US attack on WHO 'hindering morphine drive in poor countries' | Hacker News Reader

US attack on WHO 'hindering morphine drive in poor countries'

theguardian.com

1 pointcf141q53254 comments

>Prof Felicia Knaul of the University of Miami, chair of a recent Lancet commission on palliative care, said the Congress members’ report was not evidence-based. “Actions that are not based in evidence will do harm,” she said.

>The stakes were high, she said. “I believe that policies that work to deny access to necessary pain relief medication in low- and middle-income countries because of the situation in the United States are akin to denying food to people suffering from malnutrition because there is an obesity epidemic in the United States.

>“More than 60 million people every year require pain relief and palliative care and we know that more than 80% get virtually nothing. The vast majority of those individuals live in low- and middle-income countries. I consider it despicable from an ethical point of view and completely antithetical to the goals of global health and sustainable development to have children and adults living and dying in extreme pain when we have very inexpensive safe medications that we could offer them. Poor policies in the United States are not an excuse for allowing that to continue to happen.”

They always start by talking about end-of-life care (and they're right, people at end of life need unfettered access to pain medication), but they're not really talking about end of life care.

They're talking about using opioids for all types of pain, in all people with pain.

> Guidelines on the Pharmacological Treatment of Persisting Pain in Children with Medical Illnesses

"Persisting pain" is not palliative care. It's chronic conditions. These are echoes of drug company propaganda and we need to be vigilant to tackle it.

Except that most people around the globe cant afford the non opioid alternatives. You know the alternatives big pharma is making billions off. Of the 60 million pain patients worldwide 80% get nothing because the US doesnt like when people get high on opiates. I didnt think that i needed to repeat that, but these people are suffering because of the crusade fundamentalists in the US started. The absolute disregard for fellow human beings is absolutely breathtaking.

These people are suffering and dont need to, morphin is cheap enough that any nation can afford it. There is no patent, no big pharma, only fields of poppies. I see no difference to people torturing these millions themselves.

Its a war on the poor. Its colonialism in its ugliest form. Maybe you should reflect for a second on what your inconsiderate US centrist lobbying is doing to the rest of the world.

For 80% of the worlds pain patients the reality is this

https://youtu.be/QOmEQGvgq4A?t=74

Its people slowly perishing in screams of agony. Its monstrous. People are so far detached from the consequences of their actions that they dont waste a second thought about quite literally torturing people to death.

Again, opioids should be used for end of life treatment, but opioids are a poor choice for many people with long term pain.

Opioids do not work for many people living with long term pain.

Those people deserve treatment for their pain that is effective. For many of them opioids are a bad choice.

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