Ugly choices about pain

who apparently had a Percocet problem, and a 2016 presidential primary peppered with New England town halls that delved into increased heroin overdoses and prescription drug abuse have converged to create what CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta calls “a public health epidemic.”

The Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act to provide grants for treatment and improved monitoring.

Grant Smith, deputy director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, sees Washington moving in the right direction by “treating drugs as a health issue” and “addressing head on some of the harms associated with opioid use.”

Given the rise in overdose deaths, the media should warn the public about the risk that comes with painkillers.



Because they’re debilitated, people who don’t get the pain control they need may not feel like speaking up, so you don’t hear their stories.

[...] new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines are labeled guidelines, “but they’re going to be interpreted as mandates, you know that.”

[...] Chevlen also believes that pushing patients away from opioids and toward anti-inflammatory meds carries a different risk — toxicity.

Too many families can point to a doctor who didn’t keep a careful eye on what he prescribed.

Or maybe the doctor was careful, but opioids had taken an ineffable hold and street trade made other drugs too available.

The Washington Post reports that a Journal of the American Medical Association meta-analysis of 79 studies found marijuana is effective at treating chronic pain.

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that states with medical marijuana laws saw a 25 percent reduction in opioid overdose deaths, compared with states without such laws.