But the 90s and early 2000s were more than 10 to 15 years ago. Anyway, because of the sensationalness of the story (drug companies describe addictive pain killers as being not addictive to increase sales at the expense of patient health) I can believe that the story is exaggerated for clicks. But I’ve never seen data driven arguments either way, just anecdotes. If you have something maybe share it? Does this need a new thread?
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The 10-15 years ago references the decrease in opiate prescriptions, which has done shit to alleviate opiate addiction and overdose deaths.
I don’t have a good set of data readily available and it would require some work to put together to make a real argument.
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Not sure taught is the right word. More that doctors were paid by Purdue to be “thought leaders” and were instructed to tell young doctors that.
That doesn’t make sense. People getting into opiates in 2021 weren’t hooked by overprescription in the 90s and 00s. We’re now setting records despite a decade plus of decreased opiate prescribing.
The main issue is the supply is contaminated and we refuse to provide a safe one.
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Thanks. An argument I have seen is that US (and Canada) managed to “perfect storm” this, with doctors prescribing in the 90s to create a critical mass of addicts, and then when prescriptions started to decline you ended up with a big demand from addicts and limited “legitimate” supply from doctors, so the illicit DYI versions of opiates flooding in from drug dealers to fill the gap. Once you’ve got a thriving drug trade in opiates up and running it’s hard to stop it.
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The distributors and pharmacies are absolutely liable. There are shit towns in Ohio and West Virginia that had enough oxycontin supplied to them for every single person living there to take several pills a day. They knew and didn’t care, because money.
Edit: LOL its way worse than I thought, this is enraging.
This graph does not demonstrate that opiates prescriptions are a gateway drug.
The graph posted is not good evidence of anything. Not to be a dick but using the way you are is straight up wrong. While I won’t sit here and say that the opiate prescription policies in the 90s/00s were great, but the cause is the explosion in synthetic opiates from illicit sources. Those pills aren’t going anywhere. That was going to happen regardless of prescribing practices.
I need to log off and do family stuff, but this is a good starting point article with a key quote:
More than 100,000 people fatally overdosed between April 2020 and April 2021, a nearly 30 percent jump from the previous year, and an unprecedented death toll often blamed by the media on pharmaceutical companies and prescription opioids like OxyContin.
But national surveys show a steady decline in the number of people misusing prescription opioids. Opioid prescribing has declined by 60 percent since its 2011 peak, when roughly 15,000 deaths were attributed to pharmaceutical opioids like oxycodone. The use of prescription opioids among young people has also hit historic lows. And the same surveys show the number of people using illicit opioids like heroin has remained flat.
The rise of overdose deaths stems not from the Sackler family or a sudden increase in new fentanyl users but from a volatile and lethal drug supplythat people are navigating during heightened social isolation due to the pandemic.
…
When people think they’re getting one drug, what they’re usually being sold is a possibly deadly cocktail of different compounds. That’s the nature of today’s unregulated drug supply. In early November, a bag of tan powder sold as heroin on the street in Chicago contained fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and Xylazine (a drug used as a sedative by veterinarians), as well as Metonitazene, a synthetic opioid 100 times stronger than morphine. Another sample, also sold as heroin in Chicago in November, tested positive for fentanyl, multiple fentanyl precursors, and over-the-counter antihistamine. In Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, a locus of the opioid crisis that The New York Times dubbed the “Walmart of Heroin,” dealers sell a mixture that users call “tranq dope,” that is heroin mixed with Xylazine. One user I spoke with in Philadelphia, who requested anonymity, said “scammers’’ sell bags of “heroin” that don’t contain opioids at all. “It’s all Xylazine and other cuts,” he said. He called the drug supply “pure hell,” and noted horrific side effects from tranq dope, such as skin lesions and blackouts.
My mom was assured by her doctors that the opioids he was suggesting she take wouldn’t be habit forming at all, just complete absurdity.
remember the tv commercial with a guy talking to his mom on the phone late at night and telling her to just take the non habit-forming pill?
Didn’t the FDA ban crushable oxycontin at one point as well? As I understand it, this drove users to street heroin in the early 2000s as one could no longer inject or snort oxys.
ETA: Unintended consequences and lots of blame to go around. Situation is awful.
Jesus.
I remember I got a new dentist and I called to make an appointment over a toothache. She didnt have an appointment for like 5 days so called me in a prescription of Norco’s. This was probably 5 years ago.
It surprised me as I thought they really clamped down on opiates. She didnt have my records or anything just going off my word
Isn’t the pharmacist supposed to catch that?
Huh. How long has that been a law?
Maybe it was a bit longer like 7-8 years. I’m terrible with time. But it definitely happened
Yet when I dislocated my hip in a car crash in 2011, they wouldn’t give me fucking morphine while I was waiting for the lone orthopedic surgeon in the area to pop my hip back into place (he was performing surgery at the time).
Took 6 hours of pain, numerous complaints and a profanity-laced tirade to finally get a bit which of course did absolutely nothing. Wouldn’t be surprised if they gave me nothing at all. Ultimately, it was getting my hip relocated shortly afterwards that stopped the immediate pain.
So fucked up what’s happening with the opioid crisis in America.
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Jesus. Couldn’t you be admitted to the ER?
That’s brutal.
I do have a case where I was in a pretty bad car crash and had a deep bruised where the seat belt and air bag hit. All they gave me was ibprofen
Well yeah the ambulance picked me up from the wreckage (though I technically ejected myself from the car and tried to walk not knowing that I had a dislocated hip). I ended up waiting in some open area with a bunch of other beds. Once my hip got popped in, I got a proper room.
They said that the severed blood flow to the area could lead to an inevitable hip replacement in the future. But thankfully, I feel no pain in the area anymore.
Rural New York state is a shithole.
Well raise my rent. It’s not unexpected and not that much more in the scheme of things but it still bums me out. Maybe from the lack of control or something, idk.
Can’t even read the full story but lol