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Pain and Its Impact on the Opioid Epidemic
In several past articles on the opioid epidemic in America, I have complained that the problem of severe, chronic pain has been overlooked as a contributing factor. It appears that that is no longer true. For example, a very recent report by the National Academies of Science to the Food and Drug...
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The Opioid Epidemic: Expanding Access to Medicated Assisted Treatment
The Researched Abuse, Diversion, and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) System describe the diversion and abuse of prescription opioid analgesics, using data from January 2002 through December 2013. Because drug abuse is an illegal activity that is often concealed from authorities, the RADARS...
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The Opioid Addiction Epidemic: An Interview with Andrew Kolodny, MD, National Expert on the Current Opioid Addiction Epidemic in the United States
Ira Minot (IM): We are honored to have this opportunity to speak with you Dr. Kolodny. Our readers are anxious to learn about the current opioid epidemic. Andrew Kolodny (AK): I am very pleased that Behavioral Health News is devoting this issue to the current opioid epidemic. Opioid addiction is...
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Unintended Consequences: Are We Inadvertently Increasing Heroin Overdose Deaths?
Two years ago, The Fix spearheaded an effort to highlight the public health epidemic caused by the overprescribing of opioid pain medications which resulted in the tens of thousands of overdose deaths that were making front page news. The epidemic was iatrogenic- “caused by physicians”- in...
