Re:After Surgery in Germany, I Wanted Vicodin, Not Herbal Tea
by refurb on Sunday January 28, 2018 @10:43PM
(#16255188)
Sorry, it's a moral panic.
When I read comments like "just one Vicodin and you're addicted for life!", "nobody should take opioids" and "opioids are destroying our country" it's moral panic.
As for the number of overdose deaths, take a look at other countries that never saw the massive overprescribing of opioids like Canada. The deaths are due to synthetic opioids mostly coming from China.
Re:After Surgery in Germany, I Wanted Vicodin, Not Herbal Tea
by telchar on Monday January 29, 2018 @12:11AM
(#16255451)
I'd say it's a moral panic. The response to this very real epidemic of deaths seems to be to moralize about opioids rather than to look for ways to reduce deaths from opioid use. Thus this is a moral panic as much as it is a health issue.
Much of today's response to opioids is an actual panic given that there is a real, ongoing epidemic of opioid abuse that is killing tens of thousands of people. The number of deaths by opioids more than doubled in 2016 compared to 2015.
I was around in the 80s, and this isn't just some "cyclical response". Take a look at any of graphs of opioid deaths or overdoses - there is no cycle, just something that is shooting up and up and up.