Painkiller Paradox: Feds Struggle To Control Drugs That Help And Harm

Michael Israel (shown here, left, with his father, Avi, in 2006) killed himself after becoming addicted to prescription painkillers.

Michael Israel (shown here, left, with his father, Avi, in 2006) killed himself after becoming addicted to prescription painkillers.

A few years ago, a doctor started prescribing Michael Israel painkillers for bad cramps in his gut. Israel had been struggling with Crohn's disease, a chronic digestive disorder, since he was a teenager.

"So he was prescribed, you know, Lortab, or Vicodin or whatever. You know, they would flip-flop it from one to another," says Avi Israel, Michael's father.

Then one day, Michael confessed that something was wrong.

"Michael came over to my bedroom one night and said, 'Pops, I have a problem with the pills,' " says Israel.

Michael admitted that he was taking more pills than he was supposed to. He was even crushing and snorting them. He was addicted. That started a long, hard fight to try to break his addiction. But nothing worked. He started losing hope. And then one day, something terrible happened.

"Michael walked into my bedroom, and he had a shotgun that he used to use for target practice, because that was one of his favorite things. Locked the door, and I kept calling him, 'Mike, Mike,' " Israel says.

Israel ran to the door and heard his son cock the gun. And then, the blast.

"I kicked the door open. There was my boy, laying on the floor."

See the original post:
Painkiller Paradox: Feds Struggle To Control Drugs That Help And Harm