Should heroin be a legalized drug for dying patients.  It is thought to be the most effective painkiller.?
481721
There is a happy mix for dying patients..Brompton cocktail.\n\nIt is a mix of morphine, cocaine and alcohol.  I have been around a few terminally ill patients.  I do not know the amounts I just know of it.  There is also morphine and the patch of phentalol (I think), spelled wrong.   Here it is:  transdermal phentanol patch.  But the first one is probably what you are looking for.  \n\nMy 99 year old grandma got the morphine (sublingual) and the patch.  I don't know if it helped her but it helped me to sleep.  SHe screamed all night from either pain or fear, I will never know.\n\nI do not think heroin is a good choice for anything.
578401
euthanasia or mercy killing is done when someone has cancer or a killing disease or perhaps coma so to rid them of the pain they r killed with medication
1142564
Euthanasia is often an ethical choice, so long as it is the choice of the patient without undue pressure.\n\nThere are many aspects of our care system for the ill, disabled and elderly that require reworking to eliminate the undue pressure that might cause a patient to unnecessarily choose euthanasia when they might not otherwise make that choice.\nThese issues need to be addressed, then euthanasia should be legalized.\n\nKevorkian's freedom is problematic. Just choosing to violate the laws of a country cannot be freely sanctioned, and permitted, and he has said that he would continue physician assisted suicides.  He has served to point out the unfairness of our unjustifiable current situation.  Once the laws have been changed perhaps he could be officially pardoned.
907933
I don't know but I think there should be I don't understand why people with cancer etc. that want to end the pain can not legally choose to die by Doctor assisted suicide instead of suffering\nAlthough it is widely condoned around the world, only one nation, the Netherlands, has made physician-assisted suicide legal. In the United States, voters in five states initiated ballot measures to legalize it. All have failed, except for Oregon, where voters in 1994 approved the "Death with Dignity Act." That measure permit doctors to prescribe a lethal drug dose but not administer it and established rules to ensure patients seeking assisted suicide are mentally competent, in great pain and intent on ending their lives. Since the law took effect in 1997, more than 200 people have committed suicide with the aid of a physician, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services.\n\nYou can and should make a living will then you can choose to have no life saving devices like life support administered but these are not always followed
171346
Your friend was likely being treated by Hospice or was in a hospital or skilled nursing unit or nursing home.  The medical establishment has become increasingly prodeath, advocating euthanasia.  They kill by overdosing on morphine, sedatives and by withholding food and even water, as well as other medical care.  You don't have to do this.  You can take no more pain medication than is needed for any pain.  You can drink and eat or be fed through a stomach tube or intravenously.  You can get epidural medication to relieve pain, without the sedation of taking pain shots, if needed, oftentimes.  You can say to hell with you amateurs, I'm going to a special cancer center, such as MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas. (I would advise this early on.)  Or you can go to Mexico and seek alternative treatments.  Don't ever let a doctor get you down, giving you a death sentence.  Who the hell does he think he is?  God?  No man has the right to say your time is up.  That is God's prerogative only.
828723
I believe it should be legal, I have taken care of alot of suffering people and have seen what death from cancer, ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease), Multiple Sclerosis, and many other things is like. Imagine being robbed of every possible function, not including being able to speak or even be able to lift your arm, but still having your mental capacity intact....Alzheimers is another big one, watching a spouse grieve so much because their husband/wife cannot remember 50 years of marriage or even their own children...sometimes people who are actively dying hang on for up to 2 weeks. If someone is in their right mind when diagnosed with something like that, they should be able to make the decision to terminate their lives at a specific point in the disease progression, as long as the situation matches their specified criteria...I used to say no way I would never do that or think that was ok but then I began working in the health profession, and I am not so naieve anymore, there is pure suffering happening every second of every day. We dont like to see our pets suffer so we put them down when it is their time, but we humans must suffer for many years sometimes before we are withered away to nothing and basically have nothing else the disease can take but your life. It should be legal!! Right to live means right to live with a good quality of life, but when the naysayers are laying on their deathbeds and having their BM cleaned up by total strangers stricken with some terrible affliction and no pain medication in the world will take it away, they might change their minds. Euthanasia, along with guidelines should be legal
18205
No. Absolutely not.  Methadone is unfortunately the subject of alot of myths and misnomers.  It is NOT a cure for heroin addiction.  It IS however, a means to eliminating the craving for heroin, returning the addict to "mainstream" living, getting him off the streets, and --hopefully--into a positive rehabilitative environment.  Coupled with a 12 step program, methadone has a proven track record for helping turn willing addicts into productive members of society.  I have first hand seen lives saved! Methadone works.
