The reason the opioid epidemic is as bad as it is, is because the medical system as a whole has clamped down hard on who can prescribe opioids so people turn to street drugs from lack of access. There's also unfortunately a lot of people who got addicted back when it was much easier to get opioids for pain and when it wasn't managed in an appropriate way.

[–] Jeffrey@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The reason for the opioid epidemic is not because the medical system has clamped down on prescriptions.

Pharmaceutical companies lied to doctors and patients about how addictive opioids are. Then, a series of studies concluded that many people are living with untreated chronic pain; so prescribing opioids more frequently was advised by medical associations and public health authorities.

It was only a matter of time until the truth about opioids' addictiveness became obvious and undeniable. Only THEN did the "whole" medical system start clamping down on opioids.

The Sackler Family (owners of Perdue Pharma) directly caused the deaths of millions of innocent people by misleading doctors, patients, and health authorities. The Sackler Family is spending millions of dollars to launder their reputation and prevent the public from associating them with the opioid epidemic and the millions of lives they ruined for profit.

[–] Gaywallet@beehaw.org 5 points 2 years ago

It was only a matter of time until the truth about opioids’ addictiveness became obvious and undeniable. Only THEN did the “whole” medical system start clamping down on opioids.

Sorry I didn't mean to minimize the topic down as much as I did. This wasn't meant as an explanation for the beginning or the source of the opioid epidemic. Just another step along the path of poor management. You summed it up better above, thank you.

[–] electrodynamica@mander.xyz 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Pharmaceutical companies lied to doctors and patients about how addictive opioids are.

Every single opiod, from opium itself, to heroin, to morphine, etc. Has been promised to be non addictive. How many times can you believe the same lie before you hold some responsibility for the outcome?

Then, a series of studies concluded that many people are living with untreated chronic pain;

Which is still true. In fact, the reason for this is at least partly because of fear of addiction, so they too cautiously don't treat pain at all.

But no one wants to admit, not doctors nor pharmaceutical companies, that medicine doesn't have a viable solution to the most basic of medical problems.

[–] Gaywallet@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

All animals will do just about anything to avoid pain. Framing an addiction through the lens of escaping pain is perhaps something we need to consider. I think the focus needs to be on medication management. If the options available to me are to be in pain all the time, or be physically addicted to a drug which removes the pain but for which I'm not chasing a stronger dose always (or at least am able to cycle between a number of drugs to reset tolerance), I'm absolutely going to choose the latter.

With that being said, opioids in general are physically addictive, which is problematic. Other drugs such as dissociatives like ketamine are much less addictive. In fact, if opioids are kept to a rather short course and lower doses you can probably avoid physical addiction for most individuals. The problem is that we don't really have a good scientific background for figuring out how to manage this and we're unwilling to give it a try because of how much we demonize drugs and this all or nothing mentality around addictive substances.

[–] electrodynamica@mander.xyz 2 points 2 years ago

Other drugs such as dissociatives like ketamine are much less addictive. In

Or even cannabis. The OG of pain management. Cannabis is documented over 10 millennia before Aspirin. Who knows how long before that it was used. Before the oligarchs in USA conspired to eradicate it from earth in 18th, 19th and 20th century, it had significant biodiversity, who knows how many medicines were lost. But thanks to the many outlaws who continued to cultivate it in very diverse soils and climates, it is very diverse again. Still, the capitalist pharma companies can only think in terms of "what molecules can I patent and sell?" They reluctantly allowed the studies investigating whole-plant effects, marketing it as "entourage effect", but this was only so they could patent formulae in much the same way.

I think my point here is just that we have to get away from the stupidity of the capitalist system before we advance.

Even with pain management in general I may have been a bit harsh on the doctors for believing lies. Their entire schooling is filled with capitalist lies, so they are trained to believe them. But that doesn't mean innocence either.

There are courses in med school about pain management, reducing physical dependence and all that. Even if they are colored with pharmacorp propaganda, a good doctor should be able to filter out the bullshit.

[–] pancake@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

Fun fact: there's as of now one opioid (tianeptine) that has been claimed to be non-addictive. Little to no effort seems to be underway to prove or deny it, so time will tell...