Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds blames immigrants for increasing opioid overdoses. But what about the bureaucrats?

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Yet another study shows that the crackdown on pain relievers by doctors and federal bureaucrats is contributing to America’s overdose crisis. Iowa’s opioid strategy could backfire.

Governor Kim Reynolds at a press conference promoting National Prescription Drug Recovery Day 2019 (Rod Boshart / Des Moines Gazette Office)

Government leaders in Iowa and elsewhere are trying to determine the causes of the increase in drug overdose deaths. Theyre overlooking an important one.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has repeatedly suggested that restrictions linked to the pandemic were the cause of overdoses and other deaths from desperation. Recently, she has also blamed the rise in illegal immigrants bringing drugs across the US-Mexico border.

Both could be factors, but they don’t address the full extent of the problem. Coincidentally, blaming lockdowns and immigrants aligns with governors’ pre-existing political values, it favors lax COVID restrictions and strict immigration restrictions.

Asked at a recent press conference about what the state is doing, Reynolds mentioned two laws she signed in 2018.

A study published last week in a major journal once again highlights the factor that politicians generally ignore the crackdown on prescription pain relievers in the healthcare system.

Long-term opioid patients with reduced doses are significantly more likely to have an overdose or mental health crisis, according to the study conducted by California researchers and published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association. than patients whose doses were maintained.

Previous studies have shown that stopping opioid prescriptions outright may be associated with risks such as suicidal ideation and switching to illicit opioids. The new paper is one of the first large-scale studies examining these risks for the simple decrease in opioids, which involves a 15 percent or more reduction in the daily dose.

Federal and state governments have spent several years pressuring health care providers to limit opioid prescriptions on the grounds that pain relievers are the root of the opioid overdose crisis. More and more, it seems that these restrictive policies and guidelines are backfiring.

Iowa reported 419 drug overdose deaths in 2020, a 20% increase from the previous year. Relatively few overdose deaths in Iowa and the country are attributed to commonly prescribed prescriptions. Instead, illicitly manufactured synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are by far the most common in overdoses.

The American Medical Association issued a statement in July urging the federal government to revise the 2016 arbitrary guidelines that were part of a double-digit decrease in opioid prescriptions.

Aside from avoiding coronavirus restrictions and sending police to the southern border (where they confiscated more marijuana than hard drugs, by the way), Iowa doesn’t seem to have a strategy for doing so. in the face of the recent increase in drug-related deaths.

Asked at a recent press conference about what the state is doing, Reynolds mentioned two laws she signed in 2018.

In the past two legislative sessions, we have taken significant steps to address opioid issues, the drug watch program, electronic prescriptions, to name a few, the good Samaritan law that we have establishment. We are continually re-evaluating what we need to do to tackle drug addiction in general, Reynolds said.

Good Samaritan law offering limited legal protection to people who report overdoses is worth it, although the Iowas is much weaker than what harm reduction advocates. The prescription monitoring program requiring providers to document opioid prescriptions could actually be part of the problem, potentially discouraging doctors from authorizing the medications patients need to manage pain.

It’s easy in this political climate in Iowa to blame migrants and blockades for overdose deaths. The truth is more complicated.

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