First I'll define terms. When I say "addict" I'm including everybody who is physically dependent on opioids who isn't a terminal cancer patient. I don't see how physical dependence can exist independently of psychological dependence as one can't be physically dependent on opioids with also having a psychological need for them.
Pain management has become based on the absurd assumption that: "the patient's pain is always what the patient says it is".
In most cases that assumption is probably valid but we know, with certainty, that people will lie in order to obtain pain medications. Pretending that report of pain is an objective finding is absurd.
Much addiction has been caused by the current pain management theories. We've been overmedicating many people for years based on pain management theories. There is an underlying assumption in current pain management that treating complaints of pain with large amounts of medication doesn't really have a downside when the fact is that it has a huge downside......We've got a large population of addicts who didn't have to be addicts.
Let me be clear about how important it is to control pain. I'm not saying that nobody should get opioids. They are extremely beneficial if used properly. "
Without a doubt, Sir William Osler, renowned Canadian physician of the late 1800's, was justified by remarking that morphine was "God's own Medicine
