Prompt Cast
The Opioid Epidemic: Overprescription and Addiction
TLDR The opioid epidemic in the US is largely fueled by the overprescription of opioids by doctors who were not concerned about their addictive nature. Recent research shows that opioids are more addictive than previously thought, with around one in every 10 or 11 people who take opioids for chronic pain becoming addicted.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The opioid epidemic in the US, which has claimed more lives in 12 months than the Vietnam War, is largely fueled by the overprescription of opioids by doctors who were not concerned about their addictive nature.
04:43
June Dahl, a chemist turned pain researcher, played a role in the opioid epidemic by advocating for the use of opioids to treat all kinds of pain based on studies that showed they were not highly addictive, despite conflicting evidence.
09:13
Opioids were believed to be safe and non-addictive, but recent research shows that they are more addictive than previously thought, with around one in every 10 or 11 people who take opioids for chronic pain becoming addicted, and the longer the drugs are taken, the higher the risk of addiction.
13:54
Prescribing opioids for chronic pain without evidence of their effectiveness and the potential for opioids to make pain worse are two major issues that have been identified in the use of opioids for pain management.
18:38
The medical community felt confident in giving out opioids long term despite the lack of evidence due to multiple gentle persuasions, including interactions with pharmaceutical companies and the seductive marketing tactics used to promote opioids.
23:48
Doctors in hospitals were required to ask every patient about their pain and give it a score from 1 to 10, leading to an emphasis on pain management and potentially excessive prescribing of opioids.
28:22
Hospitals had financial incentives to treat pain aggressively with opioids, leading to widespread prescribing of opioids for all types of pain.
32:28
The medical community should have been more skeptical of opioids and pharmaceutical companies, but they weren't, leading to the current opioid crisis.
37:12
The opioid crisis is not only caused by prescription drugs, but also by non-prescription opioids like heroin and illicit fentanyl, with studies suggesting that a significant portion of heroin users started with prescription drugs before turning to heroin.
