MEDIA COWARDICE AND GROSS INCOMPETENCE DRIVE OPIOID CRISIS DEATHS
A raging epidemic fueled by expert medical approaches remains lethal and confounding – helpfully confounded by compliant media hiding the connections
by Clark Miller
Published April 26, 2024
The headlines came quickly and emphatically as they predictably do, most importantly compliantly to validate and establish the truths understood, unquestioned, that go without saying – in this case that whatever is driving America’s persistently worsening lethal opioid and drug crises medical institutions, authorities, experts and practitioners are off the hook, uninvolved. Their policies, responses to the crises, and practices are not the problem, not contributing, no more than they did over the COVID epidemic. That’s not to be questioned, not allowed. The disrespect and threat to the public trust by such questioning in time of crisis would be a frightening act, and not without consequences.
Headlines like these.
As predictably there are devils, in plain sight in the details.
Like this, in the Washington Post piece.
Every prescription opioid saw declines in the final five years of the data except for one, The Post found: buprenorphine, the drug used to treat opioid addiction. Shipments of buprenorphine to pharmacies and practitioners rose significantly as public health officials stressed its importance in curbing the addiction crisis — from 42 million doses in 2006 to 577 million in 2019.
“as public health officials stressed its importance in curbing the addiction crisis”
The message is clear isn’t it? In a lethal crisis taking lives every day, touching so many with loss and death, it’s not to be examined whether opioids dispensed by doctors are contributing to those deaths, because these special, miracle opioids are “curbing” those deaths.
They are, aren’t they? “Curbing” deaths? Of course they are! America’s medical experts are telling you that they are.
Buprenorphine and methadone, the miracle drugs “used to treat opioid addiction” are prescription opioids – dispensed and made available only if prescribed by one of America’s licensed medical providers (LMP). They are prescription opiods no less than oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, any other opioid.
Even more so – in the sense that while prescriptions of other opioid pain medications (both buprenorphine and methadone have been prescribed for pain as well as dispensed to problem opioid users) may be declining, prescriptions of “bupe” and methadone are clearly increasing, remarkably so for bupe – by an order of magnitude over the years 2006 to 2019. And still increasing.