Resisting the Opioids Panic

[ndrosen]

The DEA has long made it difficult and risky for physicians to prescribe sufficient opioids to patients who may be in real and severe pain. One of my friends, an elderly widow, told me about how a friend of hers, another elderly woman, committed suicide because of severe arthritic pain for which she could not get adequate relief, as the doctors were afraid of possible prosecution.

This is not to deny, of course, that opioids can have ill effects, and that one should not take them for frivolous reason, or in excessive doses.

Reason TV has a story about a physician who nevertheless insists on helping patients in severe pain.