USA. The real causes of the worst drug crisis in US history
An addiction expert explains the root causes of the opioid epidemic.
“Superficial” is how Anna Lembke describes the common understanding of the opioid painkiller and heroin epidemic.
Lembke, a Stanford psychiatrist focused on addiction care, agrees that the commonly cited causes of the epidemic — doctors hoping to treat previously untreated pain conditions, pain patients demanding better treatments, and big pharma pushing opioids on the market — contributed to the vast overprescription of opioids. That let the pills flow not just to patients’ hands but to their family, their friends, and the black market.
But she argues that the crisis, which amounts to the worst drug epidemic in US history in terms of overdose deaths, goes far deeper. (vox.com, USA, 02.03.2017)
http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/3/2/14781304/anna-lembke-opioid-epidemic