Whilst I sincerely hope #semaglutide can work for this kind of treatment; the history of the pharmaceutical industry trying to push a #wonderdrug is littered with the bodies of their victims.

The #OpioidCrisis is just one outcome of their exxessivr marketing of drugs for multiple treatments.

I’m hoping this is not another example of that.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/21/scientists-hope-weight-loss-drugs-treat-addiction-dementia-ozempic-wegovy

Unveiling the true causes of the opioid crisis: Beyond medical factors

Richard A. Lawhern is a patient advocate.

https://youtube.com/shorts/rxveDMyQrYY?feature=share

Listen here: https://kevinmd.com/podcast

#OpioidCrisis #SocialDeterminants #HealthInequality #WageStagnation #CommunityDecline #FamilyBreakdown #WealthInequality #USChallenges

Supreme Court pauses Purdue Pharma settlement plan worth billions - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/08/10/opioids-purdue-pharma-sackler-family-supreme-court/

#BigPharma #OpioidCrisis #Purdue

#HedgeFunds #opioidcrisis #Capitalism #CapitalismKills #capitalismisascam #CapitalismIsACult #NoMoreBillionaires #TaxTheRich

https://youtube.com/watch?v=AEiFR8wc8WI&feature=share

Document drop day!
#OIDA staff added more than 5,000 new files to the #Insys Litigation Documents collection today🎉
https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/opioids/collections/insys-litigation-documents/

This brings the total number of Insys docs to just over 1.6 million!
#opioidcrisis #accountability #archivesresearch
@UCSF +
@johnshopkinssph

The longer I stay clean, the more bitter I become re: how society treats addicts/drug users/ppl with SUD/whatever the fuck you wanna call us.

With Narcan we can, if not *totally* put a stop to fent ODs, certainly radically curb the amount of people dying. We can definitely end the OD epidemic with Narcan.

But the epidemic *isn’t* over. Why? Because the people who “love” addicts are more attached to societal ideas about what is acceptable than they are to keeping their loved ones alive.

Maybe I’m too bitter. Maybe it’s selfish of me to expect people to love me if I’m using. That’s part of the reason I got clean after all, so my friends and family would talk to me again. But I tell you why, I can’t stay clean AND feed the voice that says “you’re not inherently worthy.”

idk, I’m just not this used to always being so bitter and angry.

Never Use Alone Hotline: 800-484-3731

#addiction #recovery #heroin #cocaine #crack #crackcocaine #fentanyl #OpioidCrisis

Amid an accelerating #opioidcrisis, rural USA #drugcourts are embracing the use of medication to treat addiction. “Medication for Opioid Use Disorder” (#MOUD) works through using buprenorphine or #methadone. It's proving effective—and losing its stigma.

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/medication-for-addiction-treatment-opioids/

Addiction, dollars and a local plan

Billions of settlement dollars from the opioid epidemic trickling down to where the problems persist

https://ow.ly/3TZJ50P768f

#COleg #COpolitics #OpioidCrisis #NoPaywallHere

Breaking the cycle of stigma: the urgent need for addiction treatment

#EndStigma #AddictionTreatment #OpioidCrisis #AccessToTreatment #SubstanceUseDisorder #SeekingHelp #AddictionAwareness #TreatmentDisparity #BreakTheStigma #RecoveryJourney

Casey Grover is an emergency physician.

https://youtube.com/shorts/VIt2_SBU3qU

Listen here: https://kevinmd.com/podcast

Breaking the cycle of stigma: the urgent need for addiction treatment

#EndStigma #AddictionTreatment #OpioidCrisis #AccessToTreatment #SubstanceUseDisorder #SeekingHelp #AddictionAwareness #TreatmentDisparity #BreakTheStigma #RecoveryJourney

Casey Grover is an emergency physician.

https://youtube.com/shorts/VIt2_SBU3qU
Link in bio or visit kevinmd.com/podcast

Trump calls for death penalty for drug dealers; Fox’s Baier notes it would apply to woman he championed

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4059506-trump-calls-for-death-penalty-for-drug-dealers-foxs-baier-notes-it-would-apply-to-woman-he-championed/

#TheHill #TrumpDrugPolicy #DeathPenaltyForDrugDealers #WarOnDrugs #OpioidCrisis #JusticeReform #Politics #News

@Jennifer_Pinkley @south_lib @mathowie Sadly, your assessment is correct...

That's why the #OpioidCrisis is so rampant: Because the margins for a GP are way better to just issue a prescription for some pills than taking time and effort to properly diagnose stuff...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuiUt6VxhQQ&pp=ygUcc2Vjb25kIHRob3VnaHQgdXMgaGVhbHRoY2FyZQ%3D%3D

Ouf, super docu sur la dévastation du #Fentanyl à Vancouver (avec une large place donnée à la parole des victimes, dont certains s'en sortent, lire les commentaires).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfv_tISYl8A

Aussi, Cory Doctorow a rédigé une pile d'essais sur la corruption du système de santé aux USA (la firme conseil McKinsey, Purdue Pharma, etc...): https://pluralistic.net/tag/opioid-crisis/ #OpioidCrisis

I’ve been thinking a lot of heroin/fent/dope and the people who use it for the past, oh, decade or so. And lately I’ve been coming to some conclusions that have been pretty hard for me to accept.

