BLUF: A new study published in the Annals of Surgery adds to the mounting evidence that policymakers may have been aiming at the wrong target in their efforts to solve the overdose crisis.
OSINT: Researchers from the Dartmouth University School of Medicine conducted a prospective clinical trial of 221 opioid-naïve surgical patients prescribed opioids at discharge and followed them for one year after surgery. Their findings indicated that 15.3% of patients filled opioid prescriptions 3 to 12 months after their initial surgery. Of these, only 6% of patients did so because of pain related to the initial (“index”) operation, while 51% of patients did so due to a new painful condition, and 40% did so from undergoing another surgery. The remaining 2.3% of patients filled opioid prescriptions one year later because of chronic pain due to recurrent cancer, a new medical condition, or a chronic abscess. The researchers noted that patients disposed of their leftover opioids at a high rate. Therefore, the study concluded that no patients became persistent opioid users solely as a result of the opioid rx given after their index surgery.
RIGHT: The government’s intrusive policies regarding drug control have restricted the free market and the conservative stance of individual liberty. This study undoubtedly highlights the government’s inability to correctly address the nation’s opioid crisis. Our government’s excessive control has resulted in limiting authorized healthcare providers’ ability to prescribe painkillers. Such an authoritarian approach has failed to resolve the opioid problem and, at the same time, increased the use of more dangerous substances such as fentanyl and heroin.
LEFT: The opioid crisis has become one of the greatest public health emergencies of our time, and we need all hands on deck to address this crisis. While this study is promising, it merely highlights that medical patients are rational and will only take opioids for their pain. However, those who are non-medical users may not operate under the same rationale as there is a rampant addiction issue to opioids. This study does provide an opportunity to work towards a more productive solution to the opioid crisis.
INTEL: The study’s results support the idea that limiting the prescription of opioids by healthcare providers as a means to tackle the opioid crisis is not entirely accurate. Arguably, policymakers need to take a more comprehensive approach to the opioid crisis that involves better education for patients on the secure storage and disposal of excess medication in addition to limiting the availability of opioids on the black market. Moreover, the collection and analysis of big data can provide insights to potentially devise new approaches to tackle this long-standing crisis.