A few words about the 2005 WA State L&I opioid study - upon which the 2016 CDC Opioid RX guidelines were launched. This study was limited to a very specific group of people injured on the job in WA (as opposed to those with chronic or progressive illness). #cdcowgchat #cdcGov 1/8
There were 32 "definitely, probably" opioid-related deaths from 1996-2002 in WA, & 12 more 'possibly' or avg 7 deaths/yr. 85% were men. 69% were smokers. 8 of the deaths included illicit drugs (meth, cocaine, heroin). 5 more alcohol. In other words: Polypharma drug toxicity. 2/8
Only 14 of these workers received Sched 2-4 opioids within 3 months of death. From where did these other 30 workers obtain opioids later? Were any of them screened for a history of non-medical use prior to treatment? Previous non-fatal overdose? Mental health issues? 3/8
The data was cherry-picked (by a PROP board member) and extrapolated to sell a specific agenda: RX opioids cause overdoses in patients for whom they are prescribed. And the CDC bought it. Because guess who was in the Core Expert Group for the 2016 Opioid RX guidelines? 4/8
Why, the lead author of this WA State L&I study & VP of PROP, the country's biggest anti-opioid zealotry group. That's right: Same person who cherry-picked this data then helped to author the CDC Opioid RX guidelines which have harmed so many. Guess what he is up to now? 5/8
He's working on his 5th opioid RX guideline in WA; creating opioid prescribing/deprescribing guidelines for senior citizens in Washington state, actually. Better hope that your parents or grandparents won't be needing pain relief here any time soon. (See: Bree Collaborative) 6/8
Should we be concerned that PROP is setting RX policy? Almost certainly. And I posit that behaviors from people w/acute injuries on the job w/no risk screening is NOT an accurate predictor of behaviors among chronic pain patients who are reg. screened for addiction risk. 7/8
Using this VERY limited data set to launch the PROP war on RX opioids was bad science. And now here we are. I'm no research scientist nor am I a data wrangler; see for yourself. Here's the original 2005 study. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. 8/8 doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Docu…
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