At least once a week, and that’s a conservative estimate, we hear stories about opioid/opiate abuse in the United States and around the world. In 2014, the World Health Organization reported that opioid overdoses kill about 69,000 people globally every year.
Sadly, that’s not surprising. Drugs in the opiate/opioid category can be highly addictive. Many people have abused prescription opioids, especially since doctors began prescribing more of this type of drugs.
Many others have become hooked on heroin, another type of opioid. Since heroin is chemically similar to prescription opioids, many people addicted to prescription drugs turn to heroin when their prescription medications expire or use heroin as a cheaper substitute.
We also frequently see stories about proposed solutions to the opiate/opioid epidemic. The U.S. government’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently discussed such proposals. In July 2017, Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the FDA, said that the agency would
- Require the makers of prescription opioid drugs to provide training to the people who prescribe and work with opioids (such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists).
- Include updated information about examining and treating patients as well as information about pain relieving treatment that doesn’t require the use of opioids.
- Provide information on short-acting (immediate-release) opioids, not just extended-release versions of such drugs. This is a significant development due to the sheer volume of such prescription opioids. Gottlieb said that “America is simply awash in immediate-release opioid products.”
Interestingly, the FDA will not require doctors, nurses, and pharmacists to take such training, only that drug manufacturers offer it.
The FDA discussed such matters during a two-day workshop to educate the public in July 2017. Representatives of the agency also discussed opioids that are more difficult to abuse. This includes opioid/opiate drugs that are more difficult to crush and therefore inject or snort. Yet, some people are worried that calling such opioids abuse-deterrent might encourage people to prescribe them more readily.
Thus, increased education from the FDA and drug manufacturers looks like a good idea. More information about opioids can only help the people who prescribe and use them.
