Managing the opioid crisis in North America and beyond

Summary

This article by The Lancet makes the following points:

• The numbers show an increase of approximately 30 percent over 2019.
• In Canada, deaths rose by 67% in a single year, to more than 6200.
• The opioid epidemic has been a constant and complex crisis since OxyContin was approved and erroneously marketed as a safe and low-risk opioid analgesic.             
• The US Food and Drug Administration failed to enforce proper pain indication labelling on packaging.
• Early warnings by public health workers and emergency services about the potential lethality of opioids went unheeded.
• The Stanford–Lancet Commission has analysed the state of the opioid epidemic in North America and has mapped out an action plan for policy makers to de-escalate the crisis.

References

References from the Web:

• MAY 2021 ‘The crisis was manufactured’: inside a damning film on the origins of the opioid epidemic—The Guardian
• SEP 2021 OxyContin created the opioid crisis, but stigma and prohibition have fuelled it—The Conversation
• FEB 2022 Responding to the opioid crisis in North America and beyond: recommendations of the Stanford–Lancet Commission—The Lancet

Source: The Lancet

• Link to Source: The Lancet
• Media Check: The Lancet - Media Bias Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)
• LEARNING OUTCOMES—RUNWAY | The Runway (airforce.gov.au)