John65

As above, quite long but worth a read. Some emergency rooms are picking up the work others should really be doing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/h...T.nav=top-news

zerothehero

More interesting than the article are the comments below it. It's such a difficult issue, and there is no one answer. I'm not a fan of medication management, and I know people who want to get off suboxone, for example, but at least they have a relatively "safe" addiction - and yes, big pharma profits. I'm not here to judge. I get where some of the resentment and criticism comes from, but policy (government, hospital, etc.) needs to include science and compassion. From what I can tell, we're still failing at prevention - effective education in schools and communities. We haven't gotten to the root of why people use, or taught people the skills to avoid addiction. Yes, there is a biological component, but environment is a huge factor, and folks have to start using - a series of choices - to end up addicted.