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As a former DEA agent and one of the nation’s top experts on drugs, Bob Stutman speaks to thousands of people each year about today’s prescription drug epidemic and the shift from a society that abuses illegal drugs to a society that abuses pharmaceutical drugs. Bob shows what we’re up against and how we can empower and protect our patients, our communities and ourselves from what is one of the greatest health issues in the US today.

In this episode of the Bottom Line Advocator Podcast, Bob joins Bottom Line president Sarah Hiner to discuss what the doctors don’t know or understand about the pharmaceutical drugs they’re prescribing—and explains how that lack of education has helped contribute to the most catastrophic drug epidemic in the history of the US.

Other topics include:

  • The limited training that US doctors receive in opioid prescribing (1:05 – 4:10)
  • Who’s teaching doctors about new pharmaceutical drugs? (4:10 – 6:25)
  • Purdue Pharma’s lie that started the opioid epidemic, according to Bob (6:41 – 7:58)
  • Examples of drugs erroneously being brought to market (8:00 – 10:35)
  • The way our doctors are trained…how they get information…“It’s an American problem” (10:36 – 12:48)
  • The shady relationship between powerful pharmaceutical companies and some American doctors (12:50 – 18:26)
  • The opioid prescribing habit of US physicians and how it has affected US life expectancy (18:26 – 24:23)
  • Understanding “off-label prescribing” (24:55 – 29:25)
  • Bob’s takeaway advice (29:26 – 31:41)

Insider Tip from Bob: If you would like to do a detailed background check on any doctor, including checking to see if he/she has a financial relationship with a pharmaceutical company, as well as viewing the top prescriber of risky and potentially dangerous drugs in your area, visit https://projects.propublica.org/checkup/.

Be sure to subscribe to the Bottom Line Advocator Podcast on Apple Podcasts and share a review.

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