Above photo: “Americans have the idea that they should not have to feel pain,” said Dr. Donna Petersen (left), dean of the College of Public Health and senior associate vice president at USF Health. Anna Bryson | The Crow’s Nest
By Anna Bryson
Despite accounting for only 4 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. uses 96 percent of its opioids.
At least that’s what Iqbal Paroo, a speaker at the St. Petersburg Conference on World Affairs, told a crowd of about 60 people at a panel on Feb. 22.
Paroo, a Tampa Bay-based consultant on health care systems and investment strategies, moderated a panel titled “How’d we get hooked? The opioid pandemic and what to do about it.”
The panelists sought to clear up confusion surrounding the crisis, explain its deadly breadth, clarify the numbers thrown around by the news media and suggest solutions and preventive measures.
Opioid overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, said Susan Tuite, a Florida Bar board-certified health care attorney.
How did we get here?
Tuite explained that when Purdue Pharma petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to approve OxyContin in 1995, the company marketed it as a drug that was different from other opioids and would not cause addiction.
But since OxyContin hit the shelves in 1996, she said, more than 560,000 Americans have died from opioid abuse.
The opioid crisis has become a global issue, said Gilles Raguin, a medical doctor and infectious disease specialist who works with drug users internationally.
In Europe, substitution treatment for opioid addiction is free, Raguin said. But in the U.S. there are not a lot of facilities that use substitution treatment, and it is very expensive where it is available.
Another part of the disparity in addiction rates between the U.S. and other countries could be Americans’ attitudes toward pain relief, said Dr. Donna Petersen, dean of the College of Public Health and senior associate vice president at USF Health.
“Americans have the idea that they should not have to feel pain and it should be able to be managed,” said Petersen.
Petersen emphasized the importance of a public health approach, instead of a criminal one, because the opioid abuse crisis is a multifaceted public health challenge.
All of the panelists conveyed that compassion is a key part of the solution. People did not just wake up and decide to become addicts, they said.
As part of a comprehensive approach, they said, stigmas about substance abuse and mental health need to be addressed as part of the solution.
Prevention is key.
Petersen cited a Los Angeles Times article about how Purdue Pharma and a network of international companies known as Mundipharma are moving into Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to promote opioids for pain relief.
“As the credits roll on the U.S.’s horrible experience, I hope the sequel is not about this
moving out into the rest of the world,” Petersen said.
