croakers and dopers

[Visitor K]

well, now that i have finally decided to get health insurance in japan .. and i thought that i would take up my old hobby of feigning illness to get ahold of some prescription medication.. has anyone attempted this before (successfully or otherwise). i dont need anything too big, some benzos would be nice, but anything ending in "ine" could be fun too.
it seems that a lot of japanese people that i know take a lot of medication.. i mean whenever i get a simple cold, the first thing they ask is if i went to the hospital.. i dont know if this translates to getting more restricted drugs easily, but one can always hope right?
what about other "over the counter" (non-street) ways of getting an easy high? has anyone ever seen dried poppies anywhere?
okay, thats it.. sorry if i upset anyones ethical sensabilities.

[oyajikun]

Never tried it. But if you decide to feign epilepsy, please let me know. I'd love to get some footage of you flopping around on the floor at a hospital.

[jingai]

Start with Black Black chewing gum and see if you can handle it.

[Mike Oxlong]

There was a thread on "Big Daikon" a mere month back or so discussing this very issue. IIRC, the advice was to go to a large clinic or hospital, fake some sort of depression or social akwardness, and mention that when you used "drug x" back home it really helped...

The idea was that in Japan the doctor doesn't diagnose you; you diagnose yourself. The role of the physician is to write a presciption based on your own diagnosis. If the doc seems reticient, pester him until he caves.

[Visitor K]

well, if anybody was wondering.. hitting up doctors for meds in japan is really too easy.. i went to a hospital doctor and told him (as mike mentioned above) that i had problems back in the states that i had to take valium for.. the doctor hardly questioned me at all, and gave me a prescription but told me that i would have to find a specialist in mental issues if i needed more..
i guess i could have just gone around to different hospitals to keep my prescription filled, but then i was able to find a psychiatrist who took national health insurance..
to clarify, im all down for self-medicating to have some fun, but i think that psychological meds are over-prescribed in the states, and from my experience, in japan as well, as the woman i went to was more of a writer than a psychiatrist (and im not talking novels).
she kept me on the benzodiazepines (she chose one a bit different from valium, but with a couple of beers, still a lot of fun), and gave me some bullshit like prozac, which i just threw away.. and when i told her i didnt like the prozac, she decided that i should try ritalin (which i thought it was strange to give what is basically speed to someone complaining of anxiety and insomnia, but as i mentioned i wasnt doing this for legitimate health reasons)..
the next appointment was even worse, i told her that i was feeling less anxious from the ritalin and valium, but still having trouble sleeping.. i thought i was pushing my luck and she would see right through my plan, but sure enough that week i went home with a month's worth of speed, barbituates and tranquilizers..
i do not condone the abuse of drugs, but if someone else out there needs to know the information, it is very easy to get away with this with one exception: i found doctors very wary of giving opiates (a damn shame too), even when i went in with a legitimate problem, they would not cough up even the lowest dose of codeine.. not sure why that is when they just let the other pills fly off the shelves.

[Greji]

i do not condone the abuse of drugs

Posted as VK red lines the Tach, slams the clutch and punches into 5th...

On the opiates thing, I've seen this as well, even while I was hospitalized for an operation. I was told by one of the doctors that because of the bad rep that Japan had with its connections to opium in China during its WWII set, plus the fact that Japan had a major heroin (diacetylmorphine, an opium based salt) problem in the middle 1950s, the medical field tends to shy from in opium based products where they can.

[ttjereth]

:rofl:
Posted as VK red lines the Tach, slams the clutch and punches into 5th...

On the opiates thing, I've seen this as well, even while I was hospitalized for an operation. I was told by one of the doctors that because of the bad rep that Japan had with its connections to opium in China during its WWII set, plus the fact that Japan had a major heroin (diacetylmorphine, an opium based salt) problem in the middle 1950s, the medical field tends to shy from in opium based products where they can.

That makes it even more ridiculous that I was once prescribed codeine here despite the fact that I am violently allergic to it (and that the doctor's office had the fact on record)...

[Greji]

That makes it even more ridiculous that I was once prescribed codeine here despite the fact that I am violently allergic to it (and that the doctor's office had the fact on record)...

Why else do you think they prescribed it! If you weren't allergic, you wouldn't have got it!

[ttjereth]

Why else do you think they prescribed it! If you weren't allergic, you wouldn't have got it!

Makes sense in an odd sort of way.

[Visitor K]

On the opiates thing, I've seen this as well, even while I was hospitalized for an operation. I was told by one of the doctors that because of the bad rep that Japan had with its connections to opium in China during its WWII set, plus the fact that Japan had a major heroin (diacetylmorphine, an opium based salt) problem in the middle 1950s, the medical field tends to shy from in opium based products where they can.

that is what i have heard also.. its a shame a few bad mikans had to ruin it for the rest of us!
also, talking about doctors ineptitude, one of my old students was an anesthesiologist and i asked him what he thinks about medical marijuana (back in oregon we passed a bill legalizing it, which is why i brought it up in class).. he told me that in japan they had the same thing.. knowing that not to be true, but not wanting to seem too knowledgeable, i asked more questions, and he told me, "well we have medical opium in japan, and that is the same thing as marijuana..." of course i didnt want to argue that point with him, as he might realize i know a bit more than i should.. but jesus, he is a medical doctor that specializes in pain management, i think he should know a little bit more.. and i really wanted to let him know... but i think i would have been out of a job.

[GomiGirl]

i went home with a month's worth of speed, barbituates and tranquilizers..

Our new resident Anna Nicole Smith?

[Visitor K]

well, none of that would have really been necessary if there was safe and legal access to good ol' THC..
another reason to hate macarthur and the laws he introduced, i guess.

[GomiGirl]

well, none of that would have really been necessary if there was safe and legal access to good ol' THC..
another reason to hate macarthur and the laws he introduced, i guess.

meh - whatever happened to being high on life?

[Charles]

meh - whatever happened to being high on life?

I was high on life, but I built up a tolerance.

[Greji]

meh - whatever happened to being high on life?

Ahh, I ain't ever been sober enough to get high....

[Mock Cockpit]

I've had the doc give me Rohypnol here. That was fucking lovely. Benzos are easy to get and I often use Maisri (?), aka Ambien, Stilnox. That stuff gets you off but it does give you amnesia.

[Behan]

Maybe if you invited him to Mexico you could teach him...