A Columbia University psychology professor, Carl L. Hart, claims that people are not dying because of opioids. He says "they are dying because of ignorance."
And he explains why in an article in the November 2017 issue of Scientific American. You can click on this link to go directly to the article because it is quite compelling.
He says it is certainly possible to die from an overdose of an opioid, but this accounts for a minority of the thousands of opioid-related deaths. He says most of the deaths occurred, not because of the opioid itself, but when people combine them with something else like alcohol, benzos or other drugs. They're ignorant of the fact that opioids mixed with other substances can be a deadly combination.
In the article, he speaks to how other countries, rather than curbing the use of opioids, take a proactive way of dealing with them. He says that in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark, that opioid treatment may include daily injections of heroin – while those same countries provide treatment along with the heroin therapy to help addicts lead a better life. He says these patients hold jobs, pay taxes and live productive lives. He also points out that such an approach is not even discussed in our country.
He doesn't endorse drug use by any means. He just believes that ignorant comments by politicians about cracking down on opioid use contribute to, rather than alleviating, the problem.
He says it is certainly possible to die from an overdose of an opioid, but this accounts for a minority of the thousands of opioid-related deaths. He says most of the deaths occurred, not because of the opioid itself, but when people combine them with something else like alcohol, benzos or other drugs. They're ignorant of the fact that opioids mixed with other substances can be a deadly combination.
In the article, he speaks to how other countries, rather than curbing the use of opioids, take a proactive way of dealing with them. He says that in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark, that opioid treatment may include daily injections of heroin – while those same countries provide treatment along with the heroin therapy to help addicts lead a better life. He says these patients hold jobs, pay taxes and live productive lives. He also points out that such an approach is not even discussed in our country.
He doesn't endorse drug use by any means. He just believes that ignorant comments by politicians about cracking down on opioid use contribute to, rather than alleviating, the problem.
