OxyContin Addiction: Doctors & Drug LordsWritten by Anna Henningsgaard
OxyContin is a narcotic drug, an opiate, that has been approved by FDA to legally treat chronic pain. Chronic pain is documented medical condition, a progressive disease of nervous system and spine that causes constant a patient to experience constant, excruciating pain. Chronic pain is caused by failure of body’s internal pain control systems and is accompanied by changes of chemical and anatomical makeup of spinal cord. Left untreated, condition will spread to unaffected areas. A patient suffering from chronic pain does not produce enough natural opiates, so a pharmaceutical opiate like OxyContin is an effective treatment for disease.Unfortunately, drug addicts have abused medical system and obtained prescriptions of OxyContin in order to feed narcotic habits rather than treat medical conditions. Like any narcotic, OxyContin can be highly addictive and overdosing can be fatal. Illicit prescriptions of OxyContin are both sold and abused on black market. This situation creates a problem for governmental drug regulating agencies that are trying to take a hard line on drug abuse. Recently, government has been cracking down harder on drugs and drug abuse, and this does not mean simply going after users and abusers of pharmaceutical drugs. The government has been targeting doctors who prescribe these drugs to patients who then abuse them. The problem here is that it is difficult for doctors to know how their prescriptions are actually applied, and a doctor cannot immediately revoke prescription of a suspected abuser because withdrawal symptoms cause are equivalent to pain of torture, and can be fatal. Thus doctors who prescribe OxyContin to patients with chronic pain, and remember condition will progressively and permanently worsen without this treatment, have been convicted of drug trafficking, had medical licenses revoked, and been sent to prison.
| | understanding the danger of tanning bedsWritten by Guido W. Stiehle
When it comes to getting a tan in a tanning bed, there is much controversy. For starters, people across country have been building golden tans for several decades. While a tanned body is attractive, problem is that there are also many tanning bed dangers, some that people know of and some that are hidden. Today, tanning salons account for a $5 billion a year industry that just keeps on growing.If you were to look at commercials, magazine advertisements, and many high society people, you see toned and tanned bodies. However, all of this is merely portraying a false sense of health and beauty. In truth, tanning beds are very dangerous, causing burns, suppression of immune systems, damage to cornea, cosmetic and drug-induced photosensitivity, and a higher risk of developing melanoma cancer. Because there are no laws governing use of tanning beds, people are free to use them as long and as often as they like. Keep in mind that majority of tanning salons do have restrictions about usage but these are rules set up by salon, not government. Sadly, we see teenagers having restrictions on them for smoking cigarettes, which cause cancer, yet tanning bed that has also been proven to increase risk of cancer has no such structure. The bottom line is that every person interested in developing a tan via indoor tanning needs to have a full understanding of tanning bed dangers so they can make educated and safe choices. For example, most tanning beds release very high and dangerous levels of ultraviolet radiation, which has been shown through massive testing to cause premature aging while increasing risk of skin cancer.
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