finally written down about 3,500 years back.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"oral\"><\/a>Oral Traditions<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Henry_(folklore)\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/20170704-720px-John_Henry-27527-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>There&#8217;s a similar debate about whether or not <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Homer\">Homer<\/a> really existed. Oral traditions often describe him as a blind Ionian bard.<\/p>\n<p>They don&#8217;t add up to a coherent narrative, and probably aren&#8217;t &#8216;accurate&#8217; in the contemporary Western sense.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not proof that Homer didn&#8217;t exist.<\/p>\n<p>I figure it&#8217;s probably a situation like <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Henry_(folklore)\">John Henry<\/a> in my country&#8217;s traditions. Tales of his successful, but fatal, effort to out-perform a steam drill don&#8217;t all add up.<\/p>\n<p>A scholar who found a reliable eyewitness thinks the story is, essentially, correct. Another scholar said that can&#8217;t be so, since the railroad records for that particular tunnel don&#8217;t mention a contest that ended in death.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m nearly half-Irish, which helps me believe the oral tradition. Or at least take it seriously. It&#8217;s not that we&#8217;re gullible or stupid, any more than most folks.<\/p>\n<p>But some of my forebears were near the low end of society&#8217;s ladder, not that many generations back. It&#8217;s a good place to gain appreciation of distinctions between official records and reality. And that&#8217;s yet another topic.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"poppies\"><\/a>Poppies<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Opium#Prohibition_and_conflict_in_China\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/20170704-A_busy_stacking_room_-_Patna-India-V0019154-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>We think <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Papaver_somniferum\">Papaver somniferum<\/a>, the opium poppy, is native to lands around the eastern Mediterranean.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re not sure, though. Folks were growing it long before we made written records.<\/p>\n<p>Since humans travel, a lot, and trade with others who also travel, stuff gets spread around pretty fast.<\/p>\n<p>By the time we developed writing, we&#8217;d learned that poppy seeds are edible. We&#8217;d also found medicinal and other uses for the plants.<\/p>\n<p>Latex from opium poppies is about 12% <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Morphine\">morphine<\/a>. It&#8217;s an effective painkiller.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also addictive and will, in large enough doses, kill a person.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#4\">4<\/a><\/sup> Nothing unusual about that. Folks have died from drinking too much <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Water_intoxication\">water<\/a>. That doesn&#8217;t make water, or morphine, bad. It&#8217;s another example of why we&#8217;re better off if we use our brains.<\/p>\n<p>Folks with different cultures have used opium as a painkiller, in religious practices, and simply for fun.<\/p>\n<p>Partly because I grew up in the 1960s, I don&#8217;t recoil in self-righteous horror from drugs I haven&#8217;t used. But my background also gives me a lively appreciation for how dangerous such things can be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>BBC News\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-38351958\">Nine die in Vancouver in 24 hours from fentanyl opioid overdose<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(December 17, 2016)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-36436767\">Prince death: Singer died of fentanyl painkiller overdose<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(June 3, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jimi_Hendrix\">Jimi Hendrix<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"prescribed\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">2. <\/span>Prescribed, But Abused<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-35138647\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/20170704-_87294570_gettyimages-678211-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Getty Images, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;Abuse of prescription medications such as oxycontin is fuelling a rise in overdoses&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-35138647\">Drug overdose deaths in the US reach record levels<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(December 18, 2015)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>More than 47,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2014 &#8211; the most ever recorded in one year, US officials say.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on Friday that showed overdose deaths jumped 7% from just one year earlier&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is year-before-last year&#8217;s news. I&#8217;d like to say that it was just that one year; or that it wasn&#8217;t a real problem.<\/p>\n<p>But I can&#8217;t. More accurately, I must not. Embracing truth, all truth, is part of my faith. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c3a1.htm#142\">142<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c3a1.htm#150\">150<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Since I think truth is important, and I&#8217;ve been seeing &#8216;drug overdose&#8217; and &#8216;opioid epidemic&#8217; in the news, I figured a little research was in order.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#5\">5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>The mortality rate for humans is 100%, no matter what we do. Like someone said, &#8216;nobody gets out of life alive.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>What kills us varies from one person to another. The Centers for Disease Control says that more Americans die from cardiovascular disease than anything else. That&#8217;s followed by assorted diseases, accidents, and suicide.<\/p>\n<p>Death by overdose doesn&#8217;t even make the top ten.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#6\">6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>But drug abuse makes some diseases worse, or more likely. I figure it&#8217;s involved in quite a few non-overdose deaths. Even when it&#8217;s not fatal, I don&#8217;t think it makes life better.