Marketing Chocolate as a Drug “Holy mesolimbic dopamine system Batman!” commented a user called “Sceptical Cat” regarding a Washington Post story. “You can now snort chocolate — but should you?” Sceptical Cat points out that we tend to associate snorting with illicit substances such as cocaine that have rewarding, and potentially lethal, consequences. The Washington…
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Challenge to Stay Optimistic It’s easy to become jaded. As a physician, I have spent decades dealing with sickness. I have cared for people with intractable pain and addiction. I have witnessed their pain, and I have seen them suffer stigma, judgment, and rejection because of their disease. I’ve watched policymakers motivated by political concerns…
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s Mission Congresswoman Barbara Lee is the U.S. Representative for California’s 13th congressional district. She spent 10 years working to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). On June 29, 2017, “In a surprise move, the House Appropriations Committee approved bill language to end the 2001 authorization of the use…
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The realization that you will have chronic pain for the rest of your life is life-altering. Now imagine that the pain you are feeling can be lessened with a prescription that your doctor won’t prescribe and your pharmacy won’t dispense. Produced by Dr. Lynn R. Webster and Craig Wirth, The Painful Truth Documentary examines the agony that…
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The Court of Justice of the European Union’s Dubious Decision CBS News reported on June 21, 2017, “The highest court of the European Union ruled Wednesday that courts can consider whether a vaccination led to someone developing an illness even when there is no scientific proof.” According to CNN, this ruling means “if the development…
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Salt Lake City Tribune Publishes an Op-Ed Supporting Utah House Health Bill 266 On June 20, 2017, the Salt Lake City Tribune published an op-ed that I co-authored with some of my colleagues. The commentary is called “Patients should not be stuck with ‘fail first’ medicine,” and we wrote it in response to Utah House…
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When we think of the segments of the population who have been most affected by the opioid epidemic, we tend to think of poor, unemployed people who live in rural areas. In September of 2016, I published a blog called “Tough Times Feed America’s Opioid Epidemic: What You Need To Know.” In it, I…
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Danielle Byron Henry’s Story Danielle was born in 1981. At the age of eight, she began experiencing migraine headaches. One of the most common sources of pain, migraines are three times more common in women than in men. For most people with migraines, the pain is manageable with minimal medication, control of sleep, and a…
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Many wonderful videos turn up on Facebook. Here is a video clip I found the other day. It features one of our country’s real heroes and inspirations, Fred Rogers. Fred Rogers Inspires Us This is a video of Fred Rogers testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications in 1969 to save funding for public…
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The problem of opioid addiction is more complex than lawmakers, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the media would have us believe. Pressuring doctors who treat pain patients to prescribe fewer opioids may reduce the amount of opioids prescribed. While that doesn’t decrease the need for opioids, it may drive people who need…
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