Study Debunks Myths About Origins of Opioid Abuse

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor

It’s become a popular myth – and for some, a propaganda tool – to claim that opioid pain medication is a gateway drug to heroin and other street drugs.

An opioid education campaign called The Truth About Opioids – funded with taxpayer dollars from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy — declares in big bold letters on its website that “80% of heroin users started with a prescription painkiller.”

The 80% figure stems from a 2013 study that found four out of five new heroin users had previously abused prescription opioids by using them non-medically.

Importantly, the heroin users were not asked if they had a valid prescription for opioids or even where they got them – but that doesn’t stop federal agencies from citing the study as proof that illegal drug use often starts with a legal opioid prescription.

The Drug Enforcement Administration last year used the 80% figure to justify steep cuts in the supply of prescription opioids, claiming in the Federal Register that addicts often get hooked “after first obtaining these drugs from their health care providers.”

“The 80% statistic is misleading and encourages faulty assumptions about the overdose crisis and medical care,” Roger Chriss explained in a PNN column last year.

A new study by researchers at Penn State University debunks the myth that the opioid crisis was driven primarily by doctors’ prescriptions. The researchers conducted a series of surveys and in-depth interviews with opioid abusers in southwestern Pennsylvania -- a region hard hit by opioid addiction -- asking detailed questions about their drug use.

The study was small – 125 people were surveyed and 30 of them were interviewed – but the findings provide a an important new insight into the origins of opioid abuse and the role played by painkillers.

"What emerged from our study -- and really emerged because we decided to do these qualitative interviews in addition to a survey component -- was a pretty different narrative than the national one,” said lead author Ashton Verdery, PhD, an assistant professor of sociology, demography and social data analytics at Penn State. "There's a lot about that narrative that I think is an overly simplistic way of thinking about this."

‘Opioids Were Never the First Drug’

Verdery and his colleagues found that over two-thirds of those interviewed (66.7%) first abused a prescription opioid that was given, bought or stolen from a friend or family member. Another 7% purchased the drugs from a stranger or dealer. Only one in four (26%) started by abusing opioid medication that was prescribed to them by a doctor.

“We found that most people initiated through a pattern of recreational use because of people around them. They got them from either siblings, friends or romantic partners," said Verdery. “Participants repeatedly reported having a peer or caregiver in their childhood who had a substance use problem. Stories from childhood of witnessing one of these people selling, preparing, or using drugs were very common. Being exposed to others’ substance use at an early age was often cited as a turning point for OMI (opioid misuse) and of drug use in general.”

And prescription opioids were not the gateway drugs they are often portrayed to be. Polysubstance abuse was common and usually began with drugs such as alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, prescription sedatives and prescription stimulants.

“It is important to note that interviewees universally reported initiating OMI only after previously starting their substance use career with another drug (e.g., alcohol, marijuana, cocaine). Opioids were never the first drug used, suggesting that OMI is likely associated with being further along in one’s drug using career,” Verdery reported in the Journal of Addictive Studies.

Verdery says additional studies are needed on the origins of drug abuse and that researchers should focus on the role that other substances play in opioid addiction. Only then can proper steps be taken to prevent abuse and addiction before they start.

"We think that understanding this mechanism as a potential pathway is worth further consideration," said Verdery. "It's not just that people were prescribed painkillers from a doctor for a legitimate reason and, if we just crack down on the doctors who are prescribing in these borderline cases we can reduce the epidemic.”

Do Anti-Opioid Ads Hammer Home Wrong Message?

By Pat Anson, Editor

People who take opioid pain medication are often accused of bad behavior – such as stealing, selling and diverting their drugs. Or being lost in a haze of opioid addiction.

Now pain patients are being depicted as self-destructive maniacs so hopelessly hooked on opioids they'll do anything for their next high.

Four government-sponsored ads released this week by the White House feature young people who deliberately and violently injure themselves to get opioid medication.

All four ads are cringe worthy.

Kyle smashes his hand with a hammer.

Chris breaks his arm by slamming a door on it.

Joe breaks his back when he crawls underneath a car and lets it fall right on top of him.

“They gave me Vicodin after my knee surgery," says Amy in the 4th ad. "They kept prescribing it, so I kept taking it.  I didn’t know it would be this addictive. I didn’t know how far I’d go to get more."

Amy then unbuckles her seat belt and drives her car into a garbage dumpster.

“Opioid addiction can happen after just five days. Know the truth, spread the truth,” an announcer solemnly warns.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy partnered with the Ad Council and the Truth Initiative to launch “The Truth About Opioids” campaign. The four 30-second ads are based on real life stories.

“After testing 150 different messages, we are all excited to launch four hyper-realistic ads that show true stories — not fictionalized and not embellished — true stories of four young adults who took extreme measures to get more prescription pills in order to feed their addiction,” said White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.

“The goal is for other young adults to see these ads and ask themselves how they can prevent their lives and others’ lives from going down a similar path.  We hope these ads will spark conversation to educate teens and young adults to talk to their doctors about alternatives to opioids.”

The White House was vague about when and where the ads will run, and dodged questions about how much the campaign will cost taxpayers. Most of the productions costs and airtime are being donated by Facebook, YouTube, Google, NBCUniversal and other media partners.

Like the CDC’s recent Rx Awareness Campaign, the four commercials focus exclusively on opioid prescriptions, while ignoring the rising death toll taken by illicit fentanyl and heroin. It is also rare for anyone to become addicted to opioid medication after a few days, as the ads suggest.

A recent report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) warned that fentanyl and other black market opioids are now involved in more fatal overdoses than opioid medication. Drugs used to treat depression and anxiety are also linked to more deaths than painkillers. SAMHSA said that “widespread public health messaging is needed” about the rapidly changing nature of the overdose crisis.

Why then the continued focus on pain medication?  

“The fact is that the greatest amounts of misuse are happening among 18- to 24-year-olds.  Almost 6 million young people a year get prescribed opioids.  They are initiated into this.  And we know that most long-term heroin addiction starts among young people through a first experience with opioids.  So that is what we’re focusing on here because there is great need,” said Robin Koval, CEO and President of Truth Initiative.

But a recent study of high school heroin users found that most abuse a wide variety of substances – not just painkillers. Alcohol was the most common drug abused, followed by marijuana, ecstasy, LSD and other psychedelics, cocaine, amphetamines and tranquilizers. 

“The Truth About Opioids” campaign makes no mention of those other drugs.

"It may be inadequate to focus on heroin and opioid use in isolation,” said lead author Joseph Palamar, PhD, a  professor of population health at NYU School of Medicine. "A deeper understanding of how heroin users also currently use other drugs can help us to discern better prevention measures."