Opioid Crisis Town Hall Meeting

On May 12, CNN broadcast a town hall meeting about the American opioid crisis with Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper. The show’s audience included people who had used opioids for pain, and some who had become addicted to opioids. It has caused a considerable stir among people in pain.

Much of what Dr. Gupta had to say on the show and in a follow up article that appeared on CNN.com was about the opioid crisis, and little was mentioned about the pain crisis. The focus was on how opioids have contributed to a major public health issue spurred on by an inappropriate use of opioids to treat pain. Gupta and Cooper said physicians need to take the lead in reversing this problem.