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The United States of Opioids: A Prescription For Liberating A Nation In Pain
The United States of Opioids explains both how the opioid crisis evolved as a slow-motion mass casualty event and why it continues to break through every worst-case analysis, becoming the leading killer of people under fifty.
Harry Nelson offers a comprehensive perspective of the unaddressed points of health system failure, including a firsthand account of the impossible position facing doctors and the social conditions and deficits of our health system that provided fertile soil for the opioid crisis to grow. He shares how the untold history of America’s original opioid crisis in the early twentieth century set the stage for our broken approach to pain and addiction medicine.
His book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the most fundamental challenges facing this country.
Harry Nelson offers a comprehensive perspective of the unaddressed points of health system failure, including a firsthand account of the impossible position facing doctors and the social conditions and deficits of our health system that provided fertile soil for the opioid crisis to grow. He shares how the untold history of America’s original opioid crisis in the early twentieth century set the stage for our broken approach to pain and addiction medicine.
His book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the most fundamental challenges facing this country.
398 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 2019
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99 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 28, 2019
I received an e-copy of this book from Onlinebookclub.org in exchange for an honest review.
The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain gives a history of the opioid epidemic beginning in the '90's while talking about major causes and impacts. The book is broken down into sections that explain why opioids are so addicting, why people seek them out, how so many people got access to opioids, and how the opioid access turned into a crisis.It attempts to tackle a big topic in a relatively short book. I was expecting more anecdotes and stories from addicts, but there are only a few shared here.
This book is educational and accessible. Though this is a difficult topic to read about I found myself able to understand the information being presented. I also learned helpful information like the difference between an opioid and an opiate.
However, the writing didn't particularly mesh for me. Nelson included a lot of filler statements like 'in my experience', 'I think', and 'I've found' I could have done without. The author also focused a lot on his experiences and his thoughts when I would have liked to hear from other experts and more people directly experiencing the crisis.
There were some suggestions of solutions near the end, but I found some of the evaluation of what caused the crisis and some of the solutions to be a bit simplistic.
Overall it is an interesting book about a heavy topic.
The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain gives a history of the opioid epidemic beginning in the '90's while talking about major causes and impacts. The book is broken down into sections that explain why opioids are so addicting, why people seek them out, how so many people got access to opioids, and how the opioid access turned into a crisis.It attempts to tackle a big topic in a relatively short book. I was expecting more anecdotes and stories from addicts, but there are only a few shared here.
This book is educational and accessible. Though this is a difficult topic to read about I found myself able to understand the information being presented. I also learned helpful information like the difference between an opioid and an opiate.
However, the writing didn't particularly mesh for me. Nelson included a lot of filler statements like 'in my experience', 'I think', and 'I've found' I could have done without. The author also focused a lot on his experiences and his thoughts when I would have liked to hear from other experts and more people directly experiencing the crisis.
There were some suggestions of solutions near the end, but I found some of the evaluation of what caused the crisis and some of the solutions to be a bit simplistic.
Overall it is an interesting book about a heavy topic.
October 22, 2019
Excellent, not only in describing the problem, hoe we got there and why we’re still there, but concrete suggestions for getting out of there, excellent!
June 4, 2023
Great read. Informative.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews