Long Term Opiate Users Research Paper

Taking in toxic and harmful drugs can cause a change in the way an individual sends, receives and processes

Presenting Problem Christina sought treatment from the PATHway program to address her opioid use disorder. She reported misusing benzodiazepines and heroin since the age of 15. Since the onset of her drug use, she reported experimenting with a myriad of other drugs before settling on the use of benzodiazepines and heroin as her primary substances. She reported her method of use for heroin is intravenous and orally for the benzodiazepines.

Lance L. Simpson a teacher at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Said “In a recent interview that the most striking difference he had found was that people under the influence of a narcotic,” had trouble committing the crime and once they were under the influence they we’re vulnerable and able to

Studies show a “…range from 7.1% to 29% among adults, 5.3% to 55% among college students, and 1.7% to 4.5% among adolescents” (Weyandt et al. 20). The abuse of Adderall and other ‘study drugs’ e.g.

Dependence on prescription opioids can stem from treatment of chronic pain and in recent years is the cause of the increased number of opioid overdoses. Opioids are very addictive substances, having serious life threatening consequences in case of intentional or accidental overdose. The euphoria attracts recreational use, and frequent,

When looking at a scholarly journal or other form of report pertaining to controlled substances, the theme is usually pretty clear; “drugs are bad, people that do drugs are bad, and it’s only getting worse.” Moore challenges this theme by breaking the mold in his article, “The Other Opioid Crisis” by implementing several rhetorical devices to add a more human aspect to the not so black-and-white issue. “The Other Opioid Crisis” is an article that goes into the ethics and the arguments regarding those who are in need of opioids and their stories, alongside other ethical issues they may face. By providing stories of patients, Moore states his opinion which is backed strongly by the pains, both mentally and physically, that opioid prescribed patients face. In these stories he not only provides a detailed account of their struggles, he uses strong language to appeal to the pathos of the reader on a subject that may not be easy for many to sympathize with.

Big Pharma Name: Institution: Over the past years, various issues have faced the United States of America in the health sector in general. Some of these challenges include difficulties in healthcare insurance policies, increasing cancer cases, elevated levels of misuse of prescription drugs, rise in the consumption of illicit drugs, inter alia. These issues have led to escalation of health issues to the American citizens, and in turn, affecting the economic status as well. This research will focus on the subject matter misuse, abuse, and addiction of opioid prescription drugs.

They incurred that people who actively used MDMA preformed worse on tasks over a three-day period then alcohol users. One of the effects that they tested was mood. They presented the data they collected in a “Mood Rating Scale.” In the study that lasted a period of 3 days, it was shown that 11 of the 16 who were using MDMA, the applicants in the first day were happier and more overjoyed to be around people than the applicants that we ingesting alcohol. But as time went on to the next day they were becoming bored, sad and discontent.

Case declares, “I’m a drug addict, Cath. Stimulants. Central nervous systems stimulants. Extremely powerful central system stimulants.” (Gibson 129-130)

Underlying Causes: The increase in the sale of opioids is considered to be the root of the opioid crisis, as the drugs have been proven to be highly addictive. An addiction to prescriptive opioids, however, can lead to an addiction to synthetic, illegal opioids, such as heroine or fentanyl, which are less expensive and easier to acquire. In fact, in their journal article, “Associations of nonmedical pain reliever use and initiation of heroin use in the United States” Pradip Muhuri and associates discovered that “the recent (12 months preceding interview) heroin incidence rate was 19 times higher among those who reported prior nonmedical prescription pain reliever (NMPR) use than among those who did not (0.39 vs. 0.02 percent)” (Muhuri et. al). In other words, abusing prescription opioids significantly raises the chances of abusing illicit drugs, such as heroin.

Many people on campuses across the country abuse stimulants such as Adderall. The drug has become a common notion in many college institutions as a result of the positive impacts enhanced by students on the illegal application of the drug. Students assert on high performance, creativity effectiveness, attention and focus enhancement to be the result of the drug application. Provided with the concept that if the drug is illegally utilized it can lead to poor performance due to reduced creativity and causing different health risks; assessment of the impact of the drug can be probable.

These pills, such as xanax and oxycodone allow people for short periods of time to withdraw from the harsh reality faced today. “Between 1997 and 2002, sales of oxycodone and methadone nearly quadrupled” (Okie). Around 15 years later and the prescription pill problem is continuing to skyrocket. Since prescription pills are dispersed out to anyone by doctors, many people do not realize that it is as much of an illicit drug as cocaine and heroin is. “Misinformation about the addictive properties of prescription opioids and the perception that prescription drugs are less harmful than illicit drugs are other possible contributors to the problem” (NIDA).

As we can see by the four different development domains, the abuse of substances has several negative outcomes and can be severely detrimental to the abuser. Although it is difficult to stop the abuse of substances, people who are dealing with this issue should seek help. Relying on drugs is

All these characteristics led to the conclusion that drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use. It is considered as a brain disease because drugs change the structure of the brain, and how it works. Every drug affects different systems of the brain. For example, in the case of cocaine, as the brain is adapted in the presence of the specific drug, brain regions responsible for judgment, decision-making, learning, and memory begin to physically change, making certain behaviors “hard-wired.” In some brain regions, connections between neurons are pruned back.

Drug Addiction : Treatment or Punishment? When a person takes a drug the chemicals affect the brain by interfering with how the neurons send messages. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the structure of Marijuana and Heroin mimic a natural neurotransmitter which tricks the receptors into allowing the drug to activate neurons inside the brain which interferes with messages and leads to abnormalities of behavior. With other drugs such as cocaine there is an abnormally large amount of neurotransmitters released which disrupts communication channels.