i can’t believe i actually have to point this out but here we go:
correlation does not entail causation.
the research showed that people who used other categories of drugs were more likely to abuse prescription pain medication than people who didn’t.
the research did not in any way identify factors “affecting” prescription pain reliever misuse.
when something “affects” another thing, there is a causal relationship between the two things. not here. just people more likely to use various drugs being more likely to use another drug than people who don’t use various drugs.
and is that in any way a surprise?
is it meaningful? sure, we’re trying to make prescription pain medication abuse seem like a super awful thing by linking it to heroin and other substances made by Satan’s little helpers. but i’d bet that we’d find that people who use alcohol and smoke cigarettes are more likely to use all of the illegal drugs mentioned and to misuse prescription pain killers.
but that kinda makes things seem too normal. too many people like a few drinks or smoke tobacco. we don’t want to link those people – maybe even YOU! – to heroin and oxycontin snorters. so let’s ignore that association and just reinforce the hardline position that prescription pain killers are like heroin and cocaine and doctors should be super strict about giving prescriptions for them.
which is a problem. because it’s the thoughtful and concerned doctors who are going to be more reluctant to give them to patients who really need them, in a reasonable amount. those people will either be in pain, or they’ll go to another doctor. they may find that no careful doctor will help them and end up with a doctor who doesn’t care, and gives out much more than they need.
so maybe the patient starts to think they need as much as they’ve been prescribed, and that starts someone on the path to addiction. or they have so many that they don’t notice when their kids and friends grab some.
and now, for the wrongheaded effort to curtail a problem, we’ve made it worse.
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i can’t believe i actually have to point this out but here we go:
correlation does not entail causation.
the research showed that people who used other categories of drugs were more likely to abuse prescription pain medication than people who didn’t.
the research did not in any way identify factors “affecting” prescription pain reliever misuse.
when something “affects” another thing, there is a causal relationship between the two things. not here. just people more likely to use various drugs being more likely to use another drug than people who don’t use various drugs.
and is that in any way a surprise?
is it meaningful? sure, we’re trying to make prescription pain medication abuse seem like a super awful thing by linking it to heroin and other substances made by Satan’s little helpers. but i’d bet that we’d find that people who use alcohol and smoke cigarettes are more likely to use all of the illegal drugs mentioned and to misuse prescription pain killers.
but that kinda makes things seem too normal. too many people like a few drinks or smoke tobacco. we don’t want to link those people – maybe even YOU! – to heroin and oxycontin snorters. so let’s ignore that association and just reinforce the hardline position that prescription pain killers are like heroin and cocaine and doctors should be super strict about giving prescriptions for them.
which is a problem. because it’s the thoughtful and concerned doctors who are going to be more reluctant to give them to patients who really need them, in a reasonable amount. those people will either be in pain, or they’ll go to another doctor. they may find that no careful doctor will help them and end up with a doctor who doesn’t care, and gives out much more than they need.
so maybe the patient starts to think they need as much as they’ve been prescribed, and that starts someone on the path to addiction. or they have so many that they don’t notice when their kids and friends grab some.
and now, for the wrongheaded effort to curtail a problem, we’ve made it worse.