The opioid epidemic: What we can learn from history

It’s no secret that the United States is in the midst of an opiate epidemic. Almost 60,000 people died last year from overdoses, and overdose deaths are now the most common killer of Americans under the age of 50. Physicians and our patients have finally started the difficult conversation about what it will take to stop the suffering. But what’s been missing from this conversation is that this is not the first opiate epidemic to strike the United States. And what happened during that first epidemic almost 100 years ago offers valuable lessons for doctors and patients trying to navigate the second. Opium is an ancient drug. Poppies have been cultivated since the beginning of civilization, and the ancient Egyptians used opium as a medicine. By the time Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine was written around the turn of the first millennium CE, opium’s pain-relieving and cough-suppressing effects had been well-described, as had its side effects. The drug spread to Europe and the New World in the form of laudanum, a mixture of opium, alcohol, and spices that was used to treat just about anything. By 1834, opium was the most commonly prescribed medication in the United States. And no wonder: In many ways, it was a miracle drug. From a medical system that often inflicted torture in the form of healing, opium comforted the suffering and dying, stopped the disabling coughs of tuberculosis, and slowed the gastrointestinal ailments that were common prior to modern sanitation. Continue ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Conditions Primary Care Public Health & Policy Source Type: blogs