Listen: Inexpensive Nerve Drug Often Abused As Opioid Epidemic Grows

( function() {
var func = function() {
var iframe = document.getElementById(‘wpcom-iframe-0249d63306997dcf8cce021eda1e7c1d-7618883-121704370’)
if ( iframe ) {
iframe.onload = function() {
iframe.contentWindow.postMessage( {
‘msg_type’: ‘poll_size’,
‘frame_id’: ‘wpcom-iframe-0249d63306997dcf8cce021eda1e7c1d-7618883-121704370’
}, “https://embeds.kff.org” );
}
}

// Autosize iframe
var funcSizeResponse = function( e ) {

var origin = document.createElement( ‘a’ );
origin.href = e.origin;

// Verify message origin
if ( ’embeds.kff.org’ !== origin.host )
return;

// Verify message is in a format we expect
if ( ‘object’ !== typeof e.data || undefined === e.data.msg_type )
return;

switch ( e.data.msg_type ) {
case ‘poll_size:response’:
var iframe = document.getElementById( e.data._request.frame_id );

if ( iframe && ” === iframe.width )
iframe.width = ‘100%’;
if ( iframe && ” === iframe.height )
iframe.height = parseInt( e.data.height );

return;
default:
return;
}
}

if ( ‘function’ === typeof window.addEventListener ) {
window.addEventListener( ‘message’, funcSizeResponse, false );
} else if ( ‘function’ === typeof window.attachEvent ) {
window.attachEvent( ‘onmessage’, funcSizeResponse );
}
}
if (document.readyState === ‘complete’) { func.apply(); /* compat for infinite scroll */ }
else if ( document.addEventListener ) { document.addEventListener( ‘DOMContentLoaded’, func, false ); }
else if ( document.attachEvent ) { document.attachEvent( ‘onreadystatechange’, func ); }
} )();

Kaiser Health News reporter Carmen Heredia Rodriguez joins the host of “On Point,” Anthony Brooks, to discuss public health officials’ concerns about the increasing use of the drug gabapentin by people addicted to opioids. Gabapentin is not an opioid, and it is approved to treat patients with nerve pain or epilepsy. However, some people are illicitly buying the drug and abusing it to enhance their opioid highs or stave off withdrawal from other drugs.

Heredia Rodriguez wrote about the problem in an earlier story on KHN.

The “On Point” discussion about the drug (cue it up at 39:22) follows a discussion on the show about proposals for a single-payer health system.

“On Point” is produced by WBUR in Boston and distributed by NPR.