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h4><a name=\"dead\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">3. <\/span>Dead Counselors<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-40047232\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/20170704-_96210014_05242017_nightstand_counselors_od-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Chester County District Attorney, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;Drug paraphernalia was found on a desk in one of the drug counsellors&#8217; bedrooms&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-40047232\">Addiction counsellors OD at Pennsylvania drug centre<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(May 25, 2017)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Two drug counsellors at a US addiction centre have died after overdosing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The two live-in mentors were discovered unresponsive at the facility in south-eastern Pennsylvania on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Six male recovering addicts who live at the facility discovered the unidentified pair in separate rooms.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Paramedics pronounced both counsellors dead at the scene, despite residents administering a naloxone injection, which can reverse an overdose if administered immediately&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Early tests showed heroin and fentanyl in the dead counselors&#8217; bodies. American law lets doctors prescribe fentanyl as a painkiller, but not heroin.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t make fentanyl &#8220;good&#8221; and heroin &#8220;evil.&#8221; All it means is that American legislators decided fentanyl is okay, but heroin isn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>If enough voters get worked up over fentanyl, politicos may outlaw it. Or not, if enough other voters get worked up over keeping the painkiller legal.<\/p>\n<p>I figure fentanyl, heroin, opium, or pretty much anything else, can be used to help \u2014 or hurt \u2014 folks. How we use materials is up to us. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/bogs-and-bison\/#dont\">February 10, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"realities\"><\/a>Realities<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heroin\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170501ff\/20170704-415px-Long-term_effects_of_heroin-329-sharp.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>There&#8217;s plenty of blame to go around.<\/p>\n<p>The two dead counselors should have known better. In a sense, they decided to shorten their lives.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s assuming that these were accidental deaths, and there&#8217;s no indication otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t see a point in heaping abuse on them, though. It won&#8217;t help them, and I have no idea what led them to this point.<\/p>\n<p>I doubt their motive was putting their health and lives at risk.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, I&#8217;m pretty sure that denouncing &#8216;those sinners&#8217; makes about as much sense as pretending that bad behavior is okay. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/renewed-and-expansive-hope\/#good\">June 18, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/temperance-catholic-style\/#gluttony\">July 10, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>The odds are pretty good that this isn&#8217;t a case of death by prescribed medication. Not entirely. Small bags of heroin bags marked &#8220;Superman&#8221; and &#8220;Danger\/Skull &amp; Crossbones&#8221; were near the bodies.<\/p>\n<p>I have no idea why the counselors took those drugs. It&#8217;s possible that the stress of dealing with recovering addicts became more than they could stand.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean I blame the recovering addicts.<\/p>\n<p>If stress contributed to these deaths, taking unauthorized painkillers to deal with it is still a bad idea. It would, though, most likely reduce the guilt of the dead counselors.<\/p>\n<p>But &#8216;I couldn&#8217;t help it&#8217; isn&#8217;t a good excuse. We&#8217;ve got brains, and free will. We&#8217;re responsible for our choices. <strong>And<\/strong> we&#8217;re affected by psychological and social factors which may be out of our control. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a3.htm#1730\">1730<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a3.htm#1738\">1738<\/a>, particularly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a3.htm#1735\">1735<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"good\"><\/a>Good Health: Within Reason<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/internet-friends-real-people\/#living\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/PrayerAndPrescriptions20161012-329.JPG?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I haven&#8217;t abused illegal drugs. But I have had opportunities to experience something like the physical stress recovering addicts deal with.<\/p>\n<p>I am an addict myself. In a sense. That definitely needs clarification.<\/p>\n<p>About 11 years ago I learned that I had been experiencing clinical depression, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Major_depressive_disorder\">major depressive disorder<\/a>. I&#8217;m pretty sure it started when I was 12.<\/p>\n<p>That diagnosis explained a great deal of what I&#8217;d been going through over the roughly 43 years leading up to the diagnosis.<\/p>\n<p>The knowledge didn&#8217;t sort out my neurochemical glitches, but did make treatment possible. There was just one problem.<\/p>\n<p>The antidepressant which was my best option is addictive.<\/p>\n<p>More precisely, once I started taking it, I would either keep taking it at regular intervals; or experience &#8220;discontinuation syndrome.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s a technical term for a phenomenon which is nearly indistinguishable from drug withdrawal.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/#7\">7<\/a><\/sup> I&#8217;ve gone through it a few times, while learning that relying on mail deliveries and a bureaucracy is not prudent.<\/p>\n<p>I do not ever want to experience that again. It is very unpleasant.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t think anyone&#8217;s &#8216;to blame.&#8217; The antidepressant is a controlled substance, so the prescription must be re-authorized for every &#8216;refill.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The authorization disappeared at the healthcare center, or got lost in the mail, a few times before I started hand-delivering it.<\/p>\n<p>I now drive to a nearby town each month to pick up a legally-required document. This way I can be reasonably certain that it will arrive at the pharmacy. And I get a pleasant drive as a sort of bonus.<\/p>\n<p>Just to make things interesting, the stuff isn&#8217;t always available. Sometimes I wait until a shipment arrives and gets processed, and that&#8217;s yet again another topic.<\/p>\n<p>On the &#8216;up&#8217; side, I now have personal experience which gave me some appreciation for the struggles of folks overcoming addictions. And I can, for the first time in decades, use my brain without fighting the controls.<\/p>\n<p>Good health is a gift. Clinical depression is not a healthy condition, so dealing with it makes sense. Within reason.<\/p>\n<p>My faith doesn&#8217;t demand medical procedures that are &#8220;burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome.