Two weeks ago, my piece, “Cannabinoids are medicine, but patients aren’t getting the care they need,” was published. Since that time, I’ve heard from quite a few physicians who admitted that they did not know card-mills existed or, if they …
Category: Medications
My Klonopin withdrawal story
It was September 11, 2001. My dad had cheated on my mom again, the building that I worked in at that time had received an anonymous tip that we were a potential target for the terrorist attacks, and my mom, who needed a reprieve from my dad’s crap, was…
As COVID worsens, don’t forget about the opioid crisis
For the past seven months, an epidemic in our country has spiraled out of control, claiming thousands of lives that could have been saved. It has been met by an inadequate, meandering national response that has often lacked urgency. It has disrupted fa…
How can we improve the quality of medications?
Do you know what it’s like to sit in a meeting and learn that something you hold close as a fundamental principle is probably not as fundamentally true as you thought? That’s the way I felt earlier this week while attending a meeting on the quality of …
Many medical marijuana program websites are silent about possible risks [PODCAST]
“There are roughly 221 million people — including 48 million kids — in states where marijuana has been named a medicine. These include patients who suffer from depression and could see their symptoms worsen. Mothers who could give birth to babies…
Why is the government so scared of directly negotiating drug prices?
President Trump recently signed two executive orders directly related to prescription drug prices in the U.S. One order would allow the “reimportation” of prescription drugs from Canada. This longstanding idea would allow U.S. pharmacies an…
Many medical marijuana program websites are silent about possible risks
Click through North Dakota’s Division of Medical Marijuana website, past the addresses of every cannabis dispensary in the state, into the presentations and annual reports, and you’ll eventually come to a 32-slide presentation about the sta…
Patients in Sweden received fewer post-op opioids. Why is that?
When I was in Sweden, I heard this phrase several times: “There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad preparation.” They said this when we asked them what they did with their children in dead of winter. The proud parents made it very clear that no …
It is unethical for the United States to send hydroxychloroquine to Brazil
Much controversy surrounds whether or not hydroxychloroquine is effective in preventing or treating infection with COVID-19. While much of the data so far suggests that hydroxychloroquine is not effective at treating COVID-19, and perhaps that it might…
Are there reasons to doubt remdesivir?
On April 29th Anthony Fauci announced the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an institute he runs, had completed a study of the antiviral remdesivir for COVID-19. The drug reduced time to recovery from 15 to 11 days, he said, a brea…
