Important Opioid Crisis Links

The following articles from the past few months offer a lot of information about the opioid crisis. Specifically: information about government action, fentanyl, studies about opioid effectiveness on pain, and the most effective forms of treatment.

“The amount of opioids prescribed in the US peaked in 2010 and then decreased each year through 2015. However, prescribing remains high and vary widely from county to county. Healthcare providers began using opioids in the late 1990s to treat chronic pain (not related to cancer), such as arthritis and back pain. As this continued, more opioid prescriptions were written, for more days per prescription, in higher doses. Taking opioids for longer periods of time or in higher doses increases the risk of addiction, overdose, and death.” – CDC Vital Signs July 2017

1. Finally, proof: opioids are no better than other medications for some chronic pain
   https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/3/6/17082590/opioids-tylenol-chronic-pain-study
2. How to stop the deadliest drug overdose crisis in American history
   https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/1/15746780/opioid-epidemic-end
3. Fentanyl linked to thousands of urban overdose deaths
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/national/fentanyl-overdoses/?utm_term=.ea86185eac1f
4. Why Can’t Addicts Just Quit?
   https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/11/why-cant-addicts-just-quit/545552/
5. No Family Is Safe From This Epidemic
   https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/11/an-epidemic-from-which-no-one-is-safe/546773/
6. Opioid Policy Becomes Personal For One Health Official After Husband’s Death
   https://www.npr.org/2017/12/29/574598532/opioid-policy-becomes-personal-for-one-health-official-after-husbands-death
7. Stanford researchers: The secret to overcoming the opioid crisis may lie partly in the mind
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/09/12/stanford-researchers-the-secret-to-overcoming-the-opioid-crisis-may-be-all-in-the-mind/?utm_term=.607c273eeb3a
8. There Is More Than One Opioid Crisis
   https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/there-is-more-than-one-opioid-crisis/?ex_cid=538twitter
9. Did Americans Turn to Opioids Out of Despair – or Just Because They Were There?
   http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/is-the-opioid-crisis-driven-by-supply-or-demand.html?utm_campaign=nym&utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s1
10. Forced Rehab Isn’t the Solution
    https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/qvwwkv/massachusetts-forced-rehab-law
11. Opioid crisis trims U.S. life expectancy, boosts hepatitis C: CDC
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-cdc/opioid-crisis-trims-u-s-life-expectancy-boosts-hepatitis-c-cdc-idUSKBN1EF1TF
12. Medication-Assisted Treatment Improves Outcomes for Patients With Opioid Use Disorder
    http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2016/11/medication-assisted-treatment-improves-outcomes-for-patients-with-opioid-use-disorder?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sotu18
13. Montgomery County files suit against opioid drug companies
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/montgomery-county-files-suit-against-opioid-drug-companies/2018/02/07/f86035d2-0c26-11e8-95a5-c396801049ef_story.html?utm_term=.7297d5664fee
14. Questions And Answers About Opioids And Chronic Pain
    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/03/09/592305410/questions-and-answers-about-opioids-and-chronic-pain?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social
15. Why it’s not ‘enabling’ to make drug use safer
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/03/13/why-its-not-enabling-to-make-drug-use-safer/?utm_term=.6032095cd92b
16. A lifesaving drug for overdoses doesn’t reduce opioid deaths? Be skeptical.
    https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2018/3/13/17115558/naloxone-opioid-overdoses-deaths-theft-moral-hazard-study

17. CNN Exclusive: The more opioids doctors prescribe, the more money they make
    https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/11/health/prescription-opioid-payments-eprise/index.html

18. How America’s prisons are fueling the opioid epidemic
    https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/13/17020002/prison-opioid-epidemic-medications-addiction