I have had the distinct pleasure of being on both sides of this dilemma. I have helped put people in jail Nd also have taken the meds for a severed injury suffrrrd on the job.
These young folks sadden me. I feel for them. But what has happened is nothing. What is happening is that the dr will give a 30 Day prescription for patients when most will do fine with a 5 day prescription. What usually happens then is the patient holds on and then uses them themselves or gives them to friends. This needs to stop.
Every person after taking these meds needs to be screened and weaned off the medication. Unfortunately a dr will basically cut off someone and what happens is they go directly to the local dealer or from friends.
think comprehensive education is important in combatting this issue. Though kids are often warned about the effects of substances as early as middle school in my hometown, programs like these can sometimes fail to get into enough detail to truly inform people. For instance, I find that in these programs, pot is often discussed as being on the same level as heroin or any other highly dangerous drug. Though I do not condone smoking pot and understand that this can be an addictive “gateway drug”, as various educators have asserted, opioids and marijuana are two different things. Rather than giving students more information about how to reach out if they find themselves suffering from addiction or the science behind different drugs, educators can often just give the vague impression that all drugs are bad, which is not as helpful. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and despite our best efforts, there are ways that we could better prevent kids from thinking that drugs are “cool” or rebellious just because adults don’t like them.
Heartening to find substance free places for folks to go to be together without the triggers being present. A very wise approach to transition back to being in environments that do involve risk.
The NYT had a great article Oct. 30 about the Sackler Family of Purdue Pharmacy, who have made billions of philanthropic/art museum dollars off of the pain of addiction. The many art museums have taken tainted money and should give the art work back and take their names off the donors plaques.
Cannabis has been found to deal quite well with pain. The Realm of Caring in Colorado was founded by a mother who uses cannabis to treat her son's seizures - the seizures are gone now. The group is filled with bright chemists and family members. Visit their website and tune in to free webinars on Thursdays for further edification and awareness of the many uses of cannabis based on our unique endo-cannabinoid systems. This is targeted to those commenters who mention arthritis and other age-related pain - the cannabis lotion is excellent.
2
For an older person it was a way to live their lives in a pain free way to the end. Now they suffer. Now they are told you can't expect a pain free end. Why not? Because of children overdosing?? See this is why so many Grandparents are really getting sick of their children.
1
We have found a way to get through the cravings into true neurorecovery. Opioids are similar to endorphins, the substance that our own bodies make to help us feel good, and to modulate our immune systems. Unfortunately the synthetic opioids are NOT endorphins. It’s like trying to fit a round peg into a hold that is just slightly small - possible, but the hold gets damaged.
With a program of neurorecovery, it is possible to repair the neurotransmitter receptors so that cravings disappear, and the addict can get on with life. It is a good thing for an addict to be able to say “I did not have a ________ today.” It is even more of a joy to be able to move past that phase, into the life we signed up to engage in.
Martha M Grout, MD, MD(H)
Scottsdale, Arizona
Lets take this "opoid crisis" from the standpoint of the elderly who suffer from degenerative diseases such as arthritis. Arthritis is a painful, crippling ailment for which there is almost no relief except for specific drugs that enable them to live independently of expensive outside care, often scarce. I would estimate there are close to 50 million such people in existence in America alone. For them to suddenly find themselves being rationed, forced into extra physician visits simply to obtain prescribed medications, is also onerous, often expensive, and even at times embarrassing. What do we do about them?
7
“Today, if you grow up in a home where pills are used for every little problem,” he said, “you are likely to leave for college with a lot less fear about them.” BAM.
4
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-e...
This article about the Sackler family, the owners of Purdue Pharma, the instigator of the opioid crisis in the US (and soon to be the world, if they have their way) is sobering, heartbreaking, and a good companion piece for this article.
At what cost the lives of our children and this country's future?
2
Agreed! Finally the Sackler family was outed after multiple decades of profitable and greedy behavior. The lawsuits are weathered over and over by Purdue, Insys, Johnson and Johnson, but public knowledge will hopefully bring some true reform.
This article caught my eye because I lived less than 10 miles away from Villanova University until a few years ago when I moved to North Carolina. I lived in a neighborhood with a family of 3 children, the eldest in college. One day I came home from school to see my mom talking on the phone with a stricken look on her face. The neighbor who was in college had died of a drug overdose earlier in the day.
Like the article stated about the typical college student abusing drugs, my neighbor was a white, reasonably privileged teenager. She hid her addiction well, her family didn't find out until about a month before she died. She experimented with more mundane drugs like marijuana at parties in high school, which blossomed into an abuse of prescription pain killers.
Almost all of the stories in the article are similar to that of my neighbor. Gateway drugs leading them down a path that has a high chance of leading to death.
Because drugs and binge drinking has become so normalized, it is as if the red flags that should pop up in teenagers minds are faded into something that is able to be ignored for the sake of a "good time".
