EP 87: A Different Take on Opioids and Overdoses with Dr. Jeffrey Singer

We've seen a tragic record of over 100,000 overdoses in the US last year. The common narrative is that overzealous marketing by pharmaceutical companies and overprescribing of opioids by medical professionals created a new wave of individuals addicted to pills that then turned to heroin when the pill supply dried up. However, according to SAMHSA's data, rates of addiction in the general population didn't change at all. So, while overdoses have skyrocketed, the percentage of the population struggling with addiction has not, meaning that the data doesn't exactly match the common narrative. Dr. Singer is a physician and owner of a group surgical practice who has also become a Senior Fellow at The CATO Institute, advising on opioids, drug policy, and other topics. In this interview, he walks us through a lot of the data from SAMHSA, NIH, and other research to help us take another look at what's happening in our country around drug use and overdoses. It's an episode you won't want to miss.