The "Opioid Overdose Epidemic" Might Not Be As Bad As The Media Say...

I have been deeply suspicious of the neo-Puritanical drive to end the use of opioid pain medication in America. They are wonderful medications for otherwise intractable pain, and most people can use them without issue.

Because most people aren't addicts.

Just like most gun owners aren't criminals. And most drinkers aren't drunk drivers. But as usual, America is on the insane arc of the pendulum and is over-regulating, using suspicious data and hysterical media manipulation.

Who Is Telling The Truth About Prescription Opioid Deaths? DEA? CDC? Neither?

First, given the non-stop barrage of opioid crisis stories, most of which have been dead wrong, many people will automatically assume that "controlled prescription drugs" refers to prescription opioids. It does not. Other classes of drugs are also controlled and they are lumped together with opioids:

Controlled prescription drugs (CPDs) includes, but is not limited to narcotics (e.g. Vicodin, OxyContin), depressants (e.g. Valium, Xanax), stimulants (e.g. Adderall, Ritalin), and anabolic steroids (e.g. Anadrol, Oxandrin).

Indeed, if you look carefully enough there is a separate definition for opioid analgesic drugs:

Opioid analgesic overdose deaths include deaths from natural and semi-synthetics: codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone.

This means that:

•Controlled prescription drugs may be responsible for most drug-related overdose deaths, but since other classes are included in the CPD group we cannot know whether this conclusion applies to opioid analgesics without knowing the contribution of depressants, stimulants, and anabolic steroids.
•If you believe that this language is reminiscent of what we heard from PROP (Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing) and the CDC you are not alone.
•If you believe that this language may be intentionally constructed to convey another message you are not alone.

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&topic=world_news"> posted by CBD at 12:15 PM

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