Archives for May 2018

Response to People in Pain

CDC Guidelines for Opioid Prescriptions

The CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in March 2016, was meant to provide recommendations for prescribing opioids. It was not meant to mandate policy. Since then, states have developed their own restrictive guidelines for prescribing opioids largely based on the CDC prescribing guideline.

Proposed federal restrictions on prescribing might increase the difficulty of finding doctors who are willing to provide pain patients with opioid prescriptions. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is working to decrease the production of opioids while pursuing legal action against an increasing number of doctors who prescribe opioids.

Everything Isn’t as Perfect as It Seems in Ireland

Is the Opioid Crisis Uniquely an American Problem?

For the past two weeks, I have been visiting Ireland. I attended a meeting for a few days in Dublin, but then my wife and I toured parts of the beautiful country boasting deeply green meadows that connected huge historic cathedrals and exquisite castles.

On the way from the airport to our hotel when we arrived, we listened to the taxi’s radio broadcast about the heroin crisis in Dublin. The news particularly caught my attention, since we have been hearing from our major media outlets that the opioid crisis is uniquely an American problem.

Yes, Restrictions on Opioids Are a Threat to Human Rights

Checking the Accuracy of a Story

In a recent Washington Post story, “Are restrictions on opioids a threat to human rights?,” Charles Lane states that the wave of prescription opioid overdoses has crested thanks to public policy changes including the 2016 CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain.

Actually, opioid prescribing and overdoses essentially peaked four years before the CDC guidelines were introduced. According to a recent report from the CDC, the rate of opioids prescribed is lower than at any time in the past 10 years. The peak occurred in 2010.

David C. Holzman Shatters Addiction Myths

Addiction Is a Complex Disease

In a WBUR CommonHealth article, “How I Was Seduced By Cigarettes, And What Set Me Free,” David C. Holzman bravely recalled his struggle with the addiction of nicotine. He was honest enough to describe the stressors in his life that made him vulnerable to the addiction and the changes of fortune that helped him to recover.

Holzman’s article can help dispel some common myths about addiction.

As the American Psychiatric Association says, “Addiction is a complex condition, a brain disease that is manifested by compulsive substance use despite harmful consequence.” That is correct, but many people define addiction incorrectly.