The Debate Over Prescription Painkillers

In the last 20 years, the number of opioid-linked deaths has drastically increased. However, there’s still one hundred million Americans suffering from chronic pain. These two factors collide as policymakers try to implement a restriction on opiods. A debate on the topic was held at Stanford University with an expert in Pain medicine, Sean Mackey, and an addiction expert, Anna Lembke. In essence, the debate is about which side would you want to help more? There are a hundred million people who suffer from serious pain each year. However, there’s also the public health crisis which resulted from opioid abuse as thousands die each year. Mackey pointed out that almost a third of Americans suffer from chronic pain and restricting painkillers may be the big hindrance to treating these people. Lembke, on the other hand, pointed out the huge number of opioid prescriptions which is now at 200 million. She linked this to the drastic rise of overdose deaths from 4,000 to 1999 to 16,000 in 2013. In the end, doctors and policymakers need to find the middle ground and balance these two factors in order to solve the problem.

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By German Lopez The number of deaths linked to opioid painkillers has risen dramatically over the past two decades. But tens of millions of Americans still suffer from serious pain and stand to benefit from these drugs. How do policymakers balance those conflicting forces as they consider more restrictions on opioids?
It’s a question public health experts and lawmakers have been struggling with over the past few years as opioid deaths have risen. In late April at Stanford University, …read more

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