In February, the annual Johns Hopkins Medicine Dean’s Symposia in Palm Beach and Naples, Fla., focused on the risks and benefits of psychedelics, opioids, and cannabis. Faculty spoke about the promise these chemical substances show in treating a variety of conditions, including depression, pain management, and anxiety. But they also stressed that patients and physicians need to be aware of the many risks these substances pose, such as misuse and dependence.
Travis Rieder, the assistant director of education initiatives at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, shared his personal experience with the issue, having used opioids following a traumatic motorcycle accident. Rieder, who wrote a book about the experience titled In Pain: A Bioethicist’s Struggle with Opioids, spoke about how much he needed the opioids for pain management, but also the how difficult it was to stop using them. Rieder’s session and the others shed light on these important topics at a time when the opioid crisis and rise in the therapeutic uses of cannabis and psychedelics are newsworthy topics across the country.
View photos from the Dean’s Symposia below, courtesy of LILA PHOTO.
Topics: Alumni, Friends of Johns Hopkins Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Promote and Protect Health