OxyContin, an opioid drug heavily marketed by Purdue Pharma, is associated with billions of dollars of health-care costs in Canada related to the opioid crisis.
(AP Photo/Toby Talbot)
The Purdue Pharma settlement is paltry compared to costs of the opioid crisis. Without major changes to pharma industry regulation, there is little reason to think a similar crisis won’t occur again.
What’s the best way to solve America’s opioid overdose crisis?
BackyardProduction/ iStock via Getty images
False narratives about drug addiction and policies that are not supported by research are deepening the overdose epidemic in the US.
Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen announced a settlement between the Justice Department and opioid maker Purdue on Oct. 21.
Yuri Gripas/Pool via AP
The government has tried to harness a profit-driven drug industry to serve public health before.
A man walks in a back alley in Vancouver’s downtown eastside, February 2019. More people fatally overdosed in British Columbia last year compared with 2017 despite efforts to combat the province’s public health emergency.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A policy response focused on reducing prescription opioids will not resolve North America’s opioid crisis. And it is hurting many adults who live with otherwise unbearable chronic pain.
Classified advertisement for Leslie Keeley’s Gold Cure.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune, July 21, 1884
Jonathan S. Jones, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Considered in historical context, Purdue’s plan to peddle opioid addiction medicines to vulnerable people is not so surprising. Gilded-Age pharmaceutical companies used similar strategies.
The Chronic Pain Association of Canada has received money from Eli Lilly Canada Inc., Purdue Canada Inc. and Merck Frosst Canada. A blog post on the association’s website contains messages favourable to increased opioid use.
(Flickr/Ajay Suresh)
Sarah Giles, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
This week’s annual Family Medicine Forum is an opportunity for your family doctor – to cave or resist in the face of Big Pharma sponsorship and marketing.
A employee holds pre-rolled joints at Buddha Barn Craft Cannabis in Vancouver, Oct. 2, 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Cannabis legalization in Canada is a public health strategy. Let’s harness this opportunity to understand how cannabis could fit into a multi-faceted opioid prevention and response strategy.
Big Pharma in Canada is far behind the curve when it comes to disclosing what payments to health-care professionals are for.
Thousands of people are dying every year of opioid-related overdoses, in an epidemic that traces its roots to 1996 and the introduction of the prescription drug OxyContin. Here, prescription opioids are shown in Toronto during 2017.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy
Prescription drugs are policed by industry and Health Canada has never prosecuted a drug company for illegally marketing a drug.
Vivitrol, a non-opioid medication, is used to treat some cases of opioid dependence. Addiction specialists stress that not all patients need medication, but that many do.
AP Photo/Carla K. Carlson
The U.S. has had multiple drug epidemics, and, until recently, has not had evidence-tested ways to help people. That has changed. New medicines can help. But other medical issues should also be addressed.
As North America’s opioid crisis worsens, schools across Canada are purchasing naloxone anti-overdose kits. Research suggests that risks of opioid addiction could also be addressed through attention to children’s nutrition.
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High fructose corn syrup in food and drinks has long been linked to rising rates of child and teen obesity. New evidence suggests it increases the risks of opioid addiction and overdose too.
There is growing evidence for the use of cannabis in treating opioid addiction.
(Shutterstock)
As Canada moves towards legalization of cannabis in 2018, there is growing evidence of the drug’s potential to treat opioid addiction itself, as well as the chronic pain that often drives it.
The latest evidence-based treatments for opioid addiction are often under-used, due to inadequate addiction education for doctors and nurses.
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Most physicians are unaware of effective approaches to treat opioid addiction. Addiction medicine fellowships offer a new and effective way to save lives.
Drug related deaths are on the rise, but federal funds to programs that mitigate drug abuse are being cut in 2018.
Me/flickr
As congressional leaders today discuss legislation to curb the opioid epidemic, we look at three articles that explain how it happened and one that suggests some solutions.
Postdoctoral Fellow at BC Centre on Substance Use | jointly affiliated with Primary Connections, University College Dublin, University of British Columbia