Opioids and the Labor Market (2018)

If you haven&#x27;t seen it, this interesting report from NPR draws connections between changes in welfare programs that saw their rolls diminish, with a commensurate increase in the rolls of disability programs.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.npr.org&#x2F;unfit-for-work&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.npr.org&#x2F;unfit-for-work&#x2F;</a><p>This was published in 2013 and it has stuck with me since then. I feel like we can now draw the line further, into the opioid epidemic today.<p>It seems like we kicked people off welfare and their only option was disability, where they had legal access to opioids and an incentive to get and take them--to manage pain, yes, but also to embody their disabled status.<p>Did we cause our own crisis through bad policy choices?

The standard &quot;correlation does not equal causation&quot; rebuttal here might be &quot;how do you know that ppl who are unemployed aren&#x27;t just more likely to take more opioids?&quot; The authors have attempted to address such a rebuttal thusly: &quot;We also present evidence on reverse causality, finding that a short-term unemployment shock did not increase the share of people abusing prescription opioids.&quot;

So how does this study capture individuals like, say, myself who apparently industry has deemed &quot;unemployable&quot; due to past legal (all-substance related) &quot;transgressions&quot; but is desperate to work in the industry where he has a 25 year history?<p>I deal daily, now that I am mid-50&#x27;s, with deep bone-on-bone pain due to a badly torn ACL in high school, and have found that light-dose opioid treatment keeps my QOL at a reasonable level and let&#x27;s me live a pretty normal life.<p>Getting access to these medications is now basically impossible without a huge financial and emotional investment thru &quot;normal&quot; channels.<p>Have any of you ever felt the shame one feels when a 26yo pharmacist looks at you with semi-disguised disgust because you asked him to fill a opioid prescription? Or even worse, tell you that they are &quot;out&quot; of the medication and suggests you go to the other side of town to fill it?<p>And let&#x27;s not mention the incredible hassle and expense of trying to get said prescription nowadays...you can&#x27;t even mention the word opiate during your examination without risking being kicked out of the office or something of the like.<p>Does taking 30mg of a crappy synthetic opioid twice a day to relieve me of chronic pain really make me an unhireable junkie piece of shit? YES! shouts back society on a daily basis.<p>Because that is where we are nowadays...BTW, I work my ass off while on medication because it allows me to concentrate on my software and not on the never ending aching throb in my knee.<p>I&#x27;ve tried Tramadol and many other pain relief concoctions to various degrees of success, but I just don&#x27;t understand why I have to live with the trade off when what works for me works so much better then anything else.<p>So I choose to buy my opiates on the street...the natural type thank-you-very-much, and my life is much more pleasant, besides the fact no one will hire me due to my past, then it would otherwise be.

The talk about opioids always seems to forget the origin of the crisis : the war against Afghanistan taliban&#x27;s successful curbing of opium cultivation and trafficking. The big pharma and industrial interests and their political servants are not challenged about it till today.

I don&#x27;t have data, but I also believe video games are a major factor.

Just a counterpoint. I have taken prescription hydrocodone, for occasional use, for over ten years. I have been careful not to develop a tolerance. (because I want it to work when I need it.) It improves my quality of life. It&#x27;s just a tool. A useful tool, like JSON, and unlike XML. Use it when needed, and don&#x27;t use it when not needed. There are times I would have gone home from work, but sometimes even 1&#x2F;2 tablet can make a huge difference.<p>Maybe this is related and maybe not: I also do not drink alcohol and have never seen any reason why it would be appealing.