Teenagers must be educated and supported in order to curb this epidemic of drug use. The programs offered to Pennsylvania college students should be at every single college across the country. Like UNC, colleges should bring awareness to this issue to deter people from using drugs and to encourage those who are using to get help.
1
Someone should write a piece on high school sports and how coaches push opiates on children so they can play harder, that's where this started for many people I know.
7
my son is a teacher and a coach in Groton ny....sorry to tell you, your comment is not the norm...good teachers = good coaches...he cares more about his students and players so they will thrive in the real world, not the sinister comment that you posted!!!!
1
I am a parent dealing with this problem. Thank you very much for the article, Kyle. I like the idea of opening up the discussion and challenging the stigma of addiction that is keeping us silent. This article shows that there is still hope for our children and other kids like them! It is great that colleges, led by afected students, are confronting the problem.
7
"I want to be cool."
Better to be "square".
4
By 2012, there were 259 million prescriptions for opioids written in the US?
Whoa!
Are my eyes deceiving me?
Did you say, "two hundred and fifty nine million"?
Virtually one per American?
Hmmm.
I started asking some questions.
Why this precipitous rise during the early 2000s?
Here is the answer, a straight line: George W. Bush started an unnecessary war in Iraq in 2003, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, endless war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the creation of ISIS (with a little help from Obama), the sundering of Syria, a tsunami of millions of refugees flooding Europe, the crackup of the EU, the rise of virulent populism worldwide, the latest psychotically inspired threats of nuclear war between North Korea and the US and ...
The increasing despair of almost every young person in the US that the world will never get better during their lifetimes.
So: why not put yourself into a pain-free stupor while waiting for the world to end with?
4
i agree that the number of prescriptions is very high. But don't forget that the War on People Who Need Opioid Meds has created new rules--we must be issued a new prescription every single month. Dividing the total number of scripts by 12 would give a more accurate number.
5
Just wondering...
It's a health crisis when "good" white college kids are caught in a web of drug abuse and addiction. But when it's black urban kids caught in the same web... well, they're just thugs and violent criminals who ought to be locked up for life.
Huh?
18
Great point! This major difference in public perception and messaging around who experiences substance use disorders is deeply rooted in the historical racism of drug policy, criminalization, policing and the public health sector and is why a health equity approach grounded in social justice is key to the work being done to prevent the use of drugs, especially among young people.
9
Sadly, nothing really new in this. I am old enough to recall when student health services at colleges would readily hand out cough medicine with codeine.
As to Dr. Kolodny's statement about our culture where we hand out medications for every little problem, I assume he is talking about diabetes medications, statins for high cholesterol, and antihypertensives. A significant factor in many cases of all these problems is poor lifestyle choices such as diet and exercise.
5
Ah, yes. The "poor choices" meme. Those who love it will remain certain that everyone's illness has a "lifestyle" cause... until they become ill themselves.
3
Or serious accidents leading to chronic pain that at times is debilitating. I for one fall into that camp. I do not like prescription pain meds, or any medications for that matter. I have hypothyroidism and a broken back, neither of which was caused by lifestyle choices. So in order to survive I have to take meds, allowing me to function on a normal level. I also have a child with Type One diabetes, again not caused by a lifestyle choice. My father died of a heart condition caused by a hereditary link, leading him to take many, many drugs in his lifetime. Don’t assume people want to be strapped to a drug because it’s easy and a safe bet. Sometimes it isn’t.
3
I saw this happen in the late '90s and early 2000s where physicians were prescribing oxycontin like candy. Big pharma and a willing medical profession created this crisis. They need to be part of the solution in addressing this. They need to pay the price for all the profits they reaped while they created this problem. We need to move toward more holistic medicine with a focus on health and wellbeing.
8
When will the Feds take on the doctors who prescribe this stuff? Are they too rich to fail? I dont' read Lancet or JAMA but I know damn well how addictive these drugs are, where are the doctors in all of this? They are just as complicit. I was given oxy for oral surgery and did not react well. It was supposed to relieve the pain it did the opposite it heightened it. I got rid of it and took Tylenol instead, pain was gone in ½ hour.
6
No sympathy from me - what do these people think is going to happen when they start popping pills, or shooting up for that matter? I resent my tax dollars going to combat this "opioid epidemic" which is 100% preventable. These "victims" are coddled by being told it's not their fault and that addiction is a disease. No, a disease is something you get through no fault of your own. Addiction is nothing more than a bad and stupid choice.
16
So diabetes secondary to obesity and lung cancer due to smoking don't fit your definition of disease either. We can really cut down the spending on healthcare if we follow your advice.
4
You got it, Steve. These conditions are CONSEQUENCES of bad choices. It is a well-known fact that an important way to cut down on healthcare spending would be for people to take responsibility and not smoke or make themselves obese. Then, we could direct research and treatment dollars to alleviate the suffering of those who are truly innocent victims of disease. FACT.
