For much of the past three decades, authorities have waged war against the importation and sale of illegal drugs. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on law enforcement and drug rehabilitation programs. Journalist Matthew Carney reveals that while illegal drugs remain a major problem, many experts believe the widespread use and abuse of legally prescribed opioid-based drugs could create a new and devastating drug epidemic across the suburbs of Australia. (publishers note: a very graphic description of patient behavior -- driven by the complexity of pain and its treatment options.) Two quotes:

"GPs have a lot of problems knowing what is safe, but also knowing when to say no, how to say no, or how to put limits and how to prescribe safely. This is one of the real reason why I’m keen to get up to Shepparton and have a talk with the doctors there, because we can swap ideas on how it could work and we can give them, if you like, some ideas on what is best way to practise and the safest way for them to practise."

"We haven’t in our medical schools and our medical training taught doctors to look for the clues and know how to tell the difference.

We haven't taught them well enough and we haven't provided them with support in terms of guidelines and recommendations. These are now coming and more and more guidelines are being developed."

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