I was really gladdened to see that the drug overdose epidemic has hit the presidential debates. This past month, during a Republican presidential debate, a question that seemed to be about more police action was answered with the positive response that addicts need treatment due to an illness. The Democratic candidates have addressed the problem as well. I saw a 60 Minutes report recently on the new “Drug Czar” that noted he was in recovery himself. The media coverage continues to highlight the problem.
As a physician, I feel it is important to address our role in the current epidemic, which causes 18,000 deaths a year. To put this in perspective, this is a 747 airplane going down doing weekly. This is why it is important and proper for this problem to be addressed at the national level. As physicians we are asked by patients to prescribe pain medication to ease their suffering. This important medical and societal role is a must, and we are given the responsibility to do it. However, in fact, household surveys actually find that over 50 percent of people who have used an opioid drug actually got it from a friend, who got it from a doctor. At a talk I gave at UCSB, we heard from some students who emphasized how safe people think these “packed, dispensed, products” are. This is part of the problem. As a society we would do well to treat these drugs with more caution. There are suggestions to lock up this category of meds if you have them at home or to turn them in to drug drop off sites.
However, there is another problem which must be brought up: the issue of physician training to prescribe opioid medications for pain. We are given a lot of training to treat acute pain. People come to the hospital with acute injuries or we operate on them, and they need pain relief. This is the core of physician training with regard to pain management.