Recently I heard a Planet Money clip on Public Radio about a drug that actually works quite well to help people get off heroin and pain pill addiction. The generic name of the drug is Buprenorphine, also known by its brand name, Suboxone.
In our upside down world it is very hard to get this drug – it’s expensive and doctors are not eager to prescribe it due to challenges and limitations in the procedures under which they are able to prescribe the drug.
According to the Planet Money story, “Meet The Drug Dealer Who Helps Addicts Quit” by Mara Zepeda, people who want to get free of their addictions now often have to go to the street to get this drug. The story goes to on explain:
“…Unlike pain pills and heroin, Suboxone (generic name: buprenorphine) is very hard to overdose on. Addicts can take it to avoid withdrawal symptoms and manage their cravings for these drugs.
People who are treated with Suboxone are able to go back to school, they’re able to go back to work, they’re able to start paying taxes and taking care of their children,” says Dr. Miriam Komaromy, who directs a state-funded addiction treatment hospital in New Mexico. “It’s making them able to return to being a functioning member of society.”
I say make prescriptions for this drug widely available. Support doctors who want to use it to treat their patients. And very important – subsidize its cost. Make it cheap so no one who wants to quit is priced out of it.
It is so much smarter to cut the demand than try to “Drug War” our way out of this crisis. That strategy didn’t work with Prohibition. It’s not working now.
And as an added benefit – doing this would be a major blow to terrorists, cutting one of their major funding sources.
The Big Belch – a graphic novel about the environment and corporate greed that is kind of like Dr. Strangelove meets BP with drawings. New Youtube movie today.