2
Daisy,
It sounds good to me. Perhaps we would finally take the money we spend on treating diseases secondary to lifestyle choices and commit it to treating disorders such as schizophrenia and depression where there are no lifestyle choices involved.
7
No excuse for stupid.
7
Difficult to find in this article is any mention of the Sackler family and their Purdue Pharmacy empire. Or the fact that one of the founders of the empire was at the forefront of developing Orwellian pharmaceutical advertising. (It is only the U.S. and New Zealand among the family of nations that do not outlaw television ads for prescription drugs. Yet another way in which we are exceptional.) Or that the family's wealth is in excess of that held by the Rockefellers and the Mellons. Or that men of such sterling character as Sir Rudolph Giuiani and Bernie Kerik were called upon to defend family interests.
Then again, neither does the article mention the fact that we have the Sacklers to thank for the Temple of Dendur being housed at the Met, so perhaps this is balanced journalism.
15
Excellent article in 10.30.17 10 New Yorker about Sackler Family's Purdue Pharma and it's enormous role in creating this opioid epidemic through its promotion of Oxycontin.
5
The Sackler fortune should be drained solving this mess.
16
Our non-fraternity university use to have a peer health education group for preventing drug and alcohol abuse. They no longer have it. I hope parents talk to their kids about responsible drinking, coping mechanisms and had to deal with someone who may have overdosed or has an impaired airway due to drugs or alcohol.
1
An important phenomenon that contributes greatly to the substance abuse problem on campus is the role that school psychiatrists play. The increased number of students presenting with anxiety and other mental health issues (that NYT has also reported on) means that school health care providers prescribe more addictive and abused substances, like benzodiazepines (Xanax and others) to treat the anxiety. They, in essence, are the students drug dealers and many students use them as such to get their drug of choice. My son was a perfect example. Just by claiming he was suffering from anxiety he talked his way into prescriptions of maximum dose benzos which he would then abuse. He convinced them to give him opiod painkillers when he claimed to have norovirus.
There is an incredibly easy fix to staunch the abused drug pipeline coming from school doctors. Before prescribing drugs which are commonly abused or are addictive, the school doctor should request to have the student's medical record forwarded to them. Had they done that in my son's case, they would see that he had overdosed three times on a mix of Xanax and alcohol and spent stints in the hospital recovering as well as being diagnosed with a substance use disorder. Surely this would have given the school psychiatrist the necessary information to refrain from being, in essence, his drug dealer.
Schools must do better. They are putting the lives of students at risk.
8
Doctors cannot ask for record without the patient’s permission. Do you really think that a drug addict is going to allow their medical records to be transferred to their university physician?
1
If a patient is unwilling to supply the medical record, that is a pretty good indication that they are hiding something and should be a condition for prescribing addictive drugs. The drugs available are so potentially dangerous it is worth the precaution.
2
A patient has to sign an authorization to allow a doctor to request medical records. A drug-seeking patient is not going to do that.
2
I was at a dinner party recently and the topic of smoking pot came up. We all have college aged kids. One parent stated that she "would kill her kids if they tried pot because it is a 'gateway' drug." I think she is a 'gateway parent' whose children would never tell her if they tried drugs. And that is a problem. We should be very open when talking to our kids about drugs and know that they are accessible and many of their peers will offer it to them. Even our very good and smart kids will try something at some point in their lives. And I want my daughter to feel safe telling me about it.
As a nurse, I have talked extensively to my daughter, who is a college freshman, about drugs, their potentional side effects and hazards, and how easy it is to overdose. I also told her how to save someone who is potentially overdosing, explaining how they die from it and how it can be reversed with Narcan.
This will not stop the opioid epidemic, but it just might save your kid's life.
32
No, very good and smart kids do not try something at some point. Stop normalizing this behavior.
Yes, having a clear communication channel to your daughter is wonderful, and having your daughter feel safe in telling you it she slips up is also commendable, as is teaching her about potential side effects, and how easy it is to OD, and how to save someone who is ODing, but plenty of kids never take drugs. If someone chooses to take drugs, they are no victim, but someone willing to impose the costs and consequences of their ill advised actions on others -- they are victimizers.
Yes, there are exceptions where someone gets addicted after having taken legally prescribed drugs for a legitimate pain issue. But most of those described here do not fall into that category.
7
My coworker next to me got a minor surgery and got 30 days supply of Oxycodone, I strongly suggested her that’s not something anyone should take unless you have few months to live.
In Japan, Opiod drugs are only given to cancer patients who have few months to live, in a hospital setting.
Google ‘Chinese Opium War’, then you would know how devastating Opium is.
8
Funny how we used opium to destroy the Qing and now, as China finally comes back to power again, the last superpower of the West is crumbling under Trump and our own opium problems.
Not funny "ha ha," but curious in its poetic parallels.
