Tuesday, March 09, 2004
News Flash: Federal government prefers meddling to individual responsibility
[Jacob Sullum, "Gotta Hurt," Reason, 5 March 2004.]
This column provides an interesting perspective on the problem of untreated pain in the U.S.:
Research consistently has found that patients who use narcotics for pain rarely become addicted to them, and those who do typically had pre-existing drug problems.
But...
Swayed by anti-drug propaganda and anxious to avoid legal trouble, physicians are so leery of these drugs that researchers have given their attitude a name: "opiophobia," an unreasonable fear of narcotics that leads to untold suffering by millions of Americans. Opiophobia intensifies every time the government announces a crackdown like this one.
The Office of National Drug Policy says "more than 10 million Americans suffer from chronic pain." According to the American Pain Foundation, the number is more like 50 million. That disparity, which suggests the extent to which drug warriors underplay the need for narcotics, gives you a sense of the gap between the government's assurances and the painful reality.
[Jacob Sullum, "Gotta Hurt," Reason, 5 March 2004.]
This column provides an interesting perspective on the problem of untreated pain in the U.S.:
Research consistently has found that patients who use narcotics for pain rarely become addicted to them, and those who do typically had pre-existing drug problems.
But...
Swayed by anti-drug propaganda and anxious to avoid legal trouble, physicians are so leery of these drugs that researchers have given their attitude a name: "opiophobia," an unreasonable fear of narcotics that leads to untold suffering by millions of Americans. Opiophobia intensifies every time the government announces a crackdown like this one.
The Office of National Drug Policy says "more than 10 million Americans suffer from chronic pain." According to the American Pain Foundation, the number is more like 50 million. That disparity, which suggests the extent to which drug warriors underplay the need for narcotics, gives you a sense of the gap between the government's assurances and the painful reality.
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