Why do people cut drug users/addicts out of their life? (or “love them from a distance” as the saying goes) Why do mothers stop talking to sons, brothers ignore sisters, lifelong friends behave like strangers? The answer seems simple enough, because being a drug addict is awful and they don’t want to encourage or “enable” drug use. But *why* does being an addict suck?

It certainly isn’t just being dependent on a substance. Ask a cigarette smoker. A persistent cough aside, most ppl who smoke cigarettes live perfectly happy lives. So why then? Well, you could get arrested. That’s not great. But among the drug users I know, easily the worst part about addiction is being separated from the people they care about.

So we get this feedback loop. Addiction sucks because you’re alienated from your loved ones, and your loved ones alienate you because they don’t want you to suffer from addiction. However, the suffering is being caused *because* of the alienation!!

There’s one more thing. Overdose. Using drugs like heroin can kill you, and no one wants to encourage their family to do something that will kill them, right? To bring back the cigarette comparison, cigarettes are also potentially deadly. But most people are able to find the middle ground between “encouraging family members to smoke” and “refusing to speak with a smoker till they quit cigarettes.” Why can’t we do this with hard drugs as well? I know it *seems* like an absurd question, but imo there really is no good answer. If you are willing to have a cigarette smoker in your life, but not a heroin user your issue is not with the potential deadliness of the heroin.

The proliferation of narcan further shows the hypocrisy. If your concern is the addict you love dying, you can mitigate that risk by encouraging them to use in front of you more often than not. If, god forbid, they OD then you can reverse the OD with narcan. If you have any objection whatsoever to this arrangement, then you can’t also pretend that the addict’s well-being is the reason you’re against it.

I fear a lot of this comes down to heroin’s status as an illegal drug. Which, ya know, fine whatever- ppl have a hard time with illegal ≠ immoral. But it breaks my heart that the state’s decision about what we are and aren’t allowed to do with our bodies is more important to the ppl who love me than *my* well being.

Idk, this might have been a bit rambling but I had to put these thoughts down jnto writing. I hope we can build a world than is kinder to people who shoot dope, smoke crack, or whatever else than world we were born into.

If you use drugs, please don’t use alone! If you can’t find someone you trust to use with- there is a hotline called Never Use Alone. All they ask is your name (it can be fake, they just need something to call you) and your current location. You get high while on the phone, and if you stop responding then they will call a paramedic. I know the idea of giving a stranger your location might seem a bit “eh” but I can vouch for this organization. Their number is 1-800-484-3731

#addiction #recovery #heroin #OpioidCrisis #OpioidEpidemic #OverdoseEpidemic

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed:
"Rare footage and intimate interviews provide insight into the life and work of renowned photographer and activist Nan Goldin."
#OpioidCrisis. #LGBT #NanGoldin #Photography #Activism
If the #Sackler stuff is new to you, recommend catching the semi-fictional drama #Dopesick (On Disney+ in UK)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001mpc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Goldin
https://www.disneyplus.com/series/first-bottle/vaEHfF8OZHUP?sharesource=Android

Purdue can shield wealthy Sackler family from opioid lawsuits, court rules | Opioids | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/30/purdue-pharma-sackler-family-protected-from-opioid-lawsuits

"The Sacklers must give up ownership of Purdue, which would become a new company known as Knoa, under the ruling, and would commit to developing and distributing overdose reversal and addiction treatment medicines for no profit."

#OpioidCrisis #Purdue #BigPharma #Capitalism

Sacklers Can Be Shielded From Opioid Liability, Appeals Court Rules https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/health/sacklers-purdue-liability-bankruptcy.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

Interesting. They personally profited from Opioid sales but they can't be held liable. That really doesn't sound fair. #OpioidCrisis

If you missed our May 5th webinar on the UCSF + JHU Opioid Industry Documents Archive, the recordings of all presentations are now available on the event site:
https://hopkinsmedicalhumanities.org/events/oida-sp23/

#opioidindustry #archives
#opioidcrisis

Gestern habe ich mir in einer Preview "All the beauty and the bloodshed" im #Kino angesehen. Sehr unbedingte Empfehlung. Was für eine eindringliche Doku über den Kampf gegen die Sacklers (die Familie hinter der #Opioid - Krise), aber auch über das Leben von #NanGoldin und wie es sie zu diesem Kampf geführt hat.

Und Ihre Fotos! Warum sehen die alle perfekt aus, egal wie unscharf sie sind.

#allthebeautyandthebloodshed #opioidcrisis

In this powerful short book, Wilson hopes to inspire young readers to make good choices. Please share, buy copies and maybe save a life. 💪

#opioidcrisis #FentanylOverdose #opioid