How Germany Averted An Opioid Crisis

• “Here in Germany, they prescribe opiates if all the other drugs don’t work,” said Dr. Dieter Naber, a psychiatrist and researcher at the University of Hamburg
• “Among the most important reasons we do not face a similar opioid crisis seems to be a more responsible and restrained practice of prescription,” said Dr. Peter Raiser, the deputy managing director at the German Center for Addiction Issues.
• Doctors must first try alternative treatments, which the nation’s universal health insurance system typically covers. Before prescribing opioids, physicians must get special permission and screen patients to make sure they aren’t at risk for addiction.
• When faced with addiction, medication and harm reduction approaches are used (i.e safe-injection sites). 

What enabled the difference in approaching prescribing?

How could changes in the US medical system lead us towards a more holistic philosophy and approach to treatment?