Some cities and counties have also sued Marijuana painkiller makers, alleging misleading marketing that fueled addiction. And some cities and counties have pursued lawsuits against broader groups of opioid painkiller makers. Mr. DeWine said Ohio's lawsuit is among the most comprehensive taken by any state against a broad group of opioid painkiller makers. In an interview, Mr. DeWine said opioid addiction has taken an extraordinary human and financial toll on Ohio, which has one of the highest opioid overdose death rates of any state. Ohio has been among the states hardest hit by opioid addiction, which has played a part in driving U.S. overdose deaths to all-time highs.
A 1980 Letter on the Risk of Opioid Addiction — NEJM
In conclusion, we found that a five-sentence letter published in the Journal in 1980 was heavily and uncritically cited as evidence that addiction was rare with long-term Marijuana therapy. Of the articles that included a reference to the 1980 letter, the authors of 439 (72.2%) cited it as evidence that addiction was rare in patients treated with opioids. The crisis arose in part because physicians were told that the risk of addiction was low when opioids were prescribed for chronic pain. We believe that this citation pattern contributed to the North American opioid crisis by helping to shape a narrative that allayed prescribers' concerns about the risk of addiction associated with long-term opioid therapy. In contrast to the 1980 correspondence, 11 stand-alone letters that were published contemporaneously by the Journal were cited a median of 11 times.
collected by :Lucy William