While it remains popular to attribute the opioid‐related overdose crisis to doctors prescribing pain relievers to patients, the evidence shows there is no correlation between prescription volume and non‐medical opioid use or opioid use disorder.
opioid abuse
If you're seeking sloppy reporting and sensationalist headlines, recently CNN did not disappoint. "Odds of dying from accidental opioid overdose in the US surpass those of dying in car accident," it stated. Well, maybe so, that is -- unless you take a deeper look and then a very different story emerges. No need. We at ACSH do it for you. Free of charge!
The CDC screws up yet again. This time it's meth.
Recent DEA efforts to address our enormous opioid addiction problem have arguably only made the situation worse. But now, an implant that steadily releases buprenorphine a weaker opioid used to wean users off heroin has recently been approved by an FDA advisory panel. So hope may be on the way.
America's huge addiction problem stems from the use of opioid narcotics, such as oxycodone (Percocet) and hydrocodone (Vicodin). But attempts to limit access to these drugs have had unintended consequences. And as the pills become harder to get and more expensive, heroin use is growing. Here an overview of a big mess.
It is no secret that the U.S. has an enormous narcotic addiction problem, and that much of this can be traced to overprescription beginning in the 1990s. In a recent NY Times op-ed, Dr. Richard Friedman blames most of this on physicians. But it's just not that simple.
The practice of treating heroin addicts with methadone is hardly new indeed it s been common practice among addiction specialists for almost fifty years now. It is not a perfect solution, but it works pretty well. And the alternative is far worse.
At ACSH, we have weighed in multiple times about our country s bizarre conglomeration of drug laws. Sometimes they make sense. Sometimes they don t. Sometimes you can t even tell.
We have been discussing narcotic abuse lately. It is a huge and growing problem in the US, and there is no apparent solution at this time.
But, in at least one case, there is a solution. And it should involve time in jail. Not for the drug abusers/addicts, but for doctors and other officials of sports teams, especially on the college level.
Today s New York Times editorial board addresses narcotic abuse in a piece called Painkiller Abuses and Ignorance. We wonder whose ignorance are the editors trying to discuss they seem to have enough to go around.
There is no doubt that the use and abuse of opioids narcotics related to morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, etc. is on the rise. There is also no doubt that the rate of addiction and overdose deaths are also headed upward.
So, what do you do about it? And, does what you re doing make sense?
The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) thinks that it has a solution stringent restrictions in the legal use of narcotic painkiller.