http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101006132741.htm Repinotan allows an opiate user to receive the pain-relieving benefits of morphine, for example, without risking respiratory suppression since repinotan quickly increases the respiration rate which may be slowed by opiates. Repinotan is being trumpeted as a boon to the medical industry and patients alike since inadvertant, "permanent pain relief" can now be avoided when treating patients with opiates. This boon seems obviously true.
However, I wondered that nowhere in the announcement of repinotan was a mention of the potential boon to opiate addicts. It would seem to me that if an opiate addict takes repinotan before their fix, they will have much less chance of an overdose due to possible respiratory depression. This would be especially true when the addict is incorrect regarding the possibly lethal strength of the opiate dose they are using for any given fix.
My guess is that addicts are still so stigmatized by society in general that their protection is deemed far less important than for assumed non-addict patients in need of opioid pain relief. However, from a politically progressive or a spiritual point of view, every human's life is as valuable as the next. From this vantage point, the invention of repinotan is a potential boon to every mammalian (et al?) body that experiences a reduction of pain, as well as an increased likelihood of physical demise, when their receptor sites are exposed to opioids. My hope is that within my lifetime, all beneficiaries of an up and coming medical treatment such as repinotan will be mentioned along with the usual subjects!
No comments:
Post a Comment