Morality of Prescription Drugs

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-05-23 09:35pm

This needs a little bit of backstory.

A friend of mine is waiting for his SSI and Disability. He is diabetic who's has lost several toes to the disease, has suffered at least one heart attack, has liver disease from years of drinking, and also is suffering from a screwed up carpal tunnel operation. He is unable to work, and is staying at whomever can put him up for the night, because can't get an apartment.

His neuraligist has him on 100mg of morphine by patch every two days, which is being paid for by the state, as he has no income. He has no car, and it's 50 miles from his house to the doctor, so he hitch-hikes, sometimes waiting for hours for a possible ride in and out of town.

In order to have food, cigarettes, and other necessities, my friend has been cutting some of his 100mg morphine patches in half to make them last until his next prescription, and selling the 'extra' uncut ones on the street.

This, then, is the thorny part: Is what he's doing moral? Is this a case of desperate measures for desperate times? Does the ends (money for food, etc) justify the means (selling off the drug he needs to be painfree to addicts who just want the buzz)?

I feel what he's doing is wrong, yet I have no way to help him, either financially, medically, or other than offering a ride home whenever I'm free from work. Am I assisting in a crime, since I know what he's doing and why?

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-05-23 09:41pm

Morphine is, for all intents and purposes, a cleaner heroin. At least according to a recovering junkie of my aquaintence.
And some people may argue that morality is a luxury when survival is at stake.
It's a shitty world, that's my take on situation. Hope your friend's luck changes for the better.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-05-23 10:04pm

I've always found the prescription drug system to be silly, anyway (your doctor recommends a drug that you know you need, you go to a pharmacist, he puts the pills you need in a little bottle and you pretend that you've engaged in some major transaction).

I don't consider what he's doing to be particularly ethical; however, I have no problem with people shooting up morphine for thrills, and feel that if they can't find legit means of doing this they have a right to try another route. As for your friend, well, he certainly doesn't seem like a paragon of virtue, but you pay the bills however you can when times are hard.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-05-23 10:09pm

I think its wrong, but a necessary wrong. Though it sounds at least one of his probules are his own fault.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-05-23 10:29pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:I think its wrong, but a necessary wrong. Though it sounds at least one of his probules are his own fault.

Well... yeah, they are. What do you expect from a 45yr old redneck hillbilly motorcycle freak and tattooist who grows his own drink and smokes?

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2003-05-25 08:24pm

wouldnt say it is either wrong, or a particularilly bad idea. I see absolutely no moral problem with someone selling clean, uncut, drugs. I do have a problem with those dickwads that take clean and reletively harmless heroin (to note, heroin has been shown to have no adverse body effects whatsoever so long as you do not overdose, and ODs happen because it is illegal basically due to uncertain purity) and coke (which contrary to the way they are portrayed can and are used quite responsably and without addiction by a good percentage of their users, they just tend not to get caught so you dont hear about them) and cut it with harmful and discusting other things. That is immoral, but selling clean recreational substances? hell why the f*ck not, other than the legalities?

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-05-26 03:22am

My concern with him selling parts of his morphine patches is what future problems he might be contributing to in the people who are buying from him.

As for prescription pain meds, I wish they were easier and cheaper to get for people who really need them. If the government is going to foot the bill on any drug it should probably be those that help people with pain. Morphine is cheap as are a lot of other pain medications. Heck, the government will pay for methadone for heroine junkies why not pay for some pain relief as well?

The only perscription drugs that I am heavily in favor of staying prescription are antibiotics because people will and do abuse them screwing up their effectiveness for everyone else. Even people on perscriptions for antibiotics don't always use them correctly which can also contribute to the same problem of resistant microbes.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-05-26 03:27am

I forgot to mention that it can be dangerous cutting drug patches. Because they absorb through the skin and are often intended to essentially be sustained release there is a potential for overdosing because the patch isn't intact.

Some patches are capable of being cut but if the ones he has say "do not cut" on the package or box he really shouldn't be cutting them.

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-05-26 07:43am

Honestly, I find the idea of prescription drugs ridiculous in that it costs just WAY TOO MUCH. As for the concept.. well.. that's a bit more touchy, and I've really not thought about it.

In any case, I say that if someone has to sell their meds in order to be able to get the necessities of life, then things have gotten out of hand.

I don't think, though, that you are assissting in just knowing that he does as such, but if you actually helped him do what he does, then yes, you would be assissting him.

[shrugs] I really don't know what to say...

~ver

Zoink · Post by **Zoink** » 2003-05-26 09:15am

The guy should probably quit smoking first. Then try to find some kind of homeless soup kitchen or something, ask friends/family for help, and perhaps even beg. This isn't necessarily easy to do, but he should first exhaust all legal means, IMHO.

Am I assisting in a crime, since I know what he's doing and why?

I'm not sure if you're required by law to report crimes. I think that as long as you don't involve yourself in his crime in any way, like drive him to a "deal", you should be OK.

Hethrir · Post by **Hethrir** » 2003-05-26 10:45am

If i knew about it, i wouldn't tell the police, but would try to help somehow. At least he is selling clean drugs, and if he doesn't, someone else will and they may be laced.

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-05-26 01:21pm

Zoink wrote:The guy should probably quit smoking first. Then try to find some kind of homeless soup kitchen or something, ask friends/family for help, and perhaps even beg. This isn't necessarily easy to do, but he should first exhaust all legal means, IMHO.

First off, it's hard as all hell. Second, spanging (street term for begging) is actually illegal, I think.

~ver

Atavarius · Post by **Atavarius** » 2003-05-26 06:42pm

Morphine is isolated from crude opium, which is a resinous prep of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. After heroin, morphine has the greatest dependence liability of the narcotic analgesics in common use.

Morphine may be used safely with therapeutic doses which is usually 20 mg every 4 hours or so (10mg/kg of body weight, it can be more, but this is usually reserved for more invasive procedures). In this case, the patch is likely a sustained release patch that administers the drug over a specific time period.

As a medical professional, i must agree that a great deal of the prescription drug setup is ungainly and can sometimes be more painful that some diseases (especially with some insurance providers) but for some drugs it is a needed.

I must say that i understand why your friend does what he needs to do, but it is cases like this which hurt modern medicine. Pain is the most underated symptom in the medical. It is cases like this which make people afraid to ask for analgesic treatment (due to not wanting to be seen as abusers) and doctors afraid to dispense analgesics (due to not wanting to be seen as "dealers").

I was taught to ask patient's to rate their pain on a scale from 1-10, and it has been statistically shown that most patients rate their pain lower due to fear. This interferes with treatment in many ways. Right now i am assigned to an neurosurgery/orthopedic floor (I primarily deal with ortho patients), and i have to say that pain is the leading block in treatment. Each patient is medicated for pain before they receive PT, but in most cases i have seen, they usually ask for lower doses, causing PT to be more painful than it needs to be, which usually results in longer hospital stays due to more PT appointments.

It is also shown that most healthcare professionals rate patients pain lower, which is unfortunate because this also leads to more difficult treatment. I can elaborate more on alot of this if needed, but i think i have drwn out my reply longer than i should have. I apologize for this, but it is a subject that i have been lectured on for a great deal of time.

In short, i do not like what your friend has to do, but i certainly understand it.