Dr. Joshua John-Ram SchacterDr. Joshua Schacter, DO FAAOS, is America’s Holistic Orthopedic Surgeon, with nearly two decades of surgical expertise.

Dangers of Pain Meds

18 Sept 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:05

Dr. Joshua John-Ram Schacter (speaker) critiques the use of narcotic pain medications—especially in musculoskeletal and orthopedic care—arguing they were promoted by pharmaceutical companies as beneficial but have caused major public-health harms. He cites specific statistics: about 109,000 people died of legal prescription-related issues in 2022 and there was a 340% increase in prescription pain medication–related fatalities between 1999 and 2010. The CDC is identified in the talk as calling this a major health issue; the speaker argues reducing patient need for narcotics would benefit the medical system.

Questions this video answers

About 109,000 people.

340% increase.

The CDC.

Chapters

They basically told us that narcotics were good for our patients. We know different now for sure.
Problem number one for and this is really focused on musculoskeletal care and orthopedics narcotics. So narcotic pain medications are sort of this stopgap measures that have been developed and sold to the American public as something that, you know, was somehow good for them. I remember in medical school sitting down and having a pain management physician talk to me about the pain scale and that we had to have patients at a certain pain scale. This is an industry that's been driven by pharmaceutical companies and they basically told us that narcotics were good for our patients. We know different now for sure. We know that as many as 109,000 people in 2022 died of legal prescription related issues. So between 1999 and 2010, there was a 340% increase in prescription pain medication related fatalities. So this is a big problem. The CDC has identified this as a major health issue of our time. If we reduce the patient's need for narcotics, it's going to be a significant benefit to our medical system.