Opioid Use Explains 20% of Drop in American Men From Labor Force

[Sunlei]

“The opioid crisis and depressed labor-force participation are now intertwined in many parts of the U.S.,” Krueger, who was chief economist at the Treasury Department in the Obama administration, wrote in the study released Thursday at a Brookings Institution conference in Washington.

Krueger’s study linked county prescription rates to labor force data from the past 15 years, concluding that regional differences in prescription rates were due to variations in medical practices, not health conditions. In previous research, he found that nearly half of men in their prime worker ages not in the labor force take prescription painkillers daily.


Krueger’s study echoes previous research that attributes most of the decline in labor force participation since the early 2000s to an aging population and young people choosing school over work. The opioid crisis is exacerbating the problem, Krueger wrote.Economists have begun to pay more attention to the spread of prescription painkillers and their link to the historically low portion of prime-age people working. The unemployed are more likely to misuse painkillers, according to test Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration data, and some end up committing crimes stemming from their addiction that dim their employment outlooks.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-07/opioid-use-explains-20-of-drop-in-american-men-from-labor-force

“I do think it is related to declining labor-force participation among prime-age workers,” Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said in a July Senate hearing when asked about the crisis. “I don’t know if it’s causal or if it’s a symptom of long-running economic maladies that have affected these communities and particularly affected workers who have seen their job opportunities decline.”

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Failed Pee Tests.

[CloudsInMyCoffee]

2. I got addicted to Hydrocodone post surgery

Let me tell you all something, it's evil stuff. I got addicted to it while in the hospital and recovering from my surgery. It was used obviously as a pain killer and the withdraws are unlike anything I've ever experienced in my life. The constant shakes, the anxiety, the inability to control your muscles.....EVIL.

The opiod crisis is something we all should be working towards curing. I know this is a bipartisan issue and I really hope that we can come together and solve it. People are dying and drug companies are directly responsible for what is taking place.

[Sunlei]

4. It is rough addiction. I've known some people who go involved with that stuff. People need help.

IMO the Drug Corporations should fund Americans medical treatment/care for this Opiod problem. They knew how much they sold and how addictive this drug is.

Even the immodium Corp profits off of Americas addiction problem. They sell 500!! dose bottles of over the counter diarrhea medicine to 'help' a little with the cramping.

[CloudsInMyCoffee]

5. It's nuts

Did you catch the town hall Bernie had in Virginia in the town where more people have died from opioid overdoses than in any other city in America? That was some very powerful stuff.......
It's heart breaking.

[Lint Head]

3. There is no minor pain of arthritis as some ads say.

I have yet to see a survey that identifies people who are in pain with the only thing that will help them is hydrocodone. These people generally have kidney problems and cannot take anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen etc.
I fall into that category. There are days my pain is so bad I can do nothing. It's tough. Not looking for sympathy, just afraid the people who really need a painkiller because of real pain not because of mental issues or addiction will be left out in the cold.
That's the main reason marijuana should be legalized.

[Lucinda]

12. I have osteoarthritis in both hips. I switched from hydros to oxys and saw a big improvement

The hydros made my legs feel like they were filled with concrete and also effected my mood a lot.

For what it's worth - Nutiva makes a Hemp Seed Oil that is amazingly helpful with arthritis pain. I buy it at Amazon and massage it in. I usually crawl in bed for a little while and let it do it's thing. It can greatly ease my pain for a few hours. Also oddly enough, extra virgin coconut oil will also pull inflammatory pain...

[JoeStuckInOH]

6. There's two sides the coin though... effective medication MUST be available to all who need it.

Which, in the world of the DEA/FDA/DHS usually means we have to loosen restrictions.

But if legitimate access to pain medications is increased, then access for illegitimate uses also increases. It's exceedingly difficult to allow adequate access to pain meds for legitimate users and legitimate prescribers, but then also prevent those people from either abusing it themselves or giving it to unauthorized persons.

The only real way to do that without overly restricting supply even for legitimate uses becomes stiff penalties for abusers and that just leads us to the incarceration problems we currently face.



It's a tough problem to solve.

[Sunlei]

8. That's why people turn to heroin & that (highly concentrated) fentanyl- its MUCH cheaper then RX.

I don't know about the prescription prices for RX opioids but I bet they're expensive script & VERY high profit for drug corporations.

The street 'price' is much, much higher for the prescription pills then it is for heroin.

[Lee-Lee]

7. Yep. It's bad. We have trouble recruiting and keeping long term employees

Because it's so bad.

I'm talking about people applying for jobs that start at 150-200% the average wage of the county and people that have been there many years and who are making well 2-3x the average wage for the area.

When an addiction has such a hold on you that you can't even stay off it long enough for a life-changing chance at a job, or you can't kick it knowing it's going to ruin your life- it's bad stuff.

[Sunlei]

9. tell me please. cannabis stays in peoples systems for days/weeks.

does your company refuse to hire a positive test for only marijuana?

[Lee-Lee]

10. Yes

And before anyone goes on a rant about how wrong that is, their hands are tied in two ways.

First, it's a facility with federal contacts that requires security clearances for many and stringent background checks for the rest, and that is in the guidelines. No wiggle room on it. They have to do ore-employneby and ongoing screening.

Second, as an industrial facility the insurance underwriters also want to see a drug testing program and if the company retained those testing for Marijuana, if they even could, insurance rates would rise.

Edit to add- all that said, we don't have many issues with THC showing up on screens. It's almost all opiates.

[TeamPooka]

11. Most drugs are expelled by the body ASAP as the toxic invaders they are. THC stays because your

body wants it to stay.
It has properties that are healthy and helpful to the system.
It just doesn't help you get/keep a job.