309273
I always laugh at the word treatment when it comes to methadone because really it should be called methadone addiction.  Users go from an illegal pusher to a legal one overnight and of course the drug companies earn a fortune too. Ask any ex user and they wont describe using methadone as getting high.  Methadone is very difficult to come off of because the withdrawal symptoms are far greater.  We can thank the NAZI's for methadone because it was developed for the battle field because germany's borders were closed and they could not get any morphine.\n\nMethadone alone is not of any benefit to users except reducing the criminal aspects of their use.  \n\nFunding for proper treatment is dire to say the least and the government should fund more resources.  In November 2005 last year i was unable to refer any clients onto residantial rehab because there was no funding until April 2006. How sad  is that that even though people want to gave up using there is no help for them.  After all it is cheaper for the government to give users methadone rather than spend up to £500.00 per week on resi-rehab.\n\nIf the government really truly wanted to reduce crime and empty prisons over night all they need to do is implement decent rehabilitation pathways that actually help drug addicts.  But they need crime and addiction to have soemthing to develop fear in society so they will get the votes that they need.\n\nMethadone can and does work sometimes but not nearly good enough, it is important to realise that it must be done with other alternatives such as Naltraxone and subutex as part of the detox program.
238388
Euthanasia is a procedure for patients that simply can't just stick a shotgun into their mouth and pull the trigger. There are Multiple Sclerosis patients who lost their muscle function and can't move. We don't know about the disease, we don't have a treatment and all we can do is to fill you up with pain meds. Or patients with stage four lung cancer that metastasized to brain. They are in so much pain, they can't breath, they can have a prolonged seizure and wake up even without knowing who they are or suffer from permanent brain damage. In a condition like that, we can't cure you, all we can do is to make you live for a couple of months max on  morphine constantly. I think it is their right to choose to die.\n\nBut the condition has to be extreme. Comatose patients can wake up. It doesn't mean that they are dead. I would rather have a patient to die in the O.R. instead of just letting them die because they have bad injuries.\n\nAlso, patient must be competent and personally request euthanasia. It should not be performed on a patient without only and only patient's consent. \n\nA personal note, I also think that if a patient requests euthanasia, they should be psychologically examined and should not be euthanized before the fifth stage of Kubler-Ross' stages of death.
989204
the only thing that will kill you is the fact that you are ingesting an illegal substance...drugs are not illegal because someone decided to make them that way for the hell of it...they are illegal because they are dangerous and have adverse effects on your health
1055057
it will probably never be legal because of people like some of your previous responders. it is not addictive (unlike alcohol or nicotine) and has been proven to NOT cause lung cancer AND as someone already said, you CAN'T overdose on it. As someone else already said, though, unless the government can control it (and oil companies can profit from it) they will keep relying on uninformed sheep like the prvious posters to vote for "law and order" candidates who imprison people (and sieze their property before they stand trial), to keep us "safe" from the "devil weed"\nprison building is big business and inmates are basically slave labor for locals around the prison.
443356
There should be no illegal drudge.  There are all kinds of medical uses for every drug created but in the US we have illegal drugs that your Dr. cannot prescribe for you even if it would save your life.  Heroin is used routinely to treat severe cancer related pain in other countries.  LSD was developed to treat alcoholism, marijuana has several uses. Cocaine also has several uses.  I think the hype surrounding illegal drugs is just a propaganda thing of the politicians to have a platform to get our votes.  There are just as many abuses of legal drugs as there is of illegal drugs.  And what about alcohol & tobacco?  They are legal & are the worst of them all.  Anyway,  my point is, if they were legal there would be no war on drugs.  We'd save all kinds of tax money.  Do away with DEA,ATF, RENU & a lot of idiot stupid laws.  I don't even & never have done drugs but if everything were legal, then tax the h--- out of the recreational drugs & set up rehabs etc. for the druggies.
527944
Yes, prostitution should absolutely be legalized; let local governments decide if they want it or not and handle it either through ordinances or zoning laws.  Same thing with drugs - decriminalization or outright legalization would allow governments to raise revenues that could be spent on treatments and public health action, and would take away a source of more violent criminal activity that supports these illegal trades.  There's no reason these things should be illegal, and every reason they should be legalized.
1155415
NO, drugs should not be legalised. Drugs are not solution to any problem nor they give any pleasure. They just drag brain from realty to illusion.
562151
If you look at this question from a purly historical standpoint, I would say that we should legalize drugs based on the lesson we learned during the alcohol prohibition.  During that time we had HUGE increases in gang (Mob) crime.  There were people who obsessed so much about getting it they stopped their legal pursuits in order to obtain more.  When alcohol was legalized again, that problem was gone.  When was the last time you heard of a fight over who was selling beer in who's hood?\n\nIf you look at this from an environmental (And business (How often do you hear those two used together in a positive way)) standpoint, it is said that hemp is one of the best plants pound for pound in the production of oxygen.  It is also a great sourse of paper (and renews much quicker than a tree), clothes (Lasts longer than cotton), pharmacuticals (already used in many proscribed drugs), and other things.  If we had the ability to grow hemp legally I think we could help correct some of the abuse we are creating on our environment.
745310
looks like you not only have a malpractice suit but also a wrongful death suit.  Methadone is used to wean heroin users off the drug and is a narcotic, habit forming drug itself. It is not used to treat chronic pain.    I am sorry for your loss. Good luck
759859
Yes. After all, cigarrettes and smoking is not any lesser killer than drugs. But still they are legal.\n\n   Prostitution is the oldest profession of humans. How is it so bad as to be banned compared to pornography (which is flourishing, especially with the internet) ?\n\n    I am pretty sure for people who know how to avoid drugs and prostitution, it really does not matter whether they are legal or not.\n\n      So, just like smoking, both drugs and prostitution should be "use at your own risk" and not prohibited by law.