我们需要不会令人上瘾的止痛药

Medically speaking, I've noticed over the years that we can be infected by US health problems. A case in point is opioid addiction, which affects 65,000 people annually in the US and is the leading cause of death in people under 50. That could never happen here you say, we're too careful to let potent painkillers get out of hand. Don't be too sure.

从医学角度来说，我发现随着时间的推移，我们可能会感染一些存在于美国的健康问题。一个典型的例子就是阿片类成瘾。在美国，阿片类上瘾每年影响65000人，也是50岁以下人群的主要死亡原因。你会说在我国永远都不会发生这种情况，我们十分小心，不会让强效止痛药失去控制。但不要太过肯定哦。

A paper published in 2013 highlighted a rise in tramadol (an opioid) deaths in the UK. In 1996, tramadol was linked to one death in England and Wales. By 2011, it accounted for 154. The report called for close monitoring of "any increase in deaths caused by opioid analgesics because it may signal an emerging problem in the UK similar to the issue that's now well established in the USA".

2013年发表的一篇文章强调了英国曲马多（一种阿片类药物）致死人数在增加。1996年，曲马多只导致英格兰和威尔士一起死亡事件。到2011年，却造成了154起死亡事件。报道呼吁密切监测"由类阿片镇痛药导致的死亡人数增加，因为这可能表明英国正出现类似于美国已确立存在的问题。"

We now have painkillers that are much more powerful than morphine and far more dangerous. Fentanyl is such a drug, 150-200 times as strong as morphine and more addictive. In 2017, there were 330,445 high-risk opioid users in the UK, the highest in Europe. Scripts for opioids doubled between 2000-2017 and were for longer. And hospital admissions for overdoses doubled between 2005 and 2017.

现在的止痛药比吗啡更强大，也更为危险。芬太尼就是这类药物，比吗啡的药效强150至200倍，也更令人上瘾。2017年，英国有330445名高风险的阿片类药物使用者，位居欧洲之首。2000年至2017年间，阿片类药物的使用情况翻了一番。而在2005年至2017年间，由于过量服用而住院的人数也翻了一番。

In 2017, there were 34 deaths due to fentanyl and 51 because of oxycodone. By 2017, these figures were 58 and 75 respectively. When I was a practising doctor the use of morphine was a last resort. But over the last 20 years it's become acceptable to prescribe opioids routinely. Now, they're seen almost as a standard treatment for short and intermediate pain problems. This has gradually segued into long-term use.

2017年，芬太尼和羟考酮导致的死亡事件分别为34例和51例。至2017年，这一数字分别涨至58例和75例。当我还是一名执业医生的时候，使用吗啡是万不得已的方法。但在过去20年间，人们已接受使用阿片类药物。现在，它们已几乎被视作治疗短期和中期疼痛的标准治疗方法。并且慢慢的被人们长期使用。

Could the answer be new opioids that relieve pain but are non-?addictive? Some promising research from the US gives us hope. Over three years, researchers from the University of North Carolina have identified the exact part of the opioid molecule that relieves pain.

这是不是因为缓解疼痛的新阿片类药物会令人上瘾？美国一些具有前景的研究给了我们希望。过去3年内，北卡罗来纳大学的研究人员已经确定了阿片类分子缓解疼痛的确切部分。