Roger Knaggs "We need to find a balance between appropriate use and minimising harm"

Roger Knaggs says "Most of my expertise is around prescribed or over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and we need to find a balance between ensuring appropriate use, but minimising harms and side effects. That is quite a difficult balance to achieve, particularly with opioids.

Opioids may work for a short period, even for some long-term pain, but then they appear to be less effective and the dose is increased to improve their effectiveness — that’s when you get into a vicious cycle of the drugs becoming less and less effective over time."

His article on pain management was recently published in the Pharmaceutical Journal on 9 May 2019.  In his article he talks about reducing opiod dependancy, using non-drug alternatives for chronic pain and discusses why we need to be cautious about medical cannabis.

Roger Knaggs - photograph taken by Charlie Milligan