It goes back to 1996, when the pharmaceutical firm Purdue Pharma “launched a campaign informing patients and doctors that a new, {allegedly} safe drug was available to combat pain that was not the result of cancer, surgery or trauma.
“This pill could relieve chronic back pain caused by daily physical demands. And it was {allegedly} safe because it would slowly release its narcotic ingredients, making it unlikely to become addictive, it said.
“The drug caused a cultural shift in the way physicians treated pain and how Americans viewed it,” the publication noted.
“It was this change in prescribing practices that would lead to our public health crisis,” Andrew Kolodny, M.D., executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing told Modern Healthcare.
