¿Por qué son tan adictivos los opioides y el fentanilo? ¿Cómo se explica que en EE.UU. hayan muerto casi un millón de personas adictas a esas drogas?

·26 min·2 clips

Dr. Elmer Huerta reveals how nearly a million people have died from opioid addiction in the U.S. since 1999.

Dr. Elmer Huerta introduces the episode by stating the topic: the addictiveness of opioids and fentanyl, and the nearly one million deaths in the U.S. since 1999. He begins with the history of opium, a natural latex used since antiquity for pain relief, and its alkaloids like morphine and codeine. The development of synthetic derivatives in the late 19th century, including heroin by Bayer, is explained. Huerta describes the effects of opioids, such as euphoria and respiratory depression, and their addictive nature due to brain reward activation. He then shifts to explain the epidemic's origins, starting with a 1980 letter in the New England Journal of Medicine that minimized addiction risk in hospitalized patients. This led doctors to lose fear of prescribing narcotics. In 1996, Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin, aggressively marketing it as non-addictive, which increased prescriptions dramatically. Huerta outlines a 'perfect storm' of factors: the Joint Commission's 2001 initiative to treat pain as a fifth vital sign, patient satisfaction surveys, and cheap heroin and synthetic opioids from traffickers. This alignment caused widespread addiction and deaths. When addicts couldn't get prescriptions, they turned to street drugs, often laced with fentanyl. Huerta notes that 80% of addicts started with prescription opioids like oxycodone. The episode details fentanyl's potency, being 100 times stronger than morphine, and its cheap, easy production. Currently, drug traffickers contaminate street pills with fentanyl, with DEA analysis showing 99% contamination. Huerta concludes by emphasizing the human-caused tragedy involving medical societies, corrupt doctors, pharmaceutical greed, and traffickers. The episode includes segments on human body marvels (the macula) and a Q&A on rectal bleeding.

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