FDA Commissioner Gottlieb ’s Sunday “Tweetorial” Is Both Encouraging and Frustrating

A fair reading of Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb ’s “Sunday Tweetorial” on the opioid overdose crisis leaves one simultaneously encouraged and frustrated. First the encouraging news. The Commissioner admits that the so-called epidemic of opioid overdoses has “evolved” from one “mostly involving [diverted] prescription drugs to one that’s increasingly fueled by illicit substances being purchased online or off the street.” Most encouraging was this passage:  Even as lawful prescribing of opioids is declining, we ’re seeing large increases in deaths from accidental drug overdoses as people turn to dangerous street drugs like heroin and synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Illegal online pharmacies, drug dealers and other bad actors are increasingly using the Internet to further their illicit distribution of op ioids, where their risk of detection and the likelihood of repercussions are seen by criminals as significantly reduced.As I have written  here and here, the overdose crisis has always been primarily caused by non-medical users accessing drugs in a dangerous black market fueled by drug prohibition. As government interventions have made it more expensive and difficult to obtain diverted prescription opioids for non-medical use, the black market responds efficiently by filling the void with heroin, illicit fentanyl (there  is  a difference) and fentanyl analogs. So policies aimed at curtailing doctors ’ prescriptions of opioi...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 2, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs