The Real Opioid Crisis Isn't Prescriptions—It's Prohibition
West Virginia's overdose data prove it: Officials misunderstood the problem, and patients paid the price.
Pain treatment
Don't Credit Drug Warriors for Reducing Overdoses
While a federal crackdown reduced opioid prescriptions, the number of opioid-related deaths soared.
A Study of 'Problematic' Opioid Use Among Pain Patients Is Less Alarming Than It Seems
The authors of the meta-analysis misleadingly imply that pain treatment should be blamed for recent increases in drug-related deaths.
Divided Over Purdue Pharma Deal, SCOTUS Unites in Accepting a Dubious OxyContin Narrative
The majority and the dissenters agree that the drug was "central" to "the opioid crisis," even though there is little evidence to support that thesis.
If Opiates Are Killing Americans, Why Won't the FDA Let Us Try an Alternative?
As the DEA relentlessly tightens regulations on pain meds, the FDA refuses to approve a safer alternative already being used in similar countries.
Government Data Refute the Notion That Overprescribing Caused the 'Opioid Crisis'
The CDC’s numbers show that pain treatment is not responsible for escalating drug-related deaths.
A New Pain Medication Could Reinforce the Disastrous Crackdown on Prescription Opioids
When the government is systematically interfering with medical decisions, a non-opioid alternative may not actually increase treatment options.
A Netflix Drama Reinforces Pernicious Misconceptions About Pain Treatment
Painkiller reflects an indiscriminate anti-opioid bias that has caused needless suffering.
Prohibition Gave Us Xylazine in Fentanyl. The Solution, Drug Warriors Say, Is More Prohibition.
The emergence of the animal tranquilizer as an opioid adulterant illustrates once again how the war on drugs makes drug use more dangerous.
Need an Adderall Prescription? Good Luck Getting It Over Telehealth.
On Friday, the DEA unveiled a plan to restrict doctors' ability to prescribe controlled drugs over telehealth.
We Need New Laws To Protect People in Pain
The CDC’s revised prescribing guidelines retain an anti-opioid bias and do nothing to reverse the harmful policies inspired by the 2016 version.
The Fight To Criminalize Opioid Prescribing
Over 88 percent of opioid overdose deaths now involve either heroin or fentanyl. Targeting prescriptions is not an efficient way to address mortality.
Why Take Responsibility When You Can Blame Somebody Else?
The year’s highlights in buck passing feature petulant politicians, brazen bureaucrats, careless cops, loony lawyers, and junky journalists.
The CDC's New Opioid Prescribing Advice Still Invites the 'Misapplication' It Blames for Harming Patients
The damage done by the original guidelines, including undertreatment and abrupt dose reductions, could have been avoided if the CDC had not presumed to advise doctors on how to treat pain.
A New Study Finds No Correlation Between Opioid Prescriptions and Drug-Related Deaths
The CDC, which issued disastrous pain treatment advice in 2016, is still pushing a narrative contradicted by recent data.
SCOTUS Rules That Doctors Who Write Prescriptions in Good Faith Can't Be Convicted of Drug Trafficking
The unanimous decision will rein in prosecutions that have long had a chilling effect on pain treatment.
Several Justices Seem Dismayed at the Idea That Doctors Can Be Accidentally Guilty of Drug Trafficking
The Supreme Court is considering what standard should apply to prescribers accused of violating the Controlled Substances Act.
SCOTUS Needs to Clarify the Line Between Doctors and Drug Dealers
Patients suffer when physicians who prescribe opioids in good faith can face decades in prison.
The CDC's New Pain Treatment Advice Aims To Correct the Damage Done by the 2016 Version
The proposed guidelines emphasize the need for individualized treatment and collaboration with patients.
Should We Blame Pharmacies or the Government for Opioid-Related Deaths?
Restrictions on pain medication have undermined patient care while making drug use more lethal.
Dopesick Reinforces These Pernicious Misconceptions About Opioids, Addiction, and Pain Treatment
The Hulu miniseries portrays opioid pain medication as unacceptably dangerous in nearly every context.
Two Courts Debunk Widely Accepted Opioid Myths
Undertreatment of pain is a real problem, and bona fide patients rarely become addicted to their medication.
Oklahoma Supreme Court Overturns a Landmark Decision Blaming Johnson & Johnson for the State's Opioid Problems
The justices rejected a broad definition of "public nuisance" that would cover the manufacture of pain medication.
A Shuttered West Virginia Pharmacy Shows the DEA's Role in Escalating America's Overdose Crisis
A drug that treats opioid addiction may also be abused. That’s not a good reason to restrict access.
A Scathing Rejection of the Case Against Four Drug Companies Highlights Misconceptions About the 'Opioid Crisis'
A California judge said the four jurisdictions that filed the lawsuit failed to prove a "public nuisance" or "false advertising."
A New Study Finds That Reducing Pain Medication Is Associated With an Increased Risk of Overdose and Suicide
The study highlights the dangers that government-encouraged "tapering" poses to patients on long-term opioid therapy.
How Drug Warriors Made the 'Opioid Epidemic' Deadlier
Restricting access to pain medication drove nonmedical users toward black-market substitutes.
Should Dying Cancer Patients Suffer From Undertreated Pain Because of 'Concerns Regarding Addiction'?
Two recent studies show how ham-handed efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions undermine medical care.
The Surge in Drug-Related Fatalities During the Pandemic Highlights the Root Causes of Addiction
The crackdown on pain medication made drug use more dangerous and did nothing to address the factors driving "deaths of despair."
A New Study Finds No Relationship Between Opioid Prescriptions and Unintentional Injury Deaths
The data do not support the conventional wisdom that pain pill prescriptions are driving drug-related fatalities.
What Drug Warriors Got Wrong About the Opioid Epidemic
The original formulation of OxyContin didn’t create the opioid crisis, argues psychiatrist Sally Satel, and removing it from the market didn’t make the problem go away.
Increases in Opioid-Related Deaths Show That Drug Warriors (Including Biden) Have No Idea What They're Doing
After a slight drop in 2018, fatalities involving opioids jumped last year, setting a new record that is apt to be broken this year.
Clobbering Purdue Pharma Makes Drug Warriors Feel Good, but It Won't Reduce Opioid-Related Deaths
The $8.3 billion DOJ settlement is part of a crackdown that has perversely pushed drug users toward more dangerous substitutes.
$465 Million Judgment Against Johnson & Johnson Threatens Freedom of Speech
A brief supporting the company's appeal argues that its discussion of pain treatment was constitutionally protected.
Trump Attacks Biden on Drug Policy From the Left
It's an interesting strategy for a president who ran in 2016 on a Nixonian "law and order" platform.
Massachusetts Study Confirms That People Rarely Die After Using Opioids Prescribed for Them
Illicit fentanyl and heroin accounted for the vast majority of opioid-related deaths, while only 1 percent of cases involved drugs for which people had prescriptions.
Democratic Presidential Candidates Promote Dangerous Opioid Myths
The discussion during last night's debate grossly exaggerated the role of prescription pain pills in opioid-related deaths.
The False Premises of the Ruling Against Johnson & Johnson
Blaming opioid makers for the "opioid crisis" may be emotionally satisfying, but the reality is more complicated.
The Oklahoma Ruling Against Johnson & Johnson Hinges on a Sweeping Definition of 'Public Nuisance'
Can legal sales of prescription opioids constitute a nuisance? Two decisions, based on nearly identical statutes, reach diametrically opposed conclusions.
New Survey Data Confirm That Opioid Deaths Do Not Correlate With Pain Pill Abuse or Addiction Rates
Nonmedical use of prescription analgesics did not become more common, but it did become more dangerous.
As Opioid Prescriptions Surged in Germany, Opioid Addiction Held Steady, While Opioid-Related Deaths Fell
The data reinforce the point that there is no straightforward relationship between pain pill consumption and overdoses.
The Washington Post 's Simplistic Assumption That More Opioid Prescriptions Mean More Drug Overdoses Is Demonstrably Wrong
The causes of opioid-related deaths are more complicated than "too many pain pills."
Two Senators With Business Degrees Want the FDA to Tell Doctors They Should Not Treat Chronic Pain With Opioids
The FDA Opioid Labeling Accuracy Act would aggravate the widespread problem of involuntary dose reductions and patient abandonment.
State Regulators Punish Doctor for Cutting a Pain Patient's Opioid Dose and Dropping Him After He Became Suicidal
The decision by the New Hampshire Board of Medicine suggests state officials are beginning to recognize the harm caused by the crackdown on pain pills.
Can the Damage Done by the CDC's Opioid Guidelines Be Reversed?
The agency’s acknowledgment of the suffering caused by its prescribing advice may be too little, too late.
The Authors of the CDC's Opioid Prescribing Advice Say It Has Been 'Misimplemented' in a Way That Hurts Patients
The CDC decries abrupt, involuntary dose reductions and patient abandonment without acknowledging its responsibility for those unintended but foreseeable consequences.
