opioid crisis Archives - Page 3 of 6

The Opioid Epidemic Won’t Go Away If We Ignore It

By Dr. John Rosa

Chances are the opioid epidemic has wreaked havoc in your home or community.

If it has hit close to home do you feel helpless in the face of this devastating epidemic? We humans tend to stick our heads in the sand when the going gets rough, hoping that whatever problem we are avoiding will disappear.

The opioid epidemic is not going to go away no matter how we try to ignore it. Those who have been left in its wake are the ones who are most likely to take some kind of action. But, we all have a responsibility to do something to help our children and loved ones avoid or turn away from the devastation of opioid abuse in order to save their lives. But how? Where do we begin?

Talking Might Help

Talking about possible solutions might be a good starting place. Discussing other methods for dealing with pain could be another. Both of these topics, as well as many others help people who have been adversely affected by the opioid crisis feel as if they are doing something. And that feels better than doing nothing.

Community Outreach

What can your community do to create greater interest in helping to solve the problem?

We need to get to the children. We need to get into the schools and speak about the crisis to the children. We have to inspire the kids to stay away from drugs and to help their friends who may have already started on the path to destruction.

Make Sure You Aren’t Contributing To The Problem

As parents we must make sure our medicine cabinets are cleared of old pain pills and other drugs that kids may be tempted to experiment with. We have to talk about this uncomfortable topic and be vigilant in looking for signs of drug use in our kids. Making kids angry is far better than watching them die. So, don’t be afraid to talk about drug use with them.

Nothing can compensate for the loss of a child or other loved one. This epidemic affects all ages, socioeconomic classes, races and religions. Opioid Use Disorder is rampant throughout the country and among high functioning professionals.

The Same Thing Happened 100 Years Ago

Back in the 1890’s, Bayer, the aspirin maker marketed heroin in the same way opioids have been marketed in the current opioid epidemic. “Bayer targeted physicians, which led to hundreds of favorable clinical papers, “a form of advertising that would be reprinted in myriad newspapers and magazines. The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal gushed: “Heroin possesses many advantages. It’s not hypnotic and there’s no danger of acquiring a habit.””

Sounds very familiar. The sad truth is that there are many co-conspirators who are not facing the burden of responsibility for the current epidemic. I’m talking about the physicians as well as the regulators who failed to do their duty and protect the public.

Let’s Keep Talking

If we talk about it enough, maybe the regulators will get the message and do their job instead of lining their pockets while so many innocent people die. If you, or someone you love is dependent or addicted to opioid drugs, please seek help before it’s too late. If you would like to learn more about the Opioid Crisis as it relates to awareness, prevention and treatment or schedule a corporate or organization seminar contact us at DrJohnRosa.com. Here you will learn how to connect you, your company or organization with the leading experts on the crisis and how to help your community stay safe.

The Pharmacist And The Pain That Never Goes Away

By Dr. John Rosa

People react differently to tragedy.

Unfortunately hundreds of thousands of parents have been in the position of reacting to the tragedy of losing a child to the opioid crisis that has been ravaging this country since the late 1990’s. Most of those parents were helpless and didn’t know what to do. In drug overdose situations there often seems like there is nothing that can be done.

The Pharmacist on Netflix

Some of the children may not have died from an overdose. Some of them may have been killed attempting to get drugs in dangerous neighborhoods. Such was the case that is brought to light in a documentary series recently produced by Netflix.

The documentary poses some intense and important questions. For instance, “What would you do if your child was killed in a drug deal and the cops were less than helpful? Would you be paralyzed with grief, shaking your head at the idea that your kid was an addict, or something else?” As the documentary series portrays, “One pharmacist in Louisiana took it upon himself to find his son’s killer, and after that was over, took what he learned and decided to fight a Big Pharma company that was making more young people into addicts.”

Stream It or Skip It

The Pharmacist may be too difficult to watch for anyone who has lost a child to opioids. But for everyone else, I beg you to watch this series. It shows how easily people can become addicted to these dangerous drugs. It also shows how the grief of losing a child never goes away. You may find a small sense of comfort in seeing one family take action to help save lives. You may be inspired to take action in your community to help in some way. In my opinion, it’s important for every person to be aware of the crisis that is killing so many people of all ages. This series does a great job.

