Opioids Threaten to Mess Up Europe, Too
Though Europe as a whole has no painkiller epidemic, specific countries may be in danger of developing one.
Can Europe avoid the addiction?
Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images
As drugmakers are being held responsible for fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic, it might look at though they have nothing to fear in Europe, where, it’s often assumed, opioid misuse isn’t so rampant. The European Union, though, should take a closer look at the data and make its own move against the irresponsible marketing of opioid painkillers.
In its 2019 report, the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, an EU institution, said with some pride that Europe has averted the kind of public health disaster opioids have wreaked on the U.S. by introducing “pragmatic harm reduction and treatment measures.” It’s more likely, however, that the EU is failing to collect and thoroughly analyze the same kind of data that provide U.S. observers with a clear picture of the epidemic.