Follow Dr. Webster on Substack
Going forward, all my new articles will appear on Substack. This will give us a cleaner, more reliable way to stay connected with thoughtful, evidence-based commentary on pain, addiction, health policy, and the science that matters most to patients, and people interested in the health-related topics I write about.
Journalist Sam Quinones is right when he says that fentanyl’s potency has made America’s overdose crisis far more lethal. But supply alone cannot explain why demand persists. The hard question is not what drugs are available, but why so many people are desperate enough, isolated enough, or untreated enough to seek them out. Until we…
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune on April 26, 2026. Salt Lake County’s new five-year, $29.7 million investment in addiction treatment and re-entry support is more than smart policy. It reflects what actually works to reduce overdose deaths. As the Salt Lake Tribune reported, the plan will…
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared in American Council on Science and Health on April 7, 2026. We are living through a paradox in modern medicine: widespread pain, yet shrinking access to the most effective relief. As policymakers restrict certain treatments, millions of patients are increasingly steered toward alternatives that may…
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune on March 28, 2026. In a recent Salt Lake Tribune article, Rep. Blake Moore said it would be “irresponsible” to tie President Trump’s hands in Iran. What is truly irresponsible is to applaud a war that put Utahns in danger and then…
I’m very pleased to share the cover of my forthcoming book, Deconstructing Toxic Narratives: Data, Disparities, and a New Path Forward in the Opioid Crisis. I wrote this book because the public conversation about the opioid crisis has too often been shaped by oversimplification. The crisis cannot be understood through blame alone. It is also a…
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on Pain News Network on March 7, 2026. Everyone who reads this publication understands chronic pain is often treated as a symptom. However, for tens of millions of Americans, it is a disease state. It reshapes the nervous system, erodes function, and can narrow life…
Image by Dee from Pixabay This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on American Council on Science and Health on February 9, 2025. When health insurance becomes conditional and unaffordable, it doesn’t just disappear from balance sheets—it vanishes from people’s lives at the moment they need it most. The expiration of enhanced ACA Marketplace subsidies…
JAMA Letter by Dr. Lynn Webster This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared online in JAMA on December 18, 2025. Long-Term Pain Therapy With Opioids To the Editor The Viewpoint by Drs. Bicket and Bateman highlights the asymmetry between abundant data on opioid-related harms and the scarcity of evidence regarding benefits of long-term opioid…
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on Pain News Network on December 20, 2025. On December 18, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice to expedite completion of the process moving marijuana from an illegal Schedule I controlled substance to Schedule III, a less restrictive category that…
This article, in a slightly edited form, first appeared on American Council on Science and Health on December 11, 2025 It is the second in a two-part series examining the CDC’s revised autism–vaccine messaging and the broader politicization of CDC science. While Part 1 focused on the November 19, 2025 change to the CDC’s “Autism…
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