More Medical Educators And Researchers Explore Alternatives To Opioids For Pain

By Dr. John Rosa

Pain Relief Without Opioids IS Possible

All too often I write about the heartbreaking, heinous and important statistics associated with the opioid epidemic. However, I’m going to kick this New Year and new decade off by sharing some good news that is coming out of our medical colleges which will have a positive effect on the opioid crisis in years to come.

A Conscious Move Toward Caring For Chronic Pain Without Opioids

The fact is that a greater number of medical educators and researchers are increasingly exploring nonpharmacological treatments for pain. The trend seems to be growing in medical colleges across the country in response to the growing opioid crisis. More and more attention is being given to Integrative Medicine which involves instruction in how to care for patients suffering from chronic pain with reductions in or without the use of opioids. And that is great news.

Heightened Research Into Nonpharmacological Treatments For Chronic Pain

Health institutions across the board are joining in on the effort to help curtail and put an end to the opioid addiction in this country. For instance, in 2018, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a cross-divisional effort called the Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative. The objective of HEAL is to focus on “evidence-based treatments for opioid misuse and addiction, as well as more innovative solutions for pain management.” This initiative also includes research on “health approaches outside the boundaries of conventional medicine.” This shift in focus has accelerated the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, which is a division of NIH, to accelerate its own research into nonpharmacological treatments for chronic pain.

Alternative Therapies Are Popular But Not Yet Mainstream In Medical Care

Massage, yoga and acupuncture are some of the health therapies that have been around for thousands of years. These methods have certainly become popular with a multitude of Americans, yet, they have not been embraced into mainstream medical care here in the U.S. I am happy to report that that too is changing as more doctors are not only acknowledging, but also prescribing chiropractic, as well as massage and yoga for a variety of health issues.

Complementary And Integrative Medicine (CIM) Getting Stronger But Still Hurdles

Just before the turn of the century, back in 1999, the first meeting of the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine was held. Representatives from eight academic institutions attended. Now as we are entering the second decade of the 2000’s the consortium includes more than 70 academic institutions and health systems in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The progress toward a more integrative approach is uplifting, yet there are still hurdles. A big one is getting insurance companies to cover these therapies.

Insurance Currently Pays For Some But Not All Alternative Therapies

If demand is what compels change, then we may be seeing more insurance coverage for alternative healing therapies eventually. As it is, “four out of ten U.S. adults go outside the health system to use complementary, natural or alternative therapies. Some 600 million visits to these practitioners are made each year (which surpasses that made to conventional medical practitioners), and patients pay an estimated $30 billion out of their own pockets for such non-traditional care per year.”

The good news is that there is some insurance coverage for alternative therapies such as chiropractic visits and acupuncture. While the prevalence is nowhere near that of conventional treatments it is a hopeful sign. Perhaps the opioid epidemic will push the medical profession further in their acceptance of alternative treatments.

Some Americans Will Suffer Holidays That Feels As War-Torn As 1941

By Dr. John Rosa

The US is involved in a deadly conflict.

As I write this article on the anniversary of the U.S. involvement in WWII, I can’t help but recognize that our country is in the midst of another and perhaps equally deadly war. We are in an internal conflict that has, in an 18-year span, killed more Americans than those who lost their lives in that not-so-distant war.

Most people refer to the war I’m talking about as an epidemic. An epidemic is an illness. I’m suggesting that it is the Opioid War not merely a crisis or an epidemic.

Past And Current War Figures

Over 405,000 heroic Americans gave their lives in WWII. In the past 18 years almost twice as many Americans have lost their lives in a war the majority of them did not know they were entering. A war started by pharmaceutical companies and cultivated by our medical industry. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Drug overdose deaths continue to increase in the United States. From 1999 to 2017, more than 702,000 people have died from a drug overdose. In 2017, more than 70,000 people died from drug overdoses, making it a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States. Of those deaths, almost 68% involved a prescription or illicit opioid.”

External Wars Easier Than Internal Wars

Addiction is nothing new. It’s as old as civilization. And fighting the distribution of illegal drugs in the U.S. is nothing new. We have fought South American drug lords and Mexican Drug Cartels. We even had a real live shoot out that started the Miami Drug War in a Dade county mall in 1979. Those wars were waged between people from other countries to protect the citizens of our country. But, we’ve never had to fight such an intense and powerful, money motivated American drug lord.