8
Even better when most of our fentanyl comes from China
2
Per the article, 'drug use is more common at fraternities and sororities'.
Parents pay attention. Don't let your kids join or pledge.
And if they do, don't be too surprised when they get heavily involved with drugs and drinking, along with the sexual assault.
Why these organizations are still even allowed on campus' is questionable.
47
I have to disagree here. With three children that went through the Greek system and still managed to get great grades, go to church every week and not do drugs, I think the Greek stereotype is a bit overblown. They also made many lifelong friends. Being in a fraternity or sorority is not going to lead your child down a road of destruction; if they have been raised well and you communicate with them all through college I think it can be a positive experience.
5
Geez, all I found were life Long friends and leadership activities in my sorority, and my sexual assault on campus was from another club on an overnight trip that had nothing to do with Greek Life. It’s a false blanket statement.
We allowed colleges to have frat house atmospheres -- it's not surprising that some students become addicts. Students aren't forced to take these drugs. Opioid addiction stories are everywhere you turn but still, these young adults chose to do these drugs, repeatedly. The addicts I know (all too intimately) have been lying, scheming, thieving people, hardly worth the pain they cause -- and I know I'm not supposed to say that. But maybe it needs to be said before more stupid kids treat heroin as a harmless party drug.
18
These so called "children" learn from their parents. They are raised by people who think having a joint now and and again and xanax is a recreational drug and won't lead to other drugs. It's a vicious cycle and one that won't be broken any time soon.
1
We throw away too many people.
Many young people are idiots. They do stupid, foolish things. But they don't deserve to be thrown away.
Children of 2 families we know died of drug overdoses while in college. Their families are still in excruciating pain.
Anything that can be done to set these young people back on a path to a future is a good thing. Recovery among people like themselves in a supportive environment while they continue in college seems like a brilliant idea.
21
Reading this article with the article on birth control makes it all too clear. We just need more birth control and pay more attention to the fewer children that will be around.
20
When you make this false dichotomy between “prescription painkillers” and “stronger drugs like fentanyl and heroin” in your subtitle, you further the myth that there is a difference between these. This myth literally kills people. Please don’t be a part of it.
17
Jessie
One important difference, which those with power are all too eager to bury, is that the opioid "epidemic", if our President will allow me that word, is wholly a creature of our business-only culture.
Created, marketed (fraudulently) and maintained to this day by forty or so mega-corporations strictly for their own benefit.
All the sad tales of old guys, athletes, conservative radio hosts hooked on this pharmaceutical evil may be poignant (and offer Rush the cover he needs to forgive himself for behaviors he uses to crucify everyone else), they are not the point.
This medicine was marketed with promises that were never true, sold to treat conditions for which it has no positive effect, peddled by medical and insurance cartels aggressively and ceaselessly.
Another clear case of unregulated capitalism's trade-off of people for profit.
If these brilliant capitalists, this cream of the American crop meant any single syllable they ever uttered about capitalism and the nobility of business, this crisis would cost us not one cent.
They chose consciously to create it, they made it grow, and they profited in ways both grand and obscene.
Now is their turn to pay for what they have done.
Instead, sensing a backlash here at home, they're doing the exact same thing to countries around the globe. And we, through our government (our mindless pro-business Trumpish government) encourage them to go for it.
This is criminal behavior. Yet no executive is concerned in the least.
11
"This medicine was marketed with promises that were never true, sold to treat conditions for which it has no positive effect, peddled by medical and insurance cartels aggressively and ceaselessly."
A bit over the top aren't you?
These prescription drugs are made so that chronic pain sufferers can have some sort of normal life. If you aren't one you could never understand what it is like to have unending pain every waking minute. You sleep because you tire of fighting the pain. When you awake it's because it is stronger than sleep. Pain clinics which provide accountability will not give you a sufficient amount to do more than dull the pain.
It's sad that there are people who abuse them but they are lifesavers for those who use them wisely. Don't blame the researchers and manufacturers for the actions of the few in comparison to the many for whom these are a Godsend.
1
I had a rough Rotator Cuff surgery a couple of years back. I was 62 y/o and my surgeon made it VERY difficult for me to renew the Opiod script including long drives to his suburban office for refills. I quit the pills early in my rehab because the resulting constipation was awful and I have a fairly high tolerance for pain. Creepy drugs for sure.
1
While any death is tragic, 20 times as many, almost 2,000 college students in that age group, die of alcohol-related causes per *year* (NIH "College Drinking Fact Sheet). The overwhelming addictive substance - and killer - on college campuses, is alcohol. The most abused non-alcohol, non-weed drug is by far Adderall and other stimulants. The most common type of overdose after alcohol alone is excessive alcohol mixed with any of a number of other drugs, the great majority of which are not opiates. Opiate/opioid *pills* are, as one can see reading the data in the article, if not the prose, not the same scale of problem on college campuses. In its obsession with prescription pain pills, the NYT fails to provide any honest perspective on an important once again. How can we expect our President to tackle the real problem of cheap and deadly heroin, or our colleges to deal with alcohol and stimulant addiction, if a trusted news source is incapable of stating that these are the biggest problems without dated screeds and clickbait headlines that bury the problem deeply within an editorial party line.
