Opioid Epidemic Research Paper

Opioid addiction is so prevalent in the healthcare system because of the countless number of hospital patients being treated for chronic pain. While opioid analgesics have beneficial painkilling properties, they also yield detrimental dependence and addiction. There is a legitimate need for the health care system to provide powerful medications because prolonged pain limits activities of daily living, work productivity, quality of life, etc. (Taylor, 2015). Patients need to receive appropriate pain treatment, however, opioids need to be prescribed after careful consideration of the benefits and risks.

Opioids are taking over the United States with its addictive composition, once patients are take opioids there is no escaping. The drug directed from opium which is obtained from a plant (Katz). Opioids are most commonly found in prescription pill from making underground sales more common. Since opioids are derived from a plant this makes the reality of home grown drugs more of an issue. American citizens overdosing on opioids is what is sparking the crisis because opioid “overdoses killed more people last year than guns or car accidents” (Katz). Opioids are extremely addictive and that is why so many citizens overdose on these types of drugs. After patients become hooked on opioids their body constantly is needing more and more opium to escape they pain they think they are enduring. The overdosing of Americans is not a small percentage of the population either, it is estimated that “over two million people in America have problem with opioids” proving this growing issue is an ongoing crisis (Katz). The United States government needs to take action immediately to the opioid crisis because doctors are overprescribing patients because they seemingly overreact to pain, and opioids are one of the most addictive drug types in the world.

In Nolan and Amico’s article, “How Bad is the Opioid Epidemic?” they argue the opioid epidemic has become the worst drug crisis in American history. Heroin and other opioids overdose kill more than 47,055 people a year. Deaths caused from drug overdose has outnumber as much as 40 percent compared to the death caused from car crashes in 2014 (Nolan and Amico 3). Furthermore, in 1999 there were only 15000 people died from drug overdose. This number has tripled in 15 years. Also, in his article, “America’s Addiction to Opioids: Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse” Volkow also presents the fact that “with an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012 and an estimated 467,000 addicted to heroin. The consequences of this abuse have been devastating and are on the rise. For example, the number of unintentional overdose deaths from prescription pain relievers has

The United States of America has had a war against drugs since the 37th president, Richard Nixon, declared more crimination on drug abuse in June 1971. From mid-1990s to today, a crisis challenges the health department and government on opioid regulation, as millions of Americans die due overdoses of painkillers. Opioids are substances used as painkillers, and they range from prescription medications to the illegal drug, heroin. Abusing these substances can cause a dependency or addiction, which can lead to overdoses, physical damages, emotional trauma, and death. To ease the crisis, physicians are asked to depend on alternatives to pain management. Law enforcement cracks down on profiting drug-dealers and heroin abusers. People are warned against misusing opioids. The controversy begins for those who suffer from chronic pain, because they depend on opioids. There’s so a correlation to the 1980s cocaine epidemic, and people are upset over racial discrimination. Nonetheless, the best way to avoid this crisis is to recover the people at risk, reduce inappropriate opioid description, and have a proper response.

The opioid problem is big. The fact that multiple parties (FDA, Pharmacies, Doctors) are involved make the problem even more complex and difficult to fix. One of the best ways to begin helping the opioid crisis is within the FDA. The different types of opioids need to be re-tested to evaluate their necessity within our healthcare system. Too many readily available opioids are not beneficial. Next are doctors need to be taught to stand up again big pharmaceutical companies. These companies have their priority in profit, not patient care. Hopefully by implementing these factors, the opioid crisis can become a problem of the past.

The United States currently faces an unprecedented epidemic of opioid addiction. This includes painkillers, heroin, and other drugs made from the same base chemical. In the couple of years, approximately one out of twenty Americans reported misuse or abuse of prescriptions painkillers. Heroin abuse and overdoses are on the rise and are the leading cause of injury deaths, surpassing car accidents and gun shots. The current problem differs from the opioid addiction outbreaks of the past in that it is also predominant in the middle and affluent classes. Ultimately, anyone can be fighting a battle with addiction and it is important for family members and loved ones to know the signs. The cause for this epidemic is that the current spike of opioid abuse can be traced to two decades of increased prescription rates for painkillers by well-meaning physicians.

If you watch the news it should come as no surprise that drug abuse and overdoses have increased dramatically in the United States. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as many as 36 million people abuse opioids throughout the world with 2.1 million in the U.S. who currently suffer from opioid abuse disorders (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). These astonishing numbers are only marginalized when comparing them to opioid related deaths in the United States. With an increase of 137 percent since 2000, deaths from drug overdoses now occur 1.5 times more often than deaths from motor vehicle accidents (Rudd Aleshire, Zibbell & Gladden, 2016). The opioid epidemic in the

In the article, “Don’t blame addicts for America’s opioid crisis. Here are the real culprits” by Chris McGreal, America’s widespread opioid problem is discussed. Primarily, McGreal points the finger at multiple sources such as the FDA, pharmaceutical companies, and the government for aggravating the opioid problem. According to the author, “America’s opioid crisis was caused by rapacious pharma companies, politicians who colluded with them and regulators who approved one opioid pill after another” (McGreal). However, McGreal believes that there are multiple causes for the deadly opioid epidemic that exists today. Next, McGreal states that money is one of the main reasons for the epidemic of opioids. The author asserts that patients are given

The Opioid Crisis has grown tremendously throughout the years, the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed by doctors steadily increased from 112 million prescriptions in 1992 to a peak of 282 million in 2012, according to the market research firm IMS Health. The number of prescriptions dispensed has since declined, falling to 236 million in 2016.(CNN, Opioid Crisis Fun Facts, 2018, P6.). In 2016 there was 63,600 overdoses and 42,249 came from opioids, these drugs are getting easier to buy off the streets, so more people buy them because they are cheaper than some but get you the same high that they want from the other drugs. People get prescription drugs from either stealing them, or other people sell them to them, or they can even get them from their family, but they end up selling

Opioid abuse, misuse and overdose is a problem in The United States. You can’t turn on the TV or read a newspaper without some mention of the epidemic. This issue has caused the practice of prescribing or taking narcotic pain medication to be looked at under a microscope. Patients are fearful to use some necessary pain medication, because they may become addicted. Other patients who genuinely do have pain and need medication are having a tougher time obtaining the help they need. The problem of abuse and addiction is tough to solve since for some people the medications are the only way they can function and live a semi-normal life. A patient with pain may be hesitant to visit the doctor and

The opiate epidemic is claiming more lives than car crashes, a crisis that is tearing families apart and is killing thousands of Americans. At the root of the opiate epidemic stands the pharmaceutical companies and prescribing physicians. A trend seen that too often begins with a patient being prescribed painkillers by a doctor, often for an injury, chronic pain or something as minor as oral surgery or a tooth ache. Many patients are unaware of the significant dangers of being prescribed these medications and ultimately become addicted. Physicians are not educating their patients to the risks associated with prescribing these medications; but more importantly

This article is about the administering of opioid drugs into the vein for recreational use. The article discusses three powerful drugs, which were design for oral use to reduce pain. However, these three drugs oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine were being abuse without physical dependency. The authors felt that the use of opioids were more prevalent in the United States than the use of cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine (Stoops, Hatton, Lofwall, Nuzzo and Walsh 2010). The author points out to a study done by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which concluded that 4.7 million individuals over the age of 12 were using nonmedical prescription opioids, whereas 1.9 million, 200,000 and 314,000 individuals were using cocaine, heroin and

Prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions. President Trump has deemed the United States addiction to prescription opiates a national crisis (Dye). Recent estimates suggest nearly two percent of Americans have at one time abused prescription medication. Prescription drug addiction results in families torn apart, many lives destroyed, and in too many cases, death. Some people think that by solely focusing on prescription drug abuse, physicians may steer clear from prescribing necessary medications for patients who need them. This thinking could not be further from the truth. Physicians’ focus on responsibly prescribing opioids is changing, and as scary as it seems, many physicians wrestle with how they can prescribe certain medications so that their patients are relieved of pain without becoming addicted to that drug. It is a perplexing problem for our country’s physicians. With over 2.6 million people addicted to opioids, including heroin, fentanyl, and oxycodone, the grim face of the nation’s opioid epidemic is a societal nightmare (Nolan). "Fatal opiate overdoses have now surpassed automobile accidents as the number one cause of accidental deaths in this country today" (Trump). Everyone is playing the blame game as to the epidemic's causes and solutions. The number one target is America’s physicians. Although they hold the keys to prescribing these prescriptions, this crisis by no means can be corrected solely by them. A multidisciplinary approach,

A national crisis is occurring due to the misuse of opioids including prescription pain relievers, heroin and synthetic opioids. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, every day more than 90 Americans die from overdosing on opioids (NIH, 2017). The United States opioid crisis goes as far back as the late 1990s when physicians were educated by the pharmaceutical companies that patients would not become addicted to opioids and started to prescribe the more often. The incorrect information given by the pharmaceutical companies lead to widespread diversion and misuse of the medications which has now lead to a public health crisis. Due to the increase misuse of opioids in the last 15 years, there has been an increase in the number of emergency room visits, increase in the number of deaths related to overdose, and increase in the

Did you know that there is an estimated minimum of 190,000 deaths per year globally from opioid overdoses? SIRS data base reports that all around the country the amount of overdoses from prescribed opioids is rising. Resulting in thousands of deaths and many more hospitalized. But will increased regulation make it more difficult for people who need the medication to acquire? This paper will examine viewpoint one, two and my viewpoint on prescription drug abuse.