Newt On Opiates

Since we cover Drug Prohibition heavily around her I think it is time to at least make some commentary on Newt Gingrich’s Time Magazine article on how to treat opiate addiction. You will recall that Gingrich is one of Trump’s top advisors.

Treat America’s Opioid Epidemic With Medication

Science is on our side. Studies show that opioid addiction is a chronic brain disease to which some people are genetically predisposed.

I have been saying that since 2002. Nice to see you catching on Newt.

Many studies have shown that medication is effective in promoting long-term recovery by reducing cravings for opioids, lowering the risk of fatal overdoses, and increasing the chances of recovery. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the recovery drug buprenorphine reduced the craving to use an opioid by roughly 50% and increased the odds of not taking an opioid by about 3.5 times. Other drugs, like naltrexone, have also shown promise. The more quickly people living with addiction can access recovery medication, the more likely they are to succeed in long-term recovery.

Urgent change is needed.

Well yeah.

How about some action on this: Legal Marijuana Linked to Fewer Opioid Prescriptions Wouldn’t cannabis legalization be of some help Newt?

Is Newt ahead of the political pack? Not on your life. Congress has already acted. From July 13, 2016:

The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill intended to change the way police and health care workers treat people struggling with opioid addictions.

The bill, which had previously passed the House, will now be sent to President Obama. He has indicated that he will sign it, despite concerns that it doesn’t provide enough funding.

The bill is an amalgam of more than a dozen proposals passed through the year in the House and Senate.

That bill passed in the Senate 92 to 2. That looks pretty bi-partisan to me. If you want to look at the bill it is S.524 – Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016.

So let me tell you what I think. Congress is in the process of ending Drug Prohibition by passing bills one at a time. And when there is not much public uproar they pass another. They will keep doing this until Federal Prohibition is gutted. When that is sufficiently accomplished – and not until then – drugs will get rescheduled.

I may have more to say on this later but my #2 son is visiting so I’m outta here.