Heroin as a Painkiller?
- Sep 18, 2017
- 2 min read
Heroin – a powerful drug currently categorized as a Schedule 1 drug by the DEA in the United States. With its categorization, the DEA acknowledges that there is no current medical application for the drug; however, some argue that heroin should be used as a painkiller while others don’t agree with the idea. Both sides have points based on research and personal opinions, making the topic polarizing to say the least. This topic is of interest to not only me, but people of western Pennsylvania in general as heroin is and has been one of the state’s biggest issues for the past few years.
To play Devil’s Advocate, let’s dive into the benefits to using heroin as a pain killer for terminally ill patients. One of the biggest points that people who agree with this mentality have is that heroin has the same effects as opioids, but much stronger. The argument is simple; if traditional pain killers in the form of opiates aren’t enough for terminally ill patients, give them something stronger. Another point that is often brought up in the argument between the two sides is that of addiction; however according to a Hospice care article, “the need to fear addiction as a terminally ill patient is non-existent” which makes sense to me. In the same vein, the worry of overdosing isn’t typically an issue to terminally ill patients and some even say that it would be a less painful death. My last point stems from the necessity for a stronger pain medication than opioid based options. Lastly, a LA Times article reported on the rising rate of patients with chronic pain who go out of their way to find more opioids on top of their prescription. This can be related to the argument as many terminally ill patients are in severe pain that can’t be sufficed by traditional opioids, heroin could be used in its place with relative ease.
On the opposing side however, there are many reasons to not allow terminally ill patients to use heroin as a pain killer. One comes from a UPI article that covers the opinion of many doctors that didn’t agree that it could be safely administered to patients. Another big reason that many argue heroin shouldn’t be allowed to be used with terminally ill patients is that doctors believe that the current options for painkillers are good enough.
Overall, it seems that the United States government won’t be looking heavily into this subject in the near future. All the while though, a raging heroin epidemic still rages through many US states and many terminally ill patients are still suffering through their last month or so alive.
As I wrap this blog post up, I wanted to highlight another relevant Grateful Dead piece of info as it relates to the topic of heroin. Jerry Garcia, singer and lead guitarist for the Dead was actually addicted to heroin through the majority of the 80’s and also around the time of his death in 1995. Check out this video on Jerry’s addiction right here.
If you know anyone addicted to opioids, help them in any way possible.
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