opioids
Twenty Questions to Ask Political Candidates
Preparing for Election Season The United States is approaching a new election season. Most people are aware of the opioid crisis and the imperative to solve it. As voters, we are tasked with choosing the people who can make a positive difference. Now is the time to evaluate the ability of each candidate’s potential…
Read MoreWhich Contributes More to the Opioid Crisis: Hopelessness or Overprescribing?
Opioids Affect the Workplace The headline of a story on the social network site, LinkedIn, reads, “The opioid crisis is creating a fresh hell for America’s employers.” The story talks about how deeply prescription and illicit painkillers, including fentanyl, have affected the workplace. At an Ohio-based pottery company, the owner no longer requires applicants to…
Read MoreWill Brain Injuries End the Game of Football?
The Consequences of Playing Football I grew up in Nebraska where participation in sports was at the core of a young person’s social, educational, and physical development. It was how we learned important lessons about winning, losing, and being part of a team. Football was a big part of our culture, but it was even…
Read MoreYes, Snorting Chocolate Is the New Rave!
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…
Read MoreAssociation Is Not Causation
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…
Read MoreWomen, Opioids, Benzodiazepines and Pain: A Potential Deadly Combination
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…
Read MoreWhat Do You Do With the Mad That You Feel?
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…
Read MoreCan Francis Collins Help Solve the Opioid Crisis?
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…
Read MoreOpen Letter to Secretary Tom Price
Mother Jones reports, “On a listening tour about the opioid epidemic in West Virginia on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price stressed the urgency of tackling the staggering overdose problem, saying ‘we’re losing people every single day across the nation, so we don’t have time to wait.’ ” Secretary Tom Price’s View…
Read MoreThe Backlash of Government’s Efforts to Curb Opioid Prescribing
Turn the Tide Campaign Brings Unintended Consequences It began just about a year ago, when the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain provided “recommendations for primary care clinicians who were prescribing opioids for chronic pain outside of active cancer treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care.” The emphasis is mine. The goal, as the…
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