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Key Conclusions of the Commission (See the Recommendations section for details)
- The profit motives of actors inside and outside of the health care system will repeatedly generate harmful over-provision of addictive pharmaceuticals unless regulatory systems are fundamentally reformed.
- Opioids are both a benefit and a risk to health, function, and well-being. Opioids’ dual nature should be taken into account in drug regulation, prescribing, and opioid stewardship.
- Integrated, evidence-based, enduring systems for the care of substance use disorders should be built and supported financially on a permanent basis.
- Policies are available that maximize the benefit and minimize the adverse effects of criminal justice system involvement with people who are addicted to opioids.
- Fostering healthier environments (e.g., through programs for safe disposal of opioid pills, substance use prevention, and childhood enrichment) may yield long-term declines in the incidence of addiction.
- Innovation – in biomedical research on pain relievers and medications for opioid use disorder treatment, supply control strategy, and delivery of substance use disorder treatment – is urgently needed in response to the opioid crisis.
- Developed nations should prevent their opioid manufacturers from promoting overprescribing in other countries. Developed nations should also provide generic morphine to low-income nations to ensure adequate pain and palliative care.
Commission Contact:
Keith Humphreys, Ph.D.
Esther Ting Memorial Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Stanford University School of Medicine
401 Quarry Road, Mail Code 5717
Stanford, CA 94305
email: knh@stanford.edu
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