36
Besides being legal - alcohol is deeply woven into the fabric of our society --
While many young college students like to get drunk on the weekends - there is another subset who view drinking as a marker of adult sophistication --
Have you noticed that the Turner Classic Movies television station has recently started a "Wine Club" - where old-movie buffs can add to their sense of class and sophistication by adding wine to their viewing pleasure - ?
One wonders how many people are reading this article while sipping a nightcap as they peruse the pages of the New York Times at the end of a long day - which began with a cocktail at lunch - a drink or two at the bar while waiting to be seated at the restaurant - a bottle of "fine wine" with dinner - an aperitif with their espresso - and finally a sip before bedtime --
Sure - binge-drinking on college campuses is a serious problem - especially considering the high rate of unwanted sexual contact while under the influence -- but the subtleties of "sophisticated drinking" - which begin in the kitchens of many college dorms and off-campus houses - is a danger nobody really wants to acknowledge - much less discuss on the pages of the New York Times - with its very important food and styles sections...
3
Stop with the ridiculous argument that drinking is just as bad as doing heroin. It's a stupid argument. Most people who drink in college end up as lifelong social drinkers. These people fight the wars, are professionals, educators, scientists, inventors, raise families, serve on municipal boards and are the pillars of our community. Any idiot knows there are NO heroin addicts in that number.
3
Congratulations to these young adults who are in recovery and committed to living a life of sobriety. These college based treatment programs are sorely needed.
What so many miss is the genetic basis for addiction. There are tomes of peer-reviewed and scientifically valid studies showing dramatic links between alcoholism and heredity and fewer showing the same for drug addiction. But I am absolutely convinced of a strong genetic predisposition towards addiction. Those who have never been addicted and cannot understand how anyone could become addicted and blame the addicts as being irresponsible, wretched members of society obviously do not possess the addiction gene.
I am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. By the age of 28, I was drinking a fifth of liquor a day or a case of beer and simultaneously doing drugs. Fortunately, I bottomed out and found an inpatient treatment program based on the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. I have enjoyed continuous sobriety for the past 32 years. I enjoyed a very successful career after achieving sobriety. I am more than aware that I am the exception to the rule.
Today DNA tests can show a likelihood of developing certain cancers or other diseases. I am confident that soon the same will be available for those with a strong predisposition towards addiction. Then, at a young age, we can begin prevention before the addict takes his or her first drink or drug and hopefully alleviate unnecessary suffering and societal burdens.
15
When I got two wisdom teeth removed some time ago, I left the dentist with 15 vicadin Tabletts. As I hardly ever take any medicine, I did not know this drug. At home I sat down and read about vicadin and I was literally shocked to discover what the dentist had given me. I am fully OK with experiencing some pain and I'm very capable of suffering a little. Why is there this culture of avoiding all pain at such high costs in this country? Why give patiences such a strong drug before any complaints about pain? After 12 hours the little pain I had was gone and there was no need for anything. I am all for being able to go back to your physician and get pain medicine if needed, but to give out large dosis to each and every patients... crazy! In Europe- where I come from- this medicine is given to you in the hospital. I have never heard of anyone getting such strong medicine for a minor issue. This is the problem! Everybody can survive minor pain, protect your health and doctors: stop prescribing drugs so carelessly.
76
As a physician, I rue the day that US medical norms bade us to ask all patients "Are you in any pain and if so, how bad is your pain on a scale of 1 to 10?". That time frame was right around the time that big Pharma pushed out Oxycontin in a big big way. Coincidence? I think not.
36
Anne,
Just a suggestion: the next time a physician or dentist prescribes a drug for you, I suggest you ask him or her what it is and the reason for prescribing it.
And, by the way, I don't believe that in California doctors or dentists can dispense controlled drugs including opioids in their offices.
3
NLM,
I am pain management physician and I trained before OxyContin came on the market and I can assure you that we were already encouraging doctors to inquire about pain levels at that time so your time line and attempt to prove cause and effect are incorrect.
