151: Revisionist History: The Triplicate Program and Opioid Epidemic
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We\\u2019re sharing a bonus episode from our friends at Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell\\u2019s podcast about things misunderstood and overlooked.
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\\nThis season, Malcolm\\u2019s obsessed with experiments \\u2013 natural experiments, scientific experiments, thought experiments. In this preview, we learn about Paul Madden, who ran the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement in the 1930s. He enacted an expensive, burdensome, annoying bit of bureaucratic anti-drug hysteria known as the \\u201ctriplicate program\\u201d that made every doctor in the state miserable because it involved a lot of paperwork. But Madden insisted this kind of paperwork would save lives.
\\nFast forward to the 90s and early 2000s, when opioids were being prescribed as painkillers at a rapid rate \\u2013 and killing tens of thousands of Americans due to overdoses. The government looked to Madden\\u2019s triplicate program as a way of preventing the epidemic.
\\nA handful of states started their own triplicate prescription programs, but most ignored the warning signs. The result was a devastating natural experiment.
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\\nYou can hear more from Revisionist History at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/rhs7?sid=warroom.
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\\nThis season, Malcolm\\u2019s obsessed with experiments \\u2013 natural experiments, scientific experiments, thought experiments. In this preview, we learn about Paul Madden, who ran the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement in the 1930s. He enacted an expensive, burdensome, annoying bit of bureaucratic anti-drug hysteria known as the \\u201ctriplicate program\\u201d that made every doctor in the state miserable because it involved a lot of paperwork. But Madden insisted this kind of paperwork would save lives.
\\nFast forward to the 90s and early 2000s, when opioids were being prescribed as painkillers at a rapid rate \\u2013 and killing tens of thousands of Americans due to overdoses. The government looked to Madden\\u2019s triplicate program as a way of preventing the epidemic.
\\nA handful of states started their own triplicate prescription programs, but most ignored the warning signs. The result was a devastating natural experiment.
\\n
\\nYou can hear more from Revisionist History at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/rhs7?sid=warroom.