S2E37 - Opioids, cancer and mortality with Aleksi Hamina

In this episode Ben Scher talks to Dr Aleksi Hamina from the Norwegian centre for addiction research at the University of Oslo and the Niuvanniemi Hospital in Finland. They discuss a recent paper co-authored by Dr Hamina in which the team matched large national datasets to identify excess mortality among people who use drugs that can be attributed to cancers. They found increases in incidences and mortality according to liver, lung, larynx and pancreas cancers.

They highlight the impact of smoking, alcohol use and hepatitis, and discuss the policy implications of knowing the impact that these...