Dr. Castillo: The Opioid Crisis

When you look at the “Opioid Epidemic” in America it is like an elephant everyone looks at it from their point of view and uses their facts the way they want the elephant viewed. The Federal Government passed a Law, as did the State of Arizona stating that the maximum level of opioids should be ninety morphine milligram equivalents (90MME). They based this more on politics and the storyline of opioid crisis with people dying. The facts are right, but is the interpretation correct. The opioid is killing people. The first thing is some people have severe pain. The Laws…
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Can Weed and Snail Venom Replace Opioids?

In the wake of mounting overdoses and deaths from the opioids-addiction crisis sweeping across the U.S., drugmakers are racing to come up with safer painkillers. Companies are highly motivated to create alternatives to the $4 billion opioid market. The federal government is cracking down on lax prescriptions that contribute to many thousands of deaths a year and has started to block the sale of medications it considers unsafe. Drugs such as morphine, fentanyl, and oxycodone are such powerful analgesics because they so effectively block pain signals by acting directly on the brain. Since they work at such a fundamental level, these…
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