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.
Pain treatment
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.
Seeking to Clarify Its Opioid Prescribing Guidelines, CDC Joins FDA in Decrying 'Mandated or Abrupt Dose Reduction'
The CDC's advice has been widely interpreted as requiring involuntary tapering of medication so it does not exceed an arbitrary threshold.
Kirsten Gillibrand Says Her Limit on Opioid Prescriptions 'Is Not Intended to Interfere With These Decisions'
If the senator really believed "all health care should be between doctors and patients," she would not be proposing a one-size-fits-all rule for pain treatment.
Experts Urge CDC to Clarify Prescribing Guidelines That Are Hurting Pain Patients
The agency's opioid advice has led to arbitrary dose reductions, denial of care, senseless suffering, and suicide.
Are You More Likely to Be Killed by Opioids Than a Car Crash?
Only if you are using heroin, fentanyl, or dangerous drug mixtures
Punishing Patients Won't Reduce Opioid Deaths
A new Medicare prescription rule will aggravate undertreatment of pain.
Opioid-Related Deaths Keep Rising As Pain Pill Prescriptions Fall
The crackdown on analgesics continues to push nonmedical users toward deadlier alternatives.
AMA Decries the Impact of the CDC's Opioid Guidelines on Pain Treatment
The physician group says widespread "misapplication" of the guidelines is hurting patients.
Trump Says Pain Pills Are 'So Highly Addictive.' He's Wrong.
The president wants to sue pharmaceutical companies for telling the truth about the addictive potential of their products.
Nan Goldin's Misleading OxyContin Story Feeds the Myth of 'Highly Addictive' Pain Pills
Like most people who become addicted to prescription opioids, the famous photographer had a history of substance abuse.
This Is Your Hand on Opioids: Trump's 'Very Bad Commercials' Rely on Dishonest and Pernicious Scare Tactics
The anti-drug ads exaggerate the risk of addiction and falsely portray pain treatment as a highway to hell.
AMA Castigated for Rightly Opposing a National 3-Day Limit on Opioid Prescriptions
The doctors' lobby is right that the arbitrary rule is medically unsound and misconstrues the CDC's guidelines.
Nevada Records Show 'Opioid-Related' Deaths Usually Involve Illicit Drugs or Mixtures
Deaths attributed solely to pain pills are rare in Clark County.
FDA Head Acknowledges Suffering Caused by Opioid Crackdown
Scott Gottlieb announces a public meeting focused on the concerns of chronic pain patients.
Opioid Death Rates Are Not Correlated With Prescription Rates Across States
More reason to doubt that pain pill restrictions will save lives
Walmart's 7-Day Opioid Prescription Limit Is Medically Unsound and Could Backfire
Like state legislators, the chain is taking its cue from the CDC's guidelines.
The Lethal Success of Pain Pill Restrictions
A new study provides more evidence that the opioid crackdown is driving people toward deadlier drugs.
The New York Times Suggests Opioids Should Be Reserved for Terminal Patients
An editorial calling for further restrictions on pain pills grossly exaggerates their dangers.
As Opioid Prescriptions Fall, Opioid Deaths Rise
The latest data underline the folly of tackling the "opioid crisis" by restricting access to pain pills.
Medicare Agency Retreats From Arbitrary Limit on Pain Medication
Under the final rule, pharmacists may fill high-dose opioid prescriptions as long as they verify them.
New Medicare Rule Promises Needless Suffering for Pain Patients
Taking a cue from the CDC, the proposed regulation imposes an arbitrary cap on opioid prescriptions.
Nan Goldin's Back Story Complicates Her Anti-Opioid Narrative of Accidental Addiction
The photographer's long history of substance abuse predates her OxyContin prescription by more than four decades.
Does That JAMA Study Really Show That Advil Is Just As Effective As Opioids?
Since responses to pain treatment vary widely, it is hazardous to draw broad conclusions from a single study.
America's War on Pain Pills Is Killing Addicts and Leaving Patients in Agony
The government's efforts to get between people and the drugs they want have not prevented drug use, but they have made it more dangerous.
Jeff Sessions' Cruel Prescription for Pain
The attorney general does not seem to understand how the drive to minimize opioid use hurts innocent people.
Jeff Sessions' Advice to Pain Patients: 'Take Some Aspirin' and 'Tough It Out'
The attorney general thinks people should suffer needlessly, just like John Kelly.