80 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MAY 2018
THE OPIOID CRISIS
ROAD TO RUIN
By EDEN LAIKIN
We asked three of the busiest
addiction doctors in Nassau County
how they thought we, as a society,
got here, to the deadliest health
crisis in American history. Agreed
upon is that both physicians and Big
Pharma played a role. Also clear is
that two historical happenings were
the driving force.
In 1996, the American Pain Society
said pain is the “5th vital sign” —
equally as important as the patient’s
pulse, even though there is no way
to measure its severity. In 2001, The
Joint Commission, which certifies
health care organizations in the US,
said pain was being undertreated.
It’s message to doctors and hospitals:
If a patient is in pain, you can be
sanctioned. Some clinicians, the
commission said, “have inaccurate
and exaggerated concerns about
addiction.”
Around the same time, Purdue
Pharma reformulated OxyContin
and began aggressively marketing
it to doctors, saying there was
no evidence that those who took
it would become addicted. Sales
soared. The company made billions.
PAINKILLER
PROLIFERATION
Dr. Russell Surasky, a Great Neck
neurologist who is board certified
in addiction medicine, said the Joint
Commission “couldn’t have been
more wrong.”
“What Purdue realized was that if
they could get doctors to prescribe
opiates not just for cancer-related
pain but rather for everyday aches
and pains, then their profits would
skyrocket,” Surasky says. “They
did this by creating a massive
fraudulent campaign in which they
downplayed the addiction risk of
OxyContin.”
“OxyContin then became the most
profitable pain medication ever
made,” he continues. “Purdue made
$32 billion from this one drug.
Addiction rates soared.”
Dr. Thomas Jan of Massapequa is
board certified in physical medicine
and subspecialty certified in pain
and addiction medicine. He traces
the origins of the epidemic to the
mid-1980s when an expert on
palliative care reported that people
on chronic opioid therapy were not
more likely to develop addiction.
Jan feels that everybody who takes
an opioid is at an increased risk of
developing addiction.
“Stating that being on chronic
opioid therapy does not bring
increased risk of addiction, is like
saying that one can stand in the
middle of a highway and not be at
an increased risk of getting hit by a
car,” Jan says.
“When health practitioners
acknowledge there is a danger, then
they can properly monitor and
protect the patient,” he says. “The
excuse that a doctor is doing the
wrong thing for the right reason no
longer holds weight.”
POINT OF NO RETURN
Dr. Stuart Wasser of Rockville
Centre, a certified addiction
specialist, says the problem stems
from primary care doctors not
knowing how to treat chronic pain.
“In a way, they approached it as
acute pain lasting a long time, rather
than a different physiology — one
almost identical to that of chronic
addiction,” he says. “They did not
know that opioids worsen chronic
pain and other symptoms such as
depression. So initial opioid use
resulted in more and more opioid
use.
“By the time we learned what we
were dealing with, most doctors
were scared out of the field, leaving
patients with few knowledgeable,
responsible professionals to help
them,” he adds, “and the DEA
was more interested in punishing
doctors than retraining them.”
Dr. Edmond Hakimi, an executive
board member of Long Island
Recovery Association, says that
the above-mentioned philosophies
oversaturated our communities
with opioid pain medications.
“A few years ago, when we realized
that this had become a problem,
some states started to tighten down
on opioid prescribing and doctor
shopping,” he says. “This caused
those already dependent or addicted
to opioids to turn to what was cheap
and readily available: Heroin.”
Dr. Surasky believes there is hope.
He says: “We have new, phenomenal
treatments, which along with
counseling, can help reverse the
brain changes that addiction causes
and save lives.”
DRUG REHAB
RESOURCES
Long Island Council on
Alcoholism & Drug Dependence
1025 Old Country Rd Suite 221,
Westbury. 516-747-2606, licadd.org.
Nassau University Medical Center
2201 Hempstead Tpke., East
Meadow. Detox: 516-572-6394.
Rehab: 516-572-9402.
Pheonix House
Multiple locations. 1-844-353-5798,
phoenixhouse.org.
South Oaks Hospital
400 Sunrise Hwy, Amityville,
631-608-5610, south-oaks.org.