As a nation, we have watched the rise and fall of numerous medications. The most ignominious of the “fallen” drugs, opioids, are a glaring example of the damage of inadequately tested pharmaceuticals. Now Utah, while billboarding the devastation of the “opioid crisis,” is running headlong into a similar scenario in its “medical marijuana initiative.”
The rise of opioids as the treatment option for pain began as a public response to a tiny conglomerate of professional and lay voices, not based on scientific evidence, but in an effort to improve lives. Steven Passik, a psychologist proponent, said: “It had all the makings of a religious movement.