&#8221; (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2278\">2278<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>But taking the prescribed antidepressants isn&#8217;t particularly troublesome. I knew the risks involved, and the potential benefits. I do not regret the decision I made, 11 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>More of my take on dealing with reality:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/good-intentions\/\">Good Intentions<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(May 12, 2017)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/internet-friends-real-people\/\">Internet Friends, Real People<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(March 19, 2017)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/living-with-consequences\/\">Living With Consequences<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(March 5, 2017)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/polio-zika-and-using-our-brains\/\">Polio, Zika, and Using Our Brains<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(August 21, 2016)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/temperance-catholic-style\/\">Temperance, Catholic Style<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(July 10, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><sup><a name=\"1\"><\/a>1<\/sup> Nitrous oxide:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greenhouse_gas\">Greenhouse gas<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greenhouse_gas#Gases_in_Earth.27s_atmosphere\">Gases in Earth&#8217;s atmosphere<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greenhouse_gas#Greenhouse_gases\">Greenhouse gases<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"2\"><\/a>2<\/sup> A not-even-close-to-complete look at greenhouse gasses, climate change, and all that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Climate_change\">Climate change<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Global_warming\">Global warming<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greenhouse_gas\">Greenhouse gas<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greenhouse_gas#Gases_in_Earth.27s_atmosphere\">Gases in Earth&#8217;s atmosphere<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greenhouse_gas#Greenhouse_gases\">Greenhouse gases<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Methane\">Methane<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Paleoclimatology\">Paleoclimatology<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>My take, in part\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/climate-change-whirligig-icebergs\/\">Climate Change, Whirligig Icebergs<\/a>&#8221; (May 26, 2017)\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/climate-change-whirligig-icebergs\/#change\">Change and Frost Fairs<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/climate-change-whirligig-icebergs\/#end\">\u2013 \u2013 \u2013 the End of Civilization As They Knew It<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/climate-change-whirligig-icebergs\/#not\">Not Lords of Creation: Stewards<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/climate-change-continues\/\">Climate Change Continues<\/a>&#8221; (January 20, 2017)\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/climate-change-continues\/#coming\">The Coming Ice Age<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/climate-change-continues\/#last\">&#8220;Last&#8221; Glacial Maximum?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/climate-change-continues\/#half\">A Half-Billion Years of Climate Change<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"3\"><\/a>3<\/sup> Coleridge and laudanum:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge\">Samuel Taylor Coleridge<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge#Pantisocracy_and_marriage\">Pantisocracy and marriage<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge#Later_life_and_increasing_drug_use\">Later life and increasing drug use<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge#Poetry\">Poetry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge#Theological_legacy\">Theological legacy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Coleridge_and_opium\">Coleridge and opium<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Laudanum\">Laudanum<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"4\"><\/a>4<\/sup> Poppy products:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Opium\">Opium<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Morphine\">Morphine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Poppy_seed\">Poppy seed<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"5\"><\/a>5<\/sup> Some new(ish) painkillers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Codeine\">Codeine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hydrocodone\">Hydrocodone<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Opiate\">Opiate<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Opioid\">Opioid<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oxycodone\">Oxycodone<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"6\"><\/a>6<\/sup> Getting a grip about drugs and death:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/fastats\/leading-causes-of-death.htm\">Leading Causes of Death<\/a><br \/>\nFastStats, Centers for Disease Control<\/li>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drugs_in_the_United_States\">Drugs in the United States<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_causes_of_death_by_rate\">List of causes of death by rate<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_mortality_rate\">List of sovereign states and dependent territories by mortality rate<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"7\"><\/a>7<\/sup> Risks and benefits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Addiction\">Addiction<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Antidepressant_discontinuation_syndrome\">Antidepressant discontinuation syndrome<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drug_withdrawal\">Drug withdrawal<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fentanyl\">Fentanyl<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heroin\">Heroin<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Substance_dependence\">Substance dependence<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Crisis&#8221; or not, opioid overdose is a problem. A lethal one, sometimes. We&#8217;ve used one opioid, opium, for millennia. Others have been developed during my lifetime. They&#8217;re all useful: and dangerous if misused. Drugs in the 19th century &#8220;Laughing Gas&#8221; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/misusing-opioids\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8,27,29,85,22],"class_list":["post-1345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-news","tag-health","tag-history","tag-medicine","tag-mental-health","tag-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-lH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1345"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7012,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions\/7012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}