Summary from the Throughline Website
"A record number of Americans have died from opioid overdoses in recent years. But how did we get here? And is this the first time Americans have faced this crisis? The short answer: no"
Essential Question of Podcast
"How did we get into this mess? Where does this crisis actually begin? And how does it fit into America's longer history with opioids?"
TIMELINE OUTLINE
Early 1800s: Finding of morphine (isolation of alkaloid from poppy plant)
1861: Start of Civil War, introduction of morphine in medical field
1868: stating to suspect that morphine is potentially dangerous
1884: first attempt to take control of the epidemic and worn the public of the dangers
Late 19th century: morphine addiction, soldier's disease (most common in woman (lower pain tolerance and uterine pain)
20th Century: tens of thousands of Americans addicted to narcotics like morphine, dying of overdoses
Early 1900s: introduction of heroin to unhook people from morphine, a "safe alternative, the hero to end the morphine crisis" a "non-addictive wonder drug", marketing to children
1906: heroin can be bought as an over the counter drug
Early 1900s: "The Heroin Habit: Another Curse"
1914: government steps in, Harrison Act was passed, tax on morphine and heroin, forced doctors to register drugs with government, prevention of over-prescribing, awareness of opioid dangers, "criminalized something that was formerly was not thought to be a crime" a medical problem not a criminal one
Following years: moved both drugs into the "fringes of the underworld"
1920: banning of alcohol throughout the country, organized crime began to grow (import and smuggling) heroin turned into a "street drug"
1924: government outlawed heroin, completely illegal even for medical, pushing it further underground
1940s: WWII coming to an end, flood of opioids into the black market, illicit networks going through big cities changing the "look" of the average opioid addict
1950s: addiction of narcotics mainly a matter of drug trafficking and smuggling then distribution
1951: congress passes the first "mandatory minimum sentence for drug use" known as the Boggs Act
1950s: advertisement of newer drugs, selling to doctors to prescribe, Purdue Frederick,
"The pharmaceutical industry tried to introduce new blockbuster opioids every few years for the next 70 years, but these kinds of campaigns were never allowed to come to fruition. There was a very fierce counterattack against any idea that there could be such a thing as a non-addictive opioid."
1995: FDA approved Oxycontin as safer than other similar drugs on the market
1996: Oxycontin was released (hillbilly heroin)
2007: Oxycontin was found to be addictive, people of all ages addicted and dying, lead to heroin use
Present: over 1000 lawsuits against Oxycontin release pharmacy, Purdue
1861: Start of Civil War, introduction of morphine in medical field
1868: stating to suspect that morphine is potentially dangerous
1884: first attempt to take control of the epidemic and worn the public of the dangers
Late 19th century: morphine addiction, soldier's disease (most common in woman (lower pain tolerance and uterine pain)
20th Century: tens of thousands of Americans addicted to narcotics like morphine, dying of overdoses
Early 1900s: introduction of heroin to unhook people from morphine, a "safe alternative, the hero to end the morphine crisis" a "non-addictive wonder drug", marketing to children
1906: heroin can be bought as an over the counter drug
Early 1900s: "The Heroin Habit: Another Curse"
1914: government steps in, Harrison Act was passed, tax on morphine and heroin, forced doctors to register drugs with government, prevention of over-prescribing, awareness of opioid dangers, "criminalized something that was formerly was not thought to be a crime" a medical problem not a criminal one
Following years: moved both drugs into the "fringes of the underworld"
1920: banning of alcohol throughout the country, organized crime began to grow (import and smuggling) heroin turned into a "street drug"
1924: government outlawed heroin, completely illegal even for medical, pushing it further underground
1940s: WWII coming to an end, flood of opioids into the black market, illicit networks going through big cities changing the "look" of the average opioid addict
1950s: addiction of narcotics mainly a matter of drug trafficking and smuggling then distribution
1951: congress passes the first "mandatory minimum sentence for drug use" known as the Boggs Act
1950s: advertisement of newer drugs, selling to doctors to prescribe, Purdue Frederick,
"The pharmaceutical industry tried to introduce new blockbuster opioids every few years for the next 70 years, but these kinds of campaigns were never allowed to come to fruition. There was a very fierce counterattack against any idea that there could be such a thing as a non-addictive opioid."
1995: FDA approved Oxycontin as safer than other similar drugs on the market
1996: Oxycontin was released (hillbilly heroin)
2007: Oxycontin was found to be addictive, people of all ages addicted and dying, lead to heroin use
Present: over 1000 lawsuits against Oxycontin release pharmacy, Purdue
Big Idea of Podcast
"I sort of feel like we've been grappling with a version of this problem going all the way back to the Civil War. I mean, sure, it's become this sophisticated system now. But the struggle to figure out what to do with new, better drugs for treating pain and how to deal with their unintended consequences - like, that's not new. Then and now, it raises the same questions. How do we know what pain to live with and what pain to treat? And what are the social costs of continuing to address pain with innovative but potentially addictive drugs?"