Dear America: The Opioid Epidemic Is Not New, But Thanks For Caring
Earlier today, we brought you Goldman's latest on America's opioid epidemic in which the bank outlines the possible implications for the labor market (and for the US economy more generally) of America's affinity for prescription painkillers.
In the introduction to that post, we mentioned a letter we received earlier this week from a reader whose take on the opioid epidemic is eye-opening to say the least.
We don't have any way of knowing how accurate the following is. But given what we do know
I don’t know about Appalachia but this rings very true here in Ontario. Lots of kids did them when I was younger including close friends. I saw the price of 80mg OxyContin go from 10$ to 160$ over the span of roughly 5 years. And those fentanyl patches? Yeah, those went from free to 20$ to 400$ over a similar time frame. Could be way higher now, I’ve got no clue since I haven’t spoken to any of those people in years. I am no stranger to prescription drug recreational use (abuse?), but there is no fucking way I would touch these things for fun (even if they are the proverbial ‘king’). Oxycodone is on par with heroin for potency, but the much higher bioavailability means you can eat or snort it to reach similar effects to heroin injection (ignoring the ‘rush’).
But anyway, the spotlight on the ‘opioid epidemic’ is probably due to illicit fentanyl coming in from China. Problem with heroin is you still need to smuggle it in by bricks cause your neighbors would probably notice a field of poppies growing in your yard. Now take fentanyl, where you can put an amount equal to a standard sugar packet and make about 50,000 doses (yes you read that correctly; no BS).
When you start fucking around with a drug where a grain of sand gets you high but 5 grains of sand kill you, you are bound to get some media attention (and a shit ton of overdoses to go with it). Although prescription opioid overdoses are more common, people are typically less shocked. Less shock = less media attention.
And to exacerbate the enormity of this catastrophic health problem plaguing every strata of life, add this to the picture:
“Of the 115 million prescriptions written for these painkillers each year in the United States, 60 million are for adults with mental illness, according to the researchers.
“Despite representing only 16 percent of the adult population, adults with mental health disorders receive more than half of all opioid prescriptions distributed each year in the United States,” study lead author Matthew Davis, assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, said in a university news release.
“Prescription opioids include drugs such as OxyContin and Vicodin. Widespread use of opioids for pain has led to an epidemic of addiction in the United States. Forty lives are lost to prescription drug overdose every day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Study co-author Brian Sites said that “because of the vulnerable nature of patients with mental illness — such as their susceptibility for opioid dependency and abuse — this finding warrants urgent attention to determine if the risks associated with such prescribing are balanced with therapeutic benefits.” Sites is an anesthesiologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.
“About 39 million Americans have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Among these people, more than 7 million (18 percent) are prescribed opioids each year. In adults without mental illness, just 5 percent are prescribed opioids, the study authors said.
“The researchers said the link between mental illness and opioid prescribing is particularly concerning because mental illness is also a major risk factor for overdose and other opioid-related harms.
“The study is scheduled to be published online July 6 in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.”
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=205159
I was unable to find the study at the current issue page of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, perhaps one of you can: http://www.jabfm.org/content/current