But there is new evidence that the curt research “letter” published in 1980 in one of the world’s most prominent medical journals has played a remarkable role in stoking North America’s deadly prescription-opioid crisis. The blurb in the New England Journal of Medicine stated unambiguously that patients hardly ever become addicted to narcotic painkillers. That would be highly unusual for a full-blown research paper and “unthinkable” for a letter, say the authors from Toronto’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. But just last year, a Korean study referenced the letter in touting use of the powerful opioid Fentanyl for chronic pain. The journal found the one-paragraph study’s conclusions “persuasive,” and evidence that patients can take opioids over the long term without getting addicted.

Source: National Post May 31, 2017 21:00 UTC