How many of us want who have addicts in our families want for them to quit and become clean again? Yet how many of us also enable their drug use by giving them money. We can call it a loan or a present if you like but the result is the same. We are footing the bill for them to continue their drug use and eventually die.

I know from my own experience with a family member who is an addict that if they don’t get the money from us they will find another way to get the money and pay for their drugs. Our fear is that they will resort to prostitution or some other crime or illegal activity to pay for their drugs and we don’t want that to happen either. You have to accept the fact that they may need to sink to that level in order to get the help they need to quit. Try to remember that if you can’t be part of a solution you certainly shouldn’t be part of the problem. I know, it’s easier said then done.

We have a member of our family who is suffering from an addiction and who desperately wants help and would love to go to a rehab center. This individual in my family has quit a couple of times on her own but tells me in all honesty that if someone offered her the drug and put it in front of her she doesn’t think she’d be able to resist.

I think that’s the trouble with rehab programs. No matter how wonderful they are if the addicted person is put back into the environment they came from they will continue doing the drugs they just quit. In order to really quit the person has to change not only their life but the environment they came from and the people outside the family they used to hang with. If not I think the rehab and the intervention were only to make more reality TV.

Researchers are still hiding behind ” we still don’t know about pot’s long term effects” so don’t expect everyone to take this finding seriously. Most doctors who participate in these pot studies do think that there is merit in pursuing these studies and that pot will one day have a useful roll in providing pain relief.

I do believe that those who are truly suffering from pain and are terminal should be able to use whatever pain relief works for them. There is no reason people should have to suffer because others frown on the choice of pain relievers.

The government has a website to guide you through the selection, however that can be confusing also. Terry Savage has written an article with a step by step guide to using the government website so my advice is to follow this link and use Terry’s guide.

The drug companies are starting to feel it now too by losing profits. So sorry for them, but the main concern is the person who needs a medication to live and has to risk their lives by having to choose between food and meds. I don’t have the answer but someone needs to come up with something. I think everyone has a responsibility to take care of their own health matters, however there are so many who have done everything right and the way they were supposed to but have now fallen through the cracks, unable to help themselves any longer.

There is a lot of talk lately about whether medical care and medications are a right or a responsibility. I believe that a person who fufilled their responsibilities throughout life, now has a right to at least the minimum of care.

What they’ve seen are great improvements for some patients but they’ve also seen some really sick people still skipping medications or cutting down there dosages because they simply can’t afford it.

Even worse there are still seniors who don’t yet understand how the program works. I must say it does seem to be confusing.  There is also still what they call a “hole” that some people are falling into because  there is no coverage for medications that cost into the thousands.

Much more study needs to be done to determine what is both good and bad about the plan so that our seniors can get the care and medicine that they need to live.