Addiction Is Not A Moral Weakness

With addiction being woven into the human condition, it helps to look a little more closely at it since it is now so common. According to an opinion piece at thehill.com by Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D. the founder and president of the Rosenthal Center for Addiction Studies, “Addiction is an unexpected trap. It often begins innocently enough—with prescription painkillers after a back operation, perhaps, or a line of coke snorted for fun at a party. External factors – poverty and social misery, personal hardships and peer pressure to conform – can influence the desire to experiment with powerful, mind-altering and physically harmful substances. Nobody is immune, as we have seen the opioid crisis ensnare young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural residents and people of all races and ethnicities.”

Dr. Rosenthal, who has more than 50 years of experience treating substance abuse says, “What I know is that addiction is not a moral failing.” This is a point that in my opinion needs to be repeated continuously. Dr. Rosenthal explains the addiction process, “It happens when the morphine molecule—the essential component of all opiates—or other drug initiates a chemical process that rewires the neural networks in the brain and renders the user a partial captive of the drug.” This makes it clear that anyone is susceptible to becoming addicted to highly addictive opioids. He goes on to add, “We have the tools and resources – through education, prevention, law enforcement, and most importantly treatment – and the awareness to help those with substance-abuse disorder. But in order to be successful we must commit to a coherent, compassionate and well-funded national anti-drug strategy on a scale equivalent to the enormity of the drug problem itself.”

Politicians Motivated To Keep The War Waging

So far the enormity of the problem has not outgrown the profit potential. With individual companies within the pharmaceutical industry spending millions ($194.3 million as of 10/24/2018) lobbying to influence politicians to favor their industries, it’s easy to see that we are in a war between greed and good will. There really doesn’t seem to be any doubt at the moment about who’s going to win. Clearly, greed is winning out over the true care of our citizens.

While there may be little to be cheerful about this holiday season for hundreds of thousands of American families who have already been devastated and likely destroyed by this war at the very least we can wish these families some momentary peace and good will.

Thoughts Of Peace And Kindness

Even though for many this holiday season there will be sorrow and dismay I pray that they will find a quiet moment to reflect on the sanctity of life. Let’s all find that quiet moment this holiday season and pray for all those who suffer. Sometimes good thoughts for those who you don’t know helps those who need it the most. Be kind to one another and yourself.

2019 Has Been A Busy Year For Everyone Involved In The Opioid Crisis

By Dr. John Rosa

2019 has been a busy year in the fight against opioids.

Looking back over the year and taking in all that has happened in the epidemic that has come to be known in the U.S. as the opioid crisis, all I can say is that it has been a very busy year. I hope that we have made some headway, and I do believe we have, in curtailing the distribution through doctor prescribed sources. Next comes the challenge of curtailing availability over the Internet.

I’m providing a review of some of the year’s highlights and pray that next year sees greater strides being made toward bringing the tremendous sufferings and tragedies caused by this treatment created just for use by those suffering from the unbearable pain of cancer to an end.

January 14, 2019

The beginning of the year brought tragic news. For the very first time on record the odds of dying from an opioid overdose in the U.S. was greater than the odds of dying in an auto accident.

Those findings from the National Safety Council are actually considered preventable injury and fatality statistics. Meaning that they are not “accidents.” An overdose or an automobile accident is often described as an “accident” as if it could not have been prevented. But the fact is that overdoses as well as many vehicle crashes are the result of careless behavior. According to a spokeswoman for The NSC, “The Council calculates the Odds of Dying not to scare Americans but to empower them to make safer decisions and improve their chances of longevity.”

May 2, 2019

In the spring of this year, five executives from Insys Therapeutics, a company that makes a version of the deadly opioid fentanyl called Subsys, were found guilty for bribing doctors to prescribe the opioid to people who didn’t need it. According to what an FBI agent told CNN, “These executives exploited vulnerable patients and cashed in on dishonest doctors by bribing them to prescribe one of the most powerful, addictive opioid painkillers to patients who should never have received it.” There appears to have been “lap dances” involved in the bribery scheme.

Subsys is a rapid-onset opioid intended only for cancer patients with intense breakthrough pain. Prosecutors said the defendants conspired from May 2012 to December 2015 to bribe doctors, including many who ran pain clinics, to give the drug to patients who should never have received it. The drug is about 100 times more powerful than morphine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “The opioid epidemic has killed nearly 400,000 Americans since 1999.”

