Anna Lembke, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford (Calif.) School of Medcine and author of Drug Dealer, MD, recently discussed her book and the opioid epidemic on Stanford's 1:2:1 podcast.
In her book, Dr. Lembke examines case studies from her own practice, public statistics, cultural anthropology and neuroscience to uncover the dynamics driving the nation's opioid addiction crisis.
Here are five quotes from the podcast.
On the complexity of the epidemic: "You've got the biology of dependence or addiction to opioids driving it. You also have financial incentives for people to stay sick through Social Security disability insurance compensation. You've got doctors who are incredibly incentivized in many ways to continue to prescribe. I really feel like the opioid epidemic is the canary in the coal mine with regards to our healthcare system. We have some serious infrastructure issues that we need to reform."
On the problems facing Dr. Lembke's patients suffering from opioid addiction: "They had problems at work, problems in their personal relationships. They had legal problems. They had serious health issues. Really, it [addiction] touches all aspects of life."
On why she wrote the book: "For family members, and friends of people who have become addicted to prescription drugs, particularly opioids ...,anybody who was going to be prescribing who might not know very much about addiction or about this epidemic so that they could be better informed to stop the kinds of behaviors that are contributing to the problem."
On the role of physicians in the epidemic: "I think there's been so much emphasis on primary care docs having to solve this problem ... It's totally unfair unless they are given the time and resources to do it ... [Addiction is] socioeconomically complicated ... multi-generational trauma. [Primary care physicians] are given 10 minutes to put that all together. It's totally unfair and unrealistic and isn't going to solve the problem."
On the solution: "Get big pharma out. Stop all the lobbying and the kickbacks and the favors and the influence. We need to get that kind of big-moneyed influence out of our healthcare reform and our healthcare policy and decision-making. We need to give doctors more time."
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