La vitalitĂŠ
EQUAL
OPP RTU N ITY
KILLER
With the opioid epidemic crossing every socioeconomic line ever drawn, an expert breaks down what families need to know. here was a time when teaching kids about drugs was fairly straightforward. Nancy Reagan gave very succinct advice: âJust say no.â But today, when youâre as likely to get hooked on a legally dispensed substance as you are on something exchanged in a back-alley deal, the war on drugs has taken a complex turn. The only simple aspect is the number of bodies piling up because of it.
Pharmacy and teaches at the University of Florida and Wingate University. Her lesson plans are a far cry from what she learned in lecture halls, however. âI was part of a generation of pharmacists and physicians that were told opioids werenât addictive if you were truly in pain,â she recalls.
And if you think opioids arenât in your neighborhood, then you probably donât know your neighbors very well.
That false information wasnât limited to one classroom or one university. It was the message of the day, spread far and wide in what she calls a perfect storm of genuine misunderstanding and incredible greed. The result was millions of medical professionals who didnât think twice about prescribing and filling prescriptions for drugs like hydrocodone and oxycodone.
Dr. Laura Happe, a pharmacist and expert in opioid addiction, understands the pervasiveness of the epidemic because itâs literally her lifeâs work. During her tenure as Humanaâs chief pharmacy officer, she led the national health planâs opiate task force. Currently, she edits the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty
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