July 17, 2019

Opioid prescribing has dropped since the CDC issued opioid prescribing guidelines in early 2016, which resulted both in doctors prescribing fewer opioids as well as insurers providing less coverage for opioids. Even so a CDC spokesperson told CNN, “There’s certainly nothing to celebrate because even with the slight reduction we’re still experiencing an enormous death toll.” However, it is the first time in 25 years there’s been a decline instead of an incline in the number of deaths.

September 15, 2019

With the change of season, came some long-awaited big news. We saw the company primarily being held responsible for creating the opioid epidemic file for bankruptcy. Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy as part of a $10 billion agreement to settle opioid lawsuits including settlements with 24 state attorneys general, five US territories and attorneys in multi-district litigation.

September 30, 2019

The end of September wraps up with the FDA And DEA announcing that they “sent warnings to four online networks, operating a total of 10 websites, which are illegally marketing unapproved and misbranded versions of opioid medicines, including tramadol.”

A Newsworthy Year with Words of Caution

While the opioid prescribing habits of doctors has decreased slightly we need to be careful the pendulum doesn’t swing too far. People who have been on opioids for several years are now being denied their medication causing them to hit the streets and we all know how that story ends. The prescribing habits need to decrease not slightly but substantially for any new patient prescriptions while those who are dependent are slowly decreased in opioid strength over time.

Another word of caution is that while the overdose deaths are showing a slight decrease in the hardest hit counties and states across the country the addiction/dependency/usage rate has not decreased. With an 500% increase in Narcan (the overdose reversal drug) distribution, a decrease in death is expected but we stills need to stop people from becoming addicted in the first place.

Without question it has been a newsworthy year in dealing with the opioid epidemic and positive change is welcome news. I am thankful for the progress made and am looking forward to even greater progress to be made in the coming year.

Thankful For Lawsuits And Arrests

By Dr. John Rosa

We’re starting to see a little light in the Opioid Crisis tunnel.

No one will be doing a happy dance despite the fact that the Sackler family is being pursued legally for their role in fueling the worldwide opioid epidemic. But, it is a step in the right direction for those of us pursuing alternative non-medical methods of pain management. Not a happy dance, but a definite source of thankfulness.

Creating Awareness

This year has seen strides made in creating greater awareness about the opioid crisis, and, for the first time in years, the death rate has gone down just a bit. Nothing statistically significant, but any little bit is good news.

Another bit of recent good news is that an arrest in Virginia has put a pill-pushing doctor out of commission. This medical professional actually prescribed opioids to every patient in his practice. Not just a few, but every single patient according to an article at usatoday.com.

According to the article,” To get drugs… many patients traveled “hundreds of miles, one-way,” waited as long as 12 hours and slept in the parking lot of his office.”

So Long Sackler

So, one doctor is no longer in a position to push opioids and the billionaire Sackler family is being shunned by reputable universities, art institutions and businesses around the world. Many of these institutions have been the recipients of endowments and donations in the millions of dollars. Those donations are now being called “blood money.”

According to a related article at usatoday.com, “Petitions at New York University and Tel Aviv University called on the schools to strip the Sackler name from research institutes. A 2018 lawsuit from the Massachusetts attorney general argued that Purdue Pharma used its influence at Tufts University and other schools to promote the company’s opioids.”

For the families who have lost loved ones to opioid overdose and to those who suffer the pain of addiction these may be considered baby steps. But we all know that baby steps are where everyone begins. Bigger, stronger steps are sure to follow.

Wake Up To Connection Between Depression And Opioid Use

By Dr. John Rosa

Mental health and the opioid crisis are intertwined.

Fall ushered in the chilling winds of change along with Depression Awareness and Mental Health Awareness month. As a consultant to local and national opioid task forces, I am aware that both mental health disorders and the opioid crisis are intertwined. Research continues to verify that the use of opioids is very common among people with mental health issues.

Those With Mental Health Disorders Receive More Than 50% Of Opioid Prescriptions

In fact, according to research, about 16 percent of Americans have mental health disorders. That’s roughly 38 million people. And those with mental health issues actually receive more than half of all opioid prescriptions.

How can we help those who suffer from the pain of mental health disorders and addiction to opioids? Shame keeps people from sharing their illness. The shame associated with mental health disorders has kept millions of people silently attempting to deal with their suffering alone. However, the silence is finally being broken. Mental health disorders are being talked about by those in the public eye which is helping others who are not so visible feel safer in sharing their secret too.

