In late August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quietly unveiled a new “Overdose Prevention Framework” to address the decades-long opioid epidemic. Interestingly, the agency outlined policies that support innovation and promote harm reduction. Alarmingly, this is the same agency that houses the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) that is actively blocking access to tobacco harm reduction. This hypocrisy in approaching harm reduction must change.
In truth, the FDA’s role in the opioid epidemic ought to be examined closer by policymakers as there is evidence that the FDA’s role in approving and allowing companies to market new opioids led to a surge of prescription pill abuse, or at least the first wave of the epidemic. Further, the FDA also ignored warnings from other federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), that were alarmed by the increases in prescription drug abuse.
townhall.com/columnists/lindseystroud/2022/09/28/the-fdas-harm-reduction-hypocrisy-n2613670