The sources of the opioid epidemic are complex, but one powerful motivator has been the pursuit of profit.
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Articles on Opioids
Displaying 141 - 159 of 159 articles
We don’t know enough about the people who use painkillers non-medically to make the judgement that there is a natural transition from legal to illicit drug use.
Why are so many people in dire need of pain relief unable to access the powerful painkillers that are so commonly prescribed in the United States?
Hoping to avoid the pitfalls and tropes of drug genre photography, documentary photographer Aaron Goodman spent a year following three addicts enrolled in a heroin-assisted treatment program.
We are witnessing widespread abuse of legal, prescribed drugs that, while structurally similar to illicit opioids such as heroin, are used for sound medical practices. So how did we get here?
A sea change in pain treatment helped create the opioid abuse epidemic, and another sea change in how doctors view chronic pain could help curb it.
Why have the demographics of heroin use changed so much? For that, we can look to dramatic increase in prescriptions for opioid painkillers, such as Oxycontin or Vicodin.
Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, is a medicine that temporarily reverses the effects of opioid drugs such as heroin, morphine and oxycodone.
Stigma toward heroin use might prevent a lot of people from using the drug, but these attitudes don’t help people who are dependent.
The myth has been debunked time and time again.
Not only can they improve public health and decrease treatment costs, but they can also address one of the root causes of addiction: loneliness.
When you think about substance use and teens, drugs like marijuana or Ecstasy might come to mind. But recreational prescription drug use is a significant problem. Nationally, 17.8% of high school students…
Cocaine is a popular recreational drug that makes users energetic, confident and talkative. It’s also highly addictive and dependence-producing. Australians rank fourth in the world in cocaine abuse rates…
In the 1930s, Harry J. Anslinger, the first head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, embarked on a fierce anti-marijuana campaign. Highlighted by the 1936 anti-marijuana film Reefer Madness – where marijuana…
Americans consume a staggering amount of the opioid painkiller hydrocodone - about 99% of the world’s supply. In October, after 10 years of debate the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) reclassified medications…
Many first responders’ – even some university police officers – are carrying a new tool in their first-aid kits. It’s naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote drug, and today it’s more widely available than…
In 2012, 103,000 people around the world lost their lives to drug poisoning or overdose. As terrible as this waste of life seems, it’s important to remember that drug overdoses are not inevitably fatal…
It’s now almost two years since ACT chief minister and minister for health, Katy Gallagher, launched Australia’s first program to distribute naloxone to prevent heroin overdoses. Other states have followed…
The use of opioid medication in Australia has grown considerably in the past 20 years, and so have related harms. This increase in use is primarily for chronic pain conditions, now the most common reason…
Top contributors
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Professor and Deputy Director, Monash Addiction Research Centre, Monash University
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Professor, Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney
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Joel Lexchin is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Management, York University, Canada
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Associate Professor of Sociology, Bentley University
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Honorary Fellow, Department of Health Sciences, University of York
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Professor, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney
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Professor of Geography, Penn State
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Head of Alcohol and other Drug Research, Centre for Population Health; Burnet Principal for Alcohol, other drugs and harm reduction, Burnet Institute
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Senior Lecturer in Criminology, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor of Population Health, New York University
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Adjunct Professor at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne based), Curtin University
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Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
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Associate Professor, Mental Health and Addiction, Rural Health Research Institute, Charles Sturt University
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PhD Candidate, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW Sydney
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Emeritus Consultant, St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst
