Can opioids cause cancer?

[Ikercasillas2019]

I found this research which suggests opioids MIGHT increase cancer risk but i've also found other conflicting evidence, could anybody with a more scientific background than me give me their impression of this? No anecdotal evidence please.

Evidence mounts for link between opioids and cancer growth - UChicago Medicine

www.uchicagomedicine.org

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

I'm moving this over to the Neuroscience and Pharmacology subforum. You might have better luck there.

 

[JessFR]

No. Certainly not in the sense of the way 99.9% of people would probably imagine "can opioids cause cancer" to mean, and neither in the sense of what the article says.

Some studies suggesting that opioids might stimulate the growth of existing cancer cells in vitro is a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong way from "opioids cause cancer".

They don't. There's no way that wouldn't have been detected by long before now if they did.

 

[fastandbulbous]

But they do cause people to become lax about getting warning symptoms investigated, until it's too late (happened to my wife's cousin, due to her heavy smack habit)