1
I oversaw the Rutgers Recovery House from 2009 to 2014 (we were written up in the Times in 2012's "A Bridge to Recovery on Campus"). I collected demographic data, behavioral data and outcome data. When I was hired, the average GPA among students in recovery who lived in the Recovery House was 2.62. The next fall it was 2.79, then 3.14 and then 3.25. The GPA went up despite the program doubling it's size. Students who aren't abusing substances do better in school. Rutgers and other schools took notice, because we also found that students in recovery who lived in supported housing had higher retention (98%) and graduation rates (92%) than the average student. They also had far lower rates of behavioral problems on campus than the typical student. The wonderful aspect of a college program is that you can oversee students for years, so you can look at long term outcomes. I've been able to follow many alumni, but not all of them, so having official data 5 and 10 years out is difficult, but I have hundreds of positive stories about the Rutgers alumni in recovery. The recovery students also often assist other students that are struggling with addiction on campus. Bottom line: these programs save money and lives. There are over 100 schools that claim they are "recovery schools," but the quality varies. Aside from Rutgers, I am extremely impressed by the work done at Augsburg University.
23
One thing missing from this story is the outcomes data.
How many students are successfully drug-free after 6 months, 1 year and 3 years?
There are lots of drug treatment programs that use a drug-free philosophy and are totally ineffective in the long term. Most of them aren't based on scientific evidence, as Jane Brody reported https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/effective-addiction-treatment/ . The 6-month data is sort of acceptable. The 1-year data is discouraging. And by 3 years everyone has relapsed at least once.
According to Nora Volkow, head of NIDA, the only programs with demonstrated long-term effectiveness are opioid replacement treatments with methadone or buprenorphine. There are studies of methadone which demonstrate long-term effectiveness.
3
Glad to see this. In 2009 I was just kicked out of MIT after I had a seizure on campus while trying to quit GHB. I woke up in the ICU 4 days later and then got a letter saying to go home. I was a senior and only had like 12 credits left before graduation.
I went back home and promptly got a DUI. I became a oxycontin addict for 2 more years before I finally overdosed. I was sure I was going to die, but I woke up again in the ICU 4 days later.
I ended up going to rehab then outpatient rehab and AA for 10 months straight 1500 miles from home. I got a job as a janitor at the Mayo Clinic, which ironically I had worked at years earlier as an undergraduate research fellow from MIT working on breast cancer research. From researcher to nighttime janitor in 4 years.
Anyway, I eventually graduated from CU, but I had to go there for 2 more years to get my degree.
So thanks a lot MIT. I'm lucky I'm not dead, and MIT didn't do ANYTHING to help me. I hope that will change.
29
Seriously? I'm going with MIT with this one. The suggestion that they should have predicted opioid addiction years in advance is one of the most self-serving, in-denial pieces of nonsense I have ever read.
12
Gee, I thought this epidemic was because mean doctors and drug companies foisted it on people who were in a great deal of physical pain! Guess not.
2
I hate to ask this question but what was MIT supposed to help you? You were a liability to the campus, MIT made a choice. If getting kicked out of an Ivy League school was not a rock bottom for you to change, then the outcome is on you. This statement sounds victim-y. You may want to do a 4th Step on MIT. Remember, you are the powerless one not MIT. Good luck with your sobriety.
9
Sorry, but what is this "welfare" thing that colleges need to attend to? Their business is education. Anything that detracts from that hurts every other student. You become unable to study, attend class, maintain your GPA, pay your fees? You go home.
33
There is no doubt that our society is being crushed in the iron clad grip of addiction. To address this epidemic our country must address the two causes: over-prescription of addictive drugs by drug companies and the cultural emphasis on drugs and partying as cool, exceptional, creative and desirable. First, we must make more restrictions on access to these addictive substances and cut back on advertising destructive pills. Second, until we as a culture decide that drugs, sex, and rock n'roll are not our core glamorous lifestyle millions of our citizens will dive into this fiery pit of snakes and only the lucky will survive.
13
" To address this epidemic our country must address the two causes: over-prescription of addictive drugs by drug companies and the cultural emphasis on drugs and partying as cool, exceptional, creative and desirable. "
Drug companies do not prescribe medications, doctors do. And when was the last time you saw a TV ad for a pain killer/opioid? They aren't advertised.
People have been abusing drugs and alcohol since the beginning of recorded history. Sometimes they were part of a religious experience. Mescalin, Peyote and Psylocybin have been around for a long time.
3
I'm unsure why most of the articles that I read about addiction, tend to paint addicts as victims. --These people are not victims, they made a conscious decision to abuse prescription and/or street drugs. I'm not being insensitive, I'm just speaking the truth.
My mother is currently on hospice and has a slew of opioid prescriptions at her disposal, due to her debilitating end stage condition. I have access to all of her prescriptions and I'm currently facing a number of issues in my own personal life. Despite all of this, I have absolutely no interest in drugs whatsoever (be they prescription or street drugs) or alcohol. Never have, --never will!
At the end of the day, people need to face the facts that they are ultimately responsible for their own life choices. If you abuse narcotics, opioids, etc, whether prescription or otherwise, you will become hooked. It's however a choice, to use those substances therefore the decision (and ultimate consequences rests with the individual). There are no victims.. and drug abuse/addiction is not a disease or mental illness.
