Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

axios.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 93 posts

Re: Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

#8

Post by jasode »

starklevnertz wrote: post #3

Can anyone explain why opioids are still being sold and prescribed?

>Can anyone explain why opioids are still being sold and prescribed?

If you take a look at the various alternatives for pain medication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analgesic

... you'll see that every pain drug has tradeoffs and opioids are still often the "best" solution even though it has potential for abuse and addiction.

- acetaminophen/aspirin like Tylenol/Excedrin and ibuprofen like Advil are not addictive but they can only treat mild pain

- local anesthesia can eliminate sensation of severe pain but it only lasts a few hours and also causes localized numbness and paralysis. This means you're not functional. So hypothetically trying to use it for knee pain will mean the person can't even walk around.

The ineffectiveness of alternatives means doctors and patients will keep relying on opioids until science comes up with something better.

Re: Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

#9

Post by tialaramex »

starklevnertz wrote: post #3

Can anyone explain why opioids are still being sold and prescribed?

The problem was never that they don't work the problem was that they're addictive.

So since they do work this means it remains appropriate to prescribe them, it just isn't appropriate to give them to everybody to pop one every day before work and say it's "non-addictive".

Drugs that work but have a terrible reputation are almost always still available. For example Thalidomide works, but it causes birth defects. Well, if you're a 45 year old man and the doctor can fix what's wrong with you using Thalidomide, what do you care about birth defects? You get a lecture about why child-bearing age women must under no circumstances take this drug, and then you're issued a prescription.

If you were a young woman, and there was no other option, you'd get an even sterner lecture, explaining that you absolutely must not become pregnant while taking this drug, that the best way to not become pregnant is to not have sex, but that if you're going to have sex you absolutely must prevent pregnancy, and if you get pregnant you must immediately stop using Thalidomide and come see a doctor... and then you're issued a prescription.

The main exception is drugs that had powerful societal bias (often driven by racism or sexism) against them, which might get outlawed even though if doctors were allowed to they'd probably sometimes prescribe them. In the UK these are "Schedule 1" drugs and it requires a specific government license to even test what they do.

Re: Judge rejects Purdue Pharma's $4.5B opioid settlement

#10

Post by eterm »

tialaramex wrote: post #9
starklevnertz wrote: post #3

Can anyone explain why opioids are still being sold and prescribed?

The problem was never that they don't work the problem was that they're addictive . So since they do work this means it remains appropriate to prescribe them, it just isn't appropriate to give them to everybody to pop one every day before work and say it's "non-addictive". Drugs that work but have a terrible reputation are almost always still available. For example Thalidomide works, but it causes birth defects. Well…

> You get a lecture

It's stronger than that, you get a three page consent form that you sign to say that, for instance, you won't get anyone pregnant.

Post reply on HN