"A Paradigm Shift"

The deadliest drug abuse problem in the United States is not crack, heroin or cocaine.  It is not even all of these drugs combined.  15,000 Americans died of overdoses of the brand name opioids, chemically derived from heroin, that you know from commercials as Oxycontin, Oxycodone, or Oxycotton .  The biggest hindrance to fighting this epidemic is this: these drugs are perfectly legal, extremely profitable and are available in every community drug store in America and a growing market of "pain clinics" in still unregulated states.  There is no clear enemy or evil drug lord or "bad guy" to arrest on the street.  The reality of our epidemic is much, much worse.

The victims are us: you, me, family, friends, teachers, neighbors, cops, doctors, and kids.  These are folks who pay their taxes, follow the law, and trust their doctors when they are prescribed an analgesic to reduce and manage pain from an injury, surgery or condition.  These potent drugs change your body's physiology in ways that can change your life for the better, helping millions of people ignore debilitating pain.  But too often this brings with it an even more debilitating chemical dependency.   Very quickly and without a clear explanation so far, the pharmaceutical changes the patient, and instead of being a method of managing pain, it becomes a chemical necessity as real and as deadly as our dependence on water, or air to breath.



"There is no Pablo Escobar to capture or kill.  Authorities must contend with an influential lobby of industry representatives and doctors who argue against more restrictions, saying they would harm legitimate patients.... lawmakers have been reluctant to have the federal government track Americans' prescriptions, leaving states to piece together a patchy, fragmented response."



This is worse than crack.  This is worse than heroin.  Crack doesn't have a private parking garage on K Street.  Crack doesn't have an Ad account with one of Omnicom's subsidiaries.   A lot of our neighbors and friends are going to die or get hooked before the appropriate changes are made to our laws and our country's attitude to those among us who become addicted to legal drugs.

Remember when smoking was cool and big tobacco could claim it didn't know that they were profiting on the science of addiction?

"It really blurs the line between legal and illegal drugs."

This is not a problem that we can regulate away, although federal and local adjustments will be essential.  It is not an issue that we can address by shaming those who are affected by addiction into "just dealing with it": all kinds of people are being affected by this epidemic and they can't solve it alone.  There needs to be a paradigm shift for how we understand drugs, who gets hooked, how, and the role we play in between.





http://live.wsj.com/video/thousands-die-annually-from-pain-med-overdose/6E7C0A5F-48F5-47CE-9A0E-64439EF7A5AB.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdue_Pharma
https://www.kennedyhealth.org/component/civicrm/?task=civicrm/event/info&reset=1&id=1039

Their chemical composition is such that the U.S. is just a few carbon molecules from being a nation of heroin addicts.
http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/09/oxycontin-purdue-pharma/
New York Times reporter Barry Meier called Pain Killer: A Wonder Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death
http://www.mahf.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=151%3A2010-mahf-inductees&catid=19%3Amahf&Itemid=1
https://www.ascp.com/articles/stamp-out-prescription-drug-misuse-abuse
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42593.pdf
http://atforum.com/news/2012/09/congressional-research-service-report-on-prescription-drug-monitoring-programs/
http://statepolicyoptions.nga.org/federal_efforts/congressional-research-service-prescription-drug-monitoring-programs
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr1925
http://www.finance.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=f3416765-5056-a032-52ac-100e3da605f1
http://www.williamsondailynews.com/view/full_story/17403338/article-Rahall--Rogers-want-committee-hearing-on-drug-abuse?instance=home_news_lead
http://www.cityandstateny.com/the-doctor-is-in/
http://halrogers.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=305401
http://halrogers.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=305401
http://www.pewhealth.org/reports-analysis/reports/prescription-drug-monitoring-programs-an-assessment-of-the-evidence-for-best-practices-85899418404
http://www.pharmalot.com/2012/12/fda-to-take-harder-look-at-opioid-painkillers/
http://www.nacds.org/pdfs/pr/2012/pain_group_hill_letter.pdf
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/prescription-drugs
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/prescription-drug-abuse
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/faq/rx_monitor.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/14/prescription-drug-abuse-parents_n_1515390.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/health/policy/04medicare.html?_r=1&
http://www.franken.senate.gov/?p=issue&id=257