Sentences to ponder

~ Jason Schwartz

“I had a doctor who I greatly respect who said, ‘We thought the great problem with these drugs [opioids] is addiction. What we didn’t realize [was] that the people who take them would opt out of life.’ And you see it across the spectrum: One of the more startling things is in the area of workplace injuries; things like back strains are very common problems. But what folks have discovered is the more patients — workers — who are treated with these drugs for back strain, the longer and longer and longer they stay away from work. In fact, we’ve kind of created a legion of chronically unemployed people who are dependent on these drugs.”

Barry Meier on Fresh Air

Published by Jason Schwartz

I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I no longer work at Dawn Farm and am now the Director of Behavioral Medicine at a community hospital, and a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work. Views expressed here are my own. Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.