In Session 1, Travis N. Rieder - a philosopher and bioethicist at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, where he directs the Master of Bioethics degree program - covers the simultaneous under treatment and overtreatment of pain; the history of pain medicine and opioid misuse in America; how understanding this history helps to understand American medicine’s mistake of he "opioid dilemma;" and how we can responsibly use opioids even against the backdrop of a drug overdose crisis.

Optional Pre-work:
1. Watch Travis’ TED talk “The Agony of Opioid Withdrawal – and What Doctors Should Tell Patients About It”: https://www.ted.com/talks/travis_rieder_the_agony_of_opioid_withdrawal_and_what_doctors_should_tell_patients_about_it
2. Read Travis’ book, In Pain: A Bioethicist’s Personal Struggle with Opioids