People wonder why so many writers come to live in Paris. I’ve been living ten years in Paris and the answer seems simple to me: because it’s the best place to pick ideas. Just like Italy, Spain.. or Iran are the best places to pick saffron. If you want to pick opium poppies you go to Burma or South-East Asia. And if you want to pick novel ideas, you go to Paris.

~ Roman Payne

Roman Payne Asia Burma Creativity Expatriate Expatriot Expats France Ideas Inspiration Opiate Opiates Opium Paris Parisians Poppies Saffron Travel Writer S Block Writing

Perhaps the perusal of such works may, without injustice, be compared with the use of opiates, baneful, when habitually and constantly resorted to, but of most blessed power in those moments of pain and of langour, when the whole head is sore, and the whole heart sick. If those who rail indiscriminately at this species of composition, were to consider the quantity of actual pleasure it produces, and the much greater proportion of real sorrow and distress which it alleviates, their philanthropy ought to moderate their critical pride, or religious intolerance.

~ Walter Scott

Walter Scott Ann Radcliffe Books Drugs Opiates

There are a lot of victims when it comes to addiction. I know there's an overdose epidemic. We see those faces. But then I see these other faces - the ones who commit suicide because they can't handle the pain. Those faces mean just as much to me.

~ Donna Marsh

Donna Marsh Addiction Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Stigma Opiates Opioid Use Opioids Pain Killer Pills Pain Management Painkillers Suicide Unbearable Pain

Reason I know, is only a drug, and, as such, its effects are never permanent. But, like the juice of the poppy, it often gives a temporary relief.

~ Hope Mirrlees

Hope Mirrlees Drugs Endymion Leer Opiates Poppies Reason Temporary Relief

It was a myth you couldn't function on opiates: shooting up was one thing but for someone like me-jumping at pigeons beating from the sidewalk, afflicted with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder practically to the point of spasticity and cerebral palsy-pills were the key to being not only competent, but high-functioning.

~ Donna Tartt

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My doctors, who are not cavalier with prescriptions, give me this medication because I have earned their trust. And yet, with mounting government and public pressure, my doctors’ hands are becoming increasingly tied. They apologetically explain to me why they are required to make the medication even harder for me to get, against their own medical judgment. If the day ever comes when they aren’t allowed to prescribe Percocet to me at all, it may well be the end of the minimal quality of life I fight so hard to achieve.

~ Michael Bihovsky

Michael Bihovsky Addiction Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Stigma Medical Judgement Opiates Opioid Abuse Opioid Use Pain Reflief Perscriptions Public Pressure

Since my symptoms began 13 years ago, I’ve tried every form of pain management I could access — NSAIDS, nonopioid analgesics, neurologic medications, acupuncture, laser therapy, physical therapy, prolotherapy, massage, and trigger-point injections. Most of these have been unhelpful; others provide temporary relief, often at great expense. At the end of the day, when my body is fully depleted of its resources and in the most pain, a single dose of Percocet is the only tool that silences the pain enough for me to fall asleep.I honestly don’t know what I’d do if Percocet became unavailable to me, and the very thought scares me. I’ve been taking it for five years. To avoid any chance of addiction, I only take it at night and have stayed on a consistently low dose.

~ Michael Bihovsky

Michael Bihovsky Acupuncture Addiction Alternative Treatments Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Stigma Opiates Opiod Abuse Pain Killer Pills Pain Management Pain Relief Painkillers

We have a genuine and devastating epidemic of opiate abuse in this country, and it is of critical importance that this problem be addressed. But we must do so in a way that doesn’t cut off an effective (and often the only) treatment for the chronically ill, many of whom are able to function in this world at all only because of the small respite that responsible opiate use provides.

~ Michael Bihovsky

Michael Bihovsky Addiction Chronic Illness Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Stigma Chronically Ill Epidemic Medical Neglect Opiates Opioid Abuse Opioid Use Pain Management Pain Relief Stigma

Government agencies are trying to get doctors to cut back on prescribing opioids. I understand that they need to do something about the epidemic of overdoses. However, labeling everyone as addicts, including those who responsibly take opioids for chronic pain, is not the answer. If the proposed changes take effect, they would force physicians to neglect their patients. Moreover, legitimate pain patients, like myself, would be left in agony on a daily basis.

~ Alison Moore

Alison Moore Addiction Addicts Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Stigma Labelling Medical Neglect Opiates Opioid Abuse Opioid Use Opioids Pain Patients

The addiction crisis is terrifying, and many people don’t comprehend appropriate opioid use. When I first started taking pain medication, I remember a family member saying, “Dianne, you’re going to become an addict!”We need to help people understand that taking pain medicine to maximize one’s ability to be productive and to sustain enriching relationships is very different than the disease of addiction, which limits one’s ability to contribute to society and maintain healthy habits.

~ Dianne Bourque

Dianne Bourque Addiction Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Stigma Opiates Opioid Abuse Opioid Use Pain Relief Painkillers

Several medical professional organizations acknowledge the utility of opioid therapy and many case series and large surveys report satisfactory reductions in pain, improvement in function and minimal risk of addiction.

~ Andrew Rosenblum

Andrew Rosenblum Addiction Chronic Pain Opiate Opiates Opioid Abuse Opioid Use

Despite what appears to be a low risk of addiction in naïve, chronic pain patients, it is reasonable to ask how much harm is actually done to patients with chronic pain by withholding opiate analgesics.

~ Howard L. Fields

Howard L. Fields Addiction Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Stigma Harm Opiate Opiates Opioid Abuse Opioid Use Opioids Pain Killer Kills Pain Relief Painkillers Withholding Care

Chronic pain patients like me are not the cause of the opioid crisis; only 22% of those who misuse opioids are prescribed them by a doctor, and only 13% of ER visits for opiate overdoses were chronic pain patients. Most chronic pain patients are rule-followers who just want to function.

~ Sonya Huber

Sonya Huber Addiction Chronic Pain Chronic Pain Stigma Opiates Opioids Pain Management Painkillers

There’s a saying that goes something like: ‘We are all one drink or pill away from addiction,’ and I know this is meant to destigmatize what addicts go through, but I feel like I’ve been seeing variations on this ‘common knowledge’ more and more lately being used (on social media) as a cudgel to remind patients to not overdo it,” Anna says, speaking to the dual-edged sword of awareness. A motto designed to humanize the experience of addiction has been turned into a weapon that targets people who rely on opioids for pain management, and that translates to real-world stigma.

~ S. E. Smith

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Opium: that terrible truth serum. Dark secrets guarded for a lifetime can be divulged with carefree folly after a sip of the black smoke.

~ Roman Payne

Roman Payne Drugs Heroin Opiates Opium Poppies Poppy Quotes From Novels The Wanderess Wanderess

(On his addiction to opiods): I'll die young, but it's like kissing God.

~ Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce Addiction To Morphine Drugs Opiates