Shon Curren

The show is great for insight on most important topics the world is facing today. I’m offering feedback as more information could have been included for the Mike Moore, Opioid episode. I’ve been fighting cancer since September 2015 and had many questions regarding pain medications. I’ve been using opioids to fight my pain and truly believe that I’ve lasted this long because of the medication. I did learn that the earlier version was called OxyContin, and due to the way it was manufactured, it’s characteristcs allowed for the pill to be crushed. This became popular with drug users as the could snort it, and as a result cause many overdoses. I learned that it also was mixed with cocaine and heroin which helped increase the overdoses. The OxyContin is now oxycodone. This pill doesn’t have the ability to be crushed and used in the above mentioned way. I have not gave feedback of this type, but feel that the public needs more information and teaching. In this episode, it stated the warning was if used legimately, the opioids would have rare addiction rates. I’ve always used my medications legimately and dont feel addiction. Of course I’m not an expert, and more research needs to be done, but I don’t want to see this medication eliminated as an option for cancer patients. The medicine does work, and has truly increased my ability to help elevate my quality of life. I was pleased that reporters from 60 minutes presented a possibility that this may be a money grab by lawyers. I’d love to see a follow up episode explaining the history, production and more in depth look at why overdoses occurred. Thanks for reading. Shon