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Opioid drugs are well-established double-edged swords. Extremely effective at analgesia, they cause an array of harmful side effects throughout the body, including itching, constipation, and respiratory depression—the slowed breathing that ultimately causes death in overdose cases. What’s more, the body’s interaction with opioids is dynamic: our receptors for these compounds become desensitized to the drugs’ activity over time, requiring ever larger doses to suppress pain and eventually provoking severe dependence and protracted withdrawal.
In the past few years, these side effects have plagued growing numbers of US citizens, plunging the country into the throes of a devastating opioid crisis in which nearly 100 people die from overdoses every day. Even so, opioids are still among the most effective pain-relief options available. “Over hundreds of years, ...