People are simply looking to get high, with prescription meds and/or street drugs and will stop at nothing to get their fix. Let's simply call a spade a spade and stop sugar coating addiction simply because the abusers are white.
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You could make the same argument for every single medical condition that results from being overweight. People chose to overeat and not exercise, yet we still help them when they get diabetes or cancer, we still treat them with compassion.
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I am not stating that the medical community should not help addicts; I am however stating that we (as a society) need to stop painting certain people who CHOOSE to abuse drugs as victims, because they are not.
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Dia: When I had a severe back problems a few years back, I took the higher dosage of Hydrocodone pretty much around the clock (one every four hours) along with an anti-inflammatory. I did so for several weeks, with no cravings after the pain and drug usage ceased.
But, that's ME. Everyone's make-up is different. And, the fact that you "have no interest in drugs" to deal with personal issues is YOUR make-up.
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There are many articles calling attention to the opioid problem, but relatively few advertisements and articles that talk about how to actually fight it. Everyone and their dog knows about this issue, but other than the nasal spray we don’t know what else to do. Of course Big Pharma wants things to be that way- they make money off the opioid and the anti-opioid so their profits just go up in the limbo, so we need to g beyond the medical field if we want to solve this problem. One way to solve a problem is to know what is causing it: unemployment, work stress, loneliness, addiction despite wanting to stop, etc? If the we can’t get to the source then it will be hard to actually solve this issue and we will go on in this limbo state.
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The answer is simple --Simply avoid opioids, unless you have a debilitating end stage disease, that warrants (via Hospice) being heavily medicated around the clock, due to non stop chronic pain.
If one feels lonely, sign up for a meet-up, join a toast masters ((speaking series event), join a photography class, sign up for a course at your local community college, go jogging, head to a cafe and people watch, join a yoga or exercise class, immerse yourself in a good book, get a referral to a therapist via your insurance, speak w/ family/friends, etc). There are many options, but drug abuse/alcohol abuse should never be looked at as a solution, because in the end, the person is left with the same problems AND their newly created addiction.
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Dia--there are other legitimate reasons to be prescribed opioids than END STAGE disease, though it is true that none of those spotlighted here has one of those conditions. While I agree with you that avoidance is a sure fire way to prevent addiction, and like your specific social ideas, I still think that addicts, however they got there should be treated with compassion.
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I’m 18 and transgender. I recently got a double mastectomy, and was prescribed opioid painkillers after. People in my family have struggled with addiction so I only took them for two days to avoid getting hooked- so now I have a whole bottle of them left. Our town has a medication take back day at the police station, but it was only for a few hours on a Saturday and I work all day on the weekends and couldn’t go to it. There was no follow-up from my surgeon on what to do with this medication, and they advised I just keep it in case I experience pain.
I didn’t take any after the two days, but from my experience I can say that it seems like if people want to combat opioid addiction among college-aged youth, there needs to be more opioid and medication take-back days and it needs to be announced and made public so people are aware of them. Some outside party needs to follow up with them after they’ve been prescribed these medications so they don’t just keep them for a rainy day. There should be reminders before surgery to make sure they have post-surgery support and see a mental health professional if they’re struggling with post-op depression so they don’t get desperate enough to start misusing pills.
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I believe most pharmacies will take back meds? Worth asking, anyway.
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It may vary by locality, but not my experience here. We had a "take back"day as noted in the original comment above last weekend, and were able to safely dispose of 10 years worth of pills that had built up in our household. We had previously tried to take them to a pharmacy, but were told they would not accept our unused medications.
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Pharmacies cannot by law "take back" medications legally dispensed, regardless if it came specifically from that pharmacy.
Pharmacists, law enforcement, and public health have established the "take back" days to which you refer. Often, set day for a limited time is offered as part of a joint public outreach day, to further the programs intent: to get unused prescriptions out of medicine cabinets and our of circulation for later abuse.
"Take back" of prescriptions and other pharmaceuticals (legally acquired or not) -- all meds -- can often be done at secured drop off points. 24/7. For example, our local police station has a locked receptacle located in the main lobby of the police station right in front of the desk officer. Any meds, 24/7. no questions asked.
I suggest asking your local pharmacist, your city/county public health officer, and the local city/county police. They will definitely appreciate a citizen inquiring and assisting on getting meds out of circulation .. and possible abuse by others.
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Nice white middle class kids. If this was latino and black there would NOT be any sympathy! This is still a choice. All kids face pressure to do well in school or not do well in school.
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R4L: Don't you know....when it's white kids, treatment is needed; when people of color, it's longer prison sentences.
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Campus drug problem among kids of color--no action. White kids--run it up the flagpole and salute.
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Why the sour grapes?
White college kids aren't offing themselves on record numbers so that's why the story is important.
I'm sorry yes opioids are addictive and dangerous but when an article opens with people who are crushing pills to snort.
I don't care about them they are the stupid ones who think rules don't apply to them they have gone off track.