Perhaps sooner rather than later, the relationship between the two will become more understood. Of course, awareness is always the first step. Making it your business to become aware of the symptoms of mood and anxiety disorders is a step in the right direction. In fact, if you know someone who is addicted to opioids, you might explore whether that person has anxiety disorders too.

Opioids Feed Mental Health Disorders

Unfortunately there is also compelling evidence suggesting that opioid use can contribute to mental health problems. A 2016 study in the Annals of Family Medicine found that about 10% of people who were prescribed opioids developed depression after a month of taking the drugs. And, the longer they used opioids, the greater their risk of developing depression.

While a person may have been prescribed an opioid for relief of physical pain after surgery or an accident, their mental state may not have been questioned. If you know someone who shows signs of depression, anxiety disorders or other mental health disorders, you may want to keep an eye on them to see if they start exhibiting signs of using opioids. Most people will go to great lengths to keep both of these illnesses undercover as best they can. If you are a parent, spouse or friend of someone you suspect of either condition, do your best to lovingly discuss the topics with them.

Those with mood and anxiety disorders are twice as likely to use opioids than people without mental health problems. They’re also more than three times as likely to misuse opioids.

Winter Is Coming

Winter is known to exacerbate mental health disorders. The winter months are those in which Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) are most prominent. Any time is a great time to start paying attention to the behavior of loved ones who may have exhibited or are known to have mental health issues.

National Opioid Crisis Expert, Dynamic Speaker And Author, Dr. John Rosa Talks About A Recent Book That Brilliantly Exposes Medical Shortcomings Regarding Opioids

Dr. John P. Rosa, opioid crisis expert, author and dynamic speaker, discusses the lack of education within the medical field regarding how to ween patients off of opioids despite the fact that they are so easily and frequently prescribed.

ROCKVILLE, MD. November 7, 2019: Dr. John Rosa, dynamic speaker, national opioid crises expert, and co-author of The Recipe for Success with Jack Canfield, posted a new blog on his website entitled, “A Medical System That Doesn’t Know How To Put An End To The Pain They Cause,” in which Dr. Rosa tells readers about an important book.

Dr. Rosa poses a big question. He asks, “How do we change an entire medical system?” He continues, “That’s the question that occurs to me when thinking about how our medical schools teach prospective doctors how to prescribe pills but don’t teach them how to help patients get off the pills they are prescribed.”

According to Dr. Rosa, “Our medical institutions are responsible for creating more intense pain than the pain that is caused as a result of physical injury.” He further elaborates, “Doctors easily prescribe addictive opioids. But they have absolutely no idea how to help ween their patients off of the drugs when they are no longer needed for pain control.” He emphasizes, “Thus begins the horrendously painful cycle of addiction.”

Dr. Rosa states, “This is so perfectly illustrated in a recent book I heard about entitled In Pain, by bioethicist Travis Reider, who was prescribed opioids after a motorcycle accident. When he went to his doctor to ask how to get off the opioids, the doctor was stumped. He didn’t have a clue.”

Read the entire blog at http://glt.kji.mybluehost.me/a-medical-system-that-doesnt-know-how-to-put-an-end-to-the-pain-they-cause/

About Dr. John P. Rosa

Dr. Rosa is the Owner/manager of 14 health clinics in the Baltimore/Washington DC metro areas concentrating on musculoskeletal injuries of acute, subacute and chronic nature. He oversees the Integrative Medicine practice group which includes general medicine, Chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture and behavioral medicine that sees over 60,000 patient visits per year.

Active in sports medicine with consulting/treating college, professional and Olympic athletes. Creator of 24/7 RnR (Relief and aiding Recovery) an FDA approved analgesic cream. Founder of Accessible Wellness Solutions – an onsite corporate wellness program offering consulting, lectures and clinic management.

Leader in Chiropractic

Trustee of New York Chiropractic College for over 15 years and serving final 3-year term as Chairman of the Board.

Opioid Crisis Expert:

White House Surrogate/Consultant
Law Enforcement Consultant (Homeland Security, CBP, DOJ, DEA and Postal)
State and National Consultant to Opioid Task Forces
Corporate and professional organization consultant
Currently forming the Opioid Abuse Prevention Institute

Integrative Medicine Specialist:

Board service to Maryland University of Integrative Health
Consultant on Integrative Medicine to hospital cancer center
Reduced opioid prescriptions by 70% by integrating Chiropractic, physical therapy and
behavioral medicine in a primary care setting
Expert/Speaker – educating primary care, urgent care and hospital medical staff on the
Integrative Medicine approach to treating pain patients

A Medical System That Doesn’t Know How To Put An End To The Pain They Cause

By Dr. John Rosa

How do we change an entire medical system?

