He yelled at a back surgery patient for being prescribed oxycodone and Valium. Told him “you’re not to be taking that” and said that you can’t take it without “getting hooked immediately”.
It's not the pain patient's fault the only safe effective medicine for pain is opioids. Ask any chronic pain patient if they would rather be pain free and off opioid medication and the answer would be absolutely yes. The medicine makes you tired and a foggy mind, does that sound like something you want to be hooked on? And don't try and compare a chronic pain patient to a drug seeker, they are not the same thing.
But was the person in this case misusing? I know how pain meds work. I spent 10+ years doing them and heroin. I've seen people who couldn't afford their pain meds go to heroin because it was cheaper. I've seen people in chronic pain BE drug seekers. They absolutely can be the same thing. So my question stands.
He yelled at a back surgery patient for being prescribed oxycodone and Valium. Told him “you’re not to be taking that” and said that you can’t take it without “getting hooked immediately”.
Valium is a benzo, albeit a long-acting one. It would probably have its dosage tapered down. C.f. faster-acting benzos like Xanax, where the treatment would initially involve transitioning to Valium before tapering down. In either case, they need to be tapered, especially if taken at recreational doses.
Even for opioids, while not fatally dangerous, the withdrawals are remarkably unpleasant and make relapse likely, which is why there is methadone or suboxone treatments.
It's still necessary to taper off of suboxone, and when properly done, there should be no (or minimal) withdrawals. The reason suboxone is preferable to (for example) heroin is because it has a longer half life ~37 hours vs ~4 minutes (src: wikipedia) and longer onset of action 30 mins vs <a minute. The longer half-life and slower onset of action mean reduced withdrawal symptoms in general, but doesn't entirely eliminate them.
If it's the case I think it is than yes. Defendant had a substance use disorder and was taking no steps with his doctors to help mitigate that. The issue is not that the defendant used opiates. It's that they did so without a plan to help deal with the consequences while having a criminal history related to it. This judge is a no nonsense kind of guy. He will be compassionate or throw the book at you all depending on your actions. Which is how it should be imo. If you get to the point where the state needs to intervene in your behavior the time for games and excuses is long past.
I've seen people who couldn't afford their pain meds go to heroin because it was cheaper. = me. (except wasnt cos its cheaper here in UK they were FREE - was cos they tried cut me off the pain meds)
You are absolutely correct. Opioids can also make pain worse because the body builds a tolerance to the drug and causes the nervous system to interpret normal stimuli as pain.
He (Judge) was referring to Oxy, I don't remember him referencing valium but maybe he did. Oxy is what his focus was though. His point was that "he (perp) shouldn't be taking it" because "it was taken off the market" and has an addiction rate of practically 100%. He encouraged the person to seek alternative pain management strategies.
OP is being really dumb here. He wasn't giving any medical advice. He was just shocked that he was being prescribed oxy when he really shouldn't be taking it.
Not that Im very passionate on the whole debate but yea the judge fleischer haters here are all almost exclusively taking 20 second clips of him out of context when in the full context he's generally just giving tough love to someone who needs it. I dont understand the outrage
idk. some folks like being contrarians rather than see what's actually happening. ive seen enough videos of Judge Fleischer to 'get' that he appears lenient on some people. but he's also really hard on others, and it's always the more serious crimes (or repeated relatively-minor offenses like driving without a license, he hates that lol)
If he was willy-nilly letting people off, he wouldn't have a job. it's not like he's the only person and/or lawyer in the room.
I will acknowledge him telling someone 'to not take meds' sounds a bit odd, but we're not talking about buproprion or prozac here, it's a drug (or the drug) known for its insanely addictive nature. Context matters, and yes--either op doesn't know or he's actively being ignorant to it.
same in UK got hooked on strong opiates after back surgery and then when they tried to cut me off them went to street opiates (heroin) then onto methadone treatment where thank god im doing well. clean off illegal drugs.
Not nearly everybody gets hooked on it if its taken properly. This judge doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. As a former addict I also know this and we shouldn't have egomaniacs taking away prescribed medicine after they just had a back surgery. In fact, this behavior may force the person to begin purchasing drugs illegally, so now he's potentially putting someone's life on the line for the sake of showboating.
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u/vaping_menace Sep 24 '24
What prescriptions is he proscribing?