What bothers me is the people who will not seek help or suffer pain because of articles like this.
These work for some people but abusers need to be weeded out.
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Pain clinics weed out the abusers with urine tests and pill counts. Many of the people on the street were once in a pain management program but were thrown out for failing to obey the rules. For them the street drugs like Heroin is there only relief.
"For them the street drugs like Heroin is there only relief."
It should have read, For them the street drugs like Heroin are their only relief.
I need to stop writing when I'm tired and ready for bed.
Why wasn't heroin a crisis 40 years ago, when the users were poor, urban, and nonwhite? Why wasn't crack addiction a public health problem 30 years ago?
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1. This is literally the worst drug epidemic in the country’s history. In 1971, at the peak of the heroin epidemic, 3,000 people died from overdose. In 1988, at the height of the crack epidemic, it was 5,000 people. Last year? 64,000. Let that sink in.
2. What the article reports on is a drop in the bucket. Yes, the opioid epidemic is in the news. Yes, there’s a lot of lip service about helping. In reality, hardly anything has changed. Trump’s “solution” is an ad campaign. In white, rural Red State territory, the infrastructure remains non-existent. For example, they’re the most likely subpopulation to not have access to needle exchange programs. In Pence’s home state, everyone in an entire opioid-effected town contracted HIV. Their hypocrisy sickens me—wanting help now that they’re the victims—but they don’t deserve to die. Their children don’t deserve to be orphaned.
Honestly, nothing the government does will significantly change things. There have been half a dozen major drug epidemics since our country’s founding. They die down when the supply runs out or, contra the article, when the drug is negatively popularized and stigmatized enough to make people think twice before ingesting it.
The “sure, now that it’s white people” argument doesn’t hold water. It’s intellectually lazy virtue signaling. It’s a product of the increasingly unhelpful discussion about minority oppression and identity politics.
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I suggest sometime you go back and watch the movies "The Man With the Golden Arm," "A Hat full of Rain," and "Monkey on My Back." All major movies about heroin addiction, all about white people, and all made in the mid 1950s. Obviously it was considered a big enough problem to catch the attention of Hollywood.
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We need to fully legalize and reasonably regulate recreational drugs, and then educate against their use/misuse, as we do with tobacco and alcohol.
And, as with alcohol and tobacco, we need to let people kill themselves with abuse, as long as they do not harm others along the way. (In the case of alcohol, we do have court-ordered, case-by-case, monitored prohibition.)
General prohibition is a complete failure, having created vast, violent, production and distribution, and un-measured, un-regulated, unsafe products. (As for the prescription abuse, that, too, is a matter for educated consumers, not "moral panic" and prohibition.)
There is no "Demon Drug" any more than there is "Demon Rum." There are complex factors that lead to the choice to use drugs, and they do include a cultivated strong physical desire, but there is no such thing as "addiction" before which one is helpless. Choosing to stop any drug is assisted by social support, but the current "moral panic" and intensified prohibition is the wrong approach.
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It does seem as if the drug laws are doing more harm than good. If "criminal justice enforcement" were a treatment, it would never be approved by the FDA.
I saw a chart in the New England Journal of Medicine of opioid deaths in the U.S. by year. When there was a crackdown on heroin, prescription drug deaths went up. When there was a crackdown on prescription drugs, heroin deaths went up. This the wack-a-mole policy for opioid abuse.
Now that there is a crackdown on prescription drugs *and* heroin, fentanyl deaths have gone up -- faster than prescription or heroin opioids.
This raises the possibility that the war on drugs is responsible for the current epidemic of opioid deaths, by encouraging drug dealers to replace heroin with the more dangerous fentanyl.
The first step towards a rational drug policy was the legalization of marijuana in several states, which took 40 years. The progress is exceedingly slow. I wonder how many years it will take, with 50,000 opioid deaths a year, before we will have a rational drug policy.
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Dear Norman: Don't forget all the murders all around the globe in the battle to control production, supply lines, and market share (between 30,000 and 15,000 murders per year in Mexico, alone, plus terror from Columbia up to Mexico, plus funding the Taliban, etc.).
Ridiculous policies.
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These are prescription (not recreational!) drugs brought to you by big Pharma just like the tobacco companies did back in the day. The FDA and the AMA allowed for this. They had to be regulated by government and the AMA and med schools need to get on MDs. There is no such thing as no collateral harm and damage. Addiction harms families and especially children (resulting in mental health and child welfare costs) and it comes back to the tax payers in medical and sometimes criminal costs. Your solution sounds good, but it's jut not reality,
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I have tremendous admiration for the students that had the courage to use their full names in order to help others come forward for help. This is a CRISIS and I wish there was a whole lot MORE assistance from DC. They can come up with billions for many things. Why not helping our children and the future generations deal with this deadly disease? Thank you to the NYT for continuing coverage.
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