Topic: opioids

Epidemics do tend to end at some point, but they leave considerable destruction in their wake.

Heroin was a product of the Bayer Company of Germany, marketed as a preferred alternative to morphine– stronger, and thought to be safer

Thus someone who’s on maintenance but seeking one last ‘high’ often looks to fentanyl as a way around the medication. That’s risky in the extreme.

Many physicians don’t want to offer opioid maintenance. They’re happy to refer out, to an addictionologist or psychiatrist with training.

I always encourage family members with concerns about a loved one’s opioid use to communicate directly with the prescriber.

Hard to imagine anything more disturbing to most people than finding an overdose victim on the floor of the ladies’ room at the local McDonald’s.

Instead of sleazy criminals and foreign warlords, the misuse was initially at the hands of trained physicians, with the confidence of medical authorities.

We should remember the proposal isn’t actually about a way to get addicts off drugs; it’s a way to facilitate use.

Reliable stats on relapse can be hard to come by, but return-to-heroin rates appear to run above 80% (and in some cases, higher).

Unfortunately, relatively few ODs occurred in the doctor’s office or the pharmacy waiting area.