I haven't read the article yet but I did read another yesterday that said half of all prime working age men (25-59) who are not working and are on government assistance are also taking opiods.

I don't think the comparison is apt. That said, the stuff I was prescribed for dental treatment that didn't even require Tylenol, was surprising.

-
I'm with you, given that the problem was actually an issue in a much watched POTUS election and has seen major figures from Michael Jackson to Rush Limbaugh succumb to the addiction, I think everyone has a sense that it is a problem for us all, the entire country. I heard a bit on NPR a while back about various steps we need to embark on to get things under control, and the doctor they had on for interview pointed out that it has been impossible to get physicians to prescribe less. Certainly PhRMA is good with more sales, but he said that as part of monitoring outcomes under ACA, patient satisfaction was measured, and docs were loathe to not give patients who said they were in pain the best drugs, just to be sure the comment sheets did not show negative for the practice. Also talked about the pain scale, and the strength of drugs given for relatively low levels of perceived pain.

And the underlying issue that pain is measured as "perceived." My wife's a nurse. And as part of her daily charting she'll ask for level of pain on 1-10 scale, and write down whatever the patient says. If they '10' it's a 10. She may know to her core that it's a lie. But a '10' gets charted. You can't alter what the patient says because you know better. And the '10` is what the Dr. can look at.

There is no clinical measure of pain that I know of other than asking the patient.

the solution for the AIDS epidemic was in large part technological ie retroviral drugs. Promoting condom use and getting people tested helped as well. The solution to the opiod epidemic will have to be social in nature. People use opiods because of despair or to address anxiety or something missing in their lives. Yes people getting hooked on prescribed opiods but people are dying from street opiods manufactured specifically for addicts.

---

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

It amazes me that there are some physicians too quick to fill out an opiod prescription but are anti medical pot. Totally baffles me.

Part of it is that marijuana is adding another class of meds that are subject to misuse. Opoids, benzodiazepines is/was enough. The guys who quickly write a opiod script likely don't have any problem writing a MJ script. The way medical marijuana was set up in Canada was a big hassle as well. At least in Ontario we were encouraged to write opiod scripts in the 90s and 2000s. Our own professional colleges wrote articles about doctors inadequately treating pain and opiods for "chronic non-malignant (non-cancer) pain. Personally I think we should just outright legalize (MJ) the stuff and treat like alcohol and tobacco. I have not had any patients (that I am aware of) that have lost their homes or families from MJ use abuse but I sure have seen it from alcohol.

---

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

 
I apologize to all the serious and sensitive people here. But ....

I think I might be suffering from Substance Abuse Epidemic Desensitization. (SAED)

Each new epidemic seems to alarm me a little less than the previous one.

I can still remember how alarmed I was by the heroin epidemic of the 70s.
And the crack epidemic of the 80s.

The crystal meth epidemic of the late 90s - was a little less alarming but still had me a little concerned.

But this opioid thing!
Hardly any alarm at all.

-
How about you as a tax payer subsidizing the docs and scripts that get people hooked...then the cops that save so many and the rehab on the other side, the families devastated, welfare, hospitals, yada, yada...feeling compassionate yet, or do I need to go on? I'll admit I'm more on the bleeding heart side of reasons for wanting to address this seriously (possibly because I was so worried about losing Rush! ;) ).
ps. on a more serious note, I always thought after his ordeal, Rush would have been a good one to evangelize against the road he took, but never saw it if he did.

Because maryjane threatens the medical/insurance industrial complex. Docs can make some great money/perks from big pharma.

---

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

I dated a pharmacist last year that refused to fill prescriptions for certain doctors in the area because she figured out pretty quickly that they were blatantly "pill mills". She said she "reported" said doctors several times but they were still practicing.

That's a stunning statistic. Doesn't surprise me though.

Who did she report them to? It may be possible they are building a case too

I don't recall. We only dated briefly and it's been a while but I recall she was rather exasperated that nothing was being done. She had also been held up three times in the prior eighteen months but Walgreens wasn't willing to spend money on security measures (on three separate occasions someone came in with their hand in their pocket, slipped her a note saying "I have a gun give me all the XYZ pills you have or I'll blow your head off.")