Terminalxylem
Footballguy
It's also possible the doctors did most everything right and weren't pressured to prescribe any particular drug by regulatory agencies. You can't always predict who will overdose or prevent all drug diversion.Bolded, first sentence: And yet deaths due to acetaminophen mixed with opiates were on the rise, according to studies and reports. So the doctors were either
As for the second sentence, I can't figure out how you're having a tough time grasping what I'm saying -- that the regulatory bodies, in concert with the individual doctor's potential for either a paternal view of addiction or a fear of prosecution, are responsible for these potentially harmful cocktails.
- Prescribing the wrong drug
- Not monitoring
- Pressured to prescribe a cocktail to reduce addiction at the detriment of the patient.
As for me, my experience comes from five years of working for a political think tank and having friends who not only covered the business side of the health industry, but also studied the regulatory powers of the FDA and DEA regarding prescription medication and controlled substances. It comes from having ties to close friends who work closely in the drug policy field, especially regarding decriminalization and regulation of controlled substances. It also comes from having a keen interest and following the problem with opiates and its attendant regulation and doctors' prescriptive habits not only on a macro level, but also on a personal one.
You've got a wife with a doctor and one bit of anecdotal evidence that you're extrapolating out to the rest of the population, not only a fallacy of addition, but also generally a tactic that most people don't find convincing.
Opioid deaths are indeed on the rise, and combination pills are some of the more commonly prescribed - both due to marketing and genuine concern to limit opioid use. Not some DEA/FDA conspiracy.
Unless you have data showing significantly higher overdose death rates with the combination tablets, disproportionate to their general availability, it's hard to blame much on acetaminophen. If roughly a hundred deaths a year are due to unintentional acetaminophen ingestion, only a fraction would be due to combination opioid tabs. Is that really something to be concerned enough about to eliminate the inclusion of acetaminophen in those formulations? Certainly not as you originally stated: “Getting rid of the acetaminophen would go a long way towards reestablishing the health of the people that take these pills.”
Also, even though your anecdotal experience sounds quite impressive, it still isn't scientifically validated.
Last edited by a moderator: