opioids – Economics Explored

120. Inflation, Covid, China & Crypto

2021 saw accelerating inflation in advanced economies, the pandemic continuing, cracks appearing in the Chinese economic model, and massive price growth in cryptocurrencies and NFTs. In episode 120, Economics Explored host Gene Tunny discusses the big issues of 2021 and looks forward to 2022 with frequent guest Tim Hughes.

The episode also features discussion on the COP26 climate change summit, the idea of “degrowth” advanced by some ecologists and environmentalists, and feedback on EP115 on the Opioid Crisis and the War on Drugs.

Links relevant to the conversation

Crazy Crypto charts Gene refers to in the episode

Australia’s largest bitcoin mine hopes to utilise unused renewable energy and lead the world on decarbonisation

Covid: Dutch go into Christmas lockdown over Omicron wave

WHO forecasts coronavirus pandemic will end in 2022

China struggles to shrug off weak consumer spending and property woes

China Evergrande reports progress in resuming home deliveries

Life in a ‘degrowth’ economy, and why you might actually enjoy it

EP115 – The Opioid Crisis and the War on Drugs

Thanks to the show’s audio engineer Josh Crotts for his assistance in producing the episode.

Please get in touch with any questions, comments and suggestions by emailing us at contact@economicsexplored.com or sending a voice message via https://www.speakpipe.com/economicsexplored. Economics Explored is available via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, and other podcasting platforms.

EP115 – The Opioid Crisis and the War on Drugs

100,000 Americans have died of drug overdoses in a 12 month period, mostly with opioids. Economics Explored EP115 features a conversation on the US Opioid crisis and the failed War on Drugs, and why a Harm Reduction approach is preferable, with Dr Jeff Singer MD from the Cato Institute.

About this episode’s guest – Dr Jeffrey Singer MD

Jeffrey A. Singer is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and works in the Department of Health Policy Studies. He is principal and founder of Valley Surgical Clinics Ltd., the largest and oldest group private surgical practice in Arizona, and has been in private practice as a general surgeon for more than 35 years.

He is also a visiting fellow at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix. Singer is a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors of the American Council on Science and Health. From 1994 to 2016, he was a regular contributor to Arizona Medicine, the journal of the Arizona Medical Association. He served on the Advisory Board Council of the Center for Political Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University from 2014 to 2018 and is an adjunct instructor in the Program on Political History and Leadership at ASU. He writes and speaks extensively on regional and national public policy, with a specific focus on the areas of health care policy and the harmful effects of drug prohibition.

He received his BA from Brooklyn College (City University of New York) and his MD from New York Medical College. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Jeff is @dr4liberty on Twitter.

Links relevant to the conversation

The North Carolina study:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26333030/

The Harvard/Johns Hopkins study on misuse rates in opioid naive post-surgical patients:

https://www.bmj.com/content/360/bmj.j5790

The Cicero study on the rise of heroin as the “gateway” drug:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28582659/

Jeff’s report in the Journal of Pain Research:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6369835/

Jeff’s Quadrant article on e-cigarettes:

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/public-health/2021/10/whose-lungs-are-they-anyway/

Thanks to the show’s audio engineer Josh Crotts for his assistance in producing the episode.