That’s the question that occurs to me when thinking about how our medical schools teach prospective doctors how to prescribe pills but don’t teach them how to help patients get off the pills they are prescribed.

Our medical institutions are responsible for creating more intense pain than the pain that is caused as a result of physical injury.

Doctors easily prescribe addictive opioids. But they have absolutely no idea how to help wean their patients off of the drugs when they are no longer needed for pain control. Thus begins the horrendously painful cycle of addiction.

This is so perfectly illustrated in a recent book I heard about entitled In Pain, by bioethicist Travis Reider, who was prescribed opioids after a motorcycle accident. When he went to his doctor to ask how to get off the opioids, the doctor was stumped. He didn’t have a clue.

In the book’s preface, it states, “The drugs he (Travis) received were both miraculous and essential to his recovery – for a time. But the most profound suffering Travis would endure arrived months after the accident, when he went into acute opioid withdrawal while following his physician’s orders. Over the course of four excruciating weeks, Rieder experienced firsthand, all day long and through the night, what it means to be “dope sick” – the absolute physical and mental agony that is opioid withdrawal. Clueless how to taper off these intensely powerful painkillers, Travis turned to his doctors, who suggested that he go back on the drugs and simply try again later.”

This book joins the voices calling for change within both government and medicine. I hope many people will read it and join the call for change for this insidious epidemic.

Another Plea To Parents To Educate Children About Opioids

By Dr. John Rosa

When I was a teenager, my parents warned me about the dangers of drinking alcohol before I was 21.

They warned me about using marijuana and other drugs. The greatest concern of parents back then was that their kid would become an alcoholic or, through the use of marijuana, would eventually become a heroin addict. Heroin was the deadliest drug and has been until the late 1990’s with the introduction of Oxycontin.

I constantly appeal to parents to safeguard their children by talking to them about the opioid epidemic and educating them as thoroughly as possible. Children today are faced with greater stress than at any other time in history. Social pressures, peer pressure, educational expectations, sexual identity crises and more bombard today’s children. The confusion can be overwhelming if not addressed and the temptation to numb out can be powerful.

Illegal Drugs Are Running Rampant

The proliferation of illegally made drugs – laced with deadly fentanyl – that look like the real deal are flooding the streets. Children of every age are taking these drugs and overdosing on a daily basis. I am making every effort I can to help parents help their children resist the temptation to experiment with any kind of drug.

To that end, I am posting a letter from the Director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse directed to parents posted on their website. Sometimes, one voice is not enough. We have to hear warnings from multiple authorities before we take them to heart. Hopefully, you can prevent your children from becoming one of the 150 people who die every day from opioids.

Dear Parents:

You have probably heard a lot about the opioid crisis in the news lately. But what are opioids, and what do they have to do with you as the parent of a teenager?

If your child has had a sports injury, dental work, or surgery, it is possible that he or she was prescribed a pain reliever that contained an opioid. Opioids can be very effective at reducing severe pain in the short term, such as after surgery, but they can be very addictive, especially if they are misused.

Children and adolescents are at greater risk than adults of becoming addicted when exposed to drugs. Particularly when used in treating children or adolescents, opioids should only be taken to manage severe pain, when no other pain medicine works, and for the shortest time necessary—and most importantly, only while under the careful watch of a trained health care provider.

In addition to opioids prescribed for treating pain, there are powerful opioids sold on the street and used solely to get high, including heroin and illicit fentanyl. These are also highly addictive. All opioids—particularly when misused to get high, when combined with other drugs like alcohol or tranquilizers, or when used for pain without proper medical supervision—can result in deadly overdoses.

While opioid misuse in teens has been going down, the rate of opioid misuse increases significantly after the age of 18, so it is critical to talk with teens early and frequently to protect them from experimenting with opioids as they transition into adulthood. Talking to your kids about drugs may not be easy, but it is important.

Here at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), we developed this guide to help parents talk with their kids. We also have a companion book, Opioid Facts for Teens, that you can share. Sometimes, just beginning the conversation is the hardest part. I hope these booklets can help.

Nora D. Volkow, M.D.
Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/opioids-facts-parents-need-to-know/letter-to-parents