Opioid Addiction Research Paper

Across the world abusing prescription drugs causes more deaths than street drugs do combined (“International Statistics”). Prescription drugs are so easy to get ahold of and so easy to get addicted to. The misuse of prescription drugs have gotten out of hand. These drugs can cause unintentional overdoses easily. The misuse of prescription drugs can lead to addiction, affect the health of users in a dramatic way, and even cause death.

Drug abuse is the habitual taking of addictive or illegal drugs in order to feel a euphoria, treat pain, or help with sleeping disorders. Drug abuse is a chronic brain disease that causes drug use despite the harmful consequences to the user and the people around them. In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the dystopian society portrayed is oblivious to the impact of the censorship around them. Books are banned and if found, they are burned along with their houses. The people in this society do not have time to think about anything because they are constantly surrounded by the constant chaos of loud noises on commercials or televisions and are over stimulated. Addiction and drug abuse is used as a way to escape the harsh problems in society.

There was improvement in many areas of the country following the crackdown on prescription drug abuse and pill mills. However, another result of the crackdownwas a diminution in the availability of prescription painkillers and the price for the painkillers on the street became more expensive.The ones who became addicted to painkillers during the pill mill epidemic then turned to heroin. The crackdown of pill mills inadvertently fueled the epidemic of heroin. “Between 2007 and 2012, heroin use rose 79 percent nationwide, according to federal data. Within the same period, the data show, 81 percent of first-time heroin users had previously abused prescription drugs” (Markon and Crites, 2014).

Opioids are a prescription medication involving various forms of drugs, it can benefit patients as little as a few minutes, however, it can be extremely dangerous to patients without self-control.

Sam Quinones’ Dreamland is a commentary about the opioid problem in America. Quinones draws attention to how in the twentieth century opioids were seen as addictive: “[D]octers treating the terminally ill faced attitudes that seemed medieval when it came to opiates” (184). In the 1970s, Purdue Pharma stated that opioids such as morphine were not addictive substances. After this study was released, many doctors began to view opioids as a viable option for pain relief. Throughout the rest of the book, Quinones explains the shift from doctors never prescribing opiates to prescription opiates being used to treat any sort of pain: chronic back pain, arthritis, severe headaches, etc. Pain became the “fifth vital sign” and with everyone wanting to

Recent reforms can curb the opioid epidemic. Yes, health care professionals have realized the complex problem and they now understand the problem and what needs to be done. According to CQ Researcher, “Experts see some progress in the fight against opioid painkiller abuse. After peaking in 2012, the number of prescriptions written for opioids declined 12 percent between 2013 and 2015, according to IMS Health, a market research company. Symphony Health Solutions, a data company that studies the pharmaceutical industry, found an 18 percent drop in that period.”

Oxycodone can be prescribed to help with moderate to severe pain. It is an opioid and belongs to the class of narcotic analgesics. It works as a depressant, slowing down the pain signals travelling from our body to our brain, and altering the way your brain responds to pain. This makes your body feel and respond to pain in a different manner as well. Doctors most commonly prescribe Oxycodone to help relieve the patient from moderate to severe pain.

I. Importance: As American deaths from drug overdoses continue to rise in the United States, the nation is faced with a public health crisis so profound that in October 2017, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic to be a national public health emergency (Merica). President Trump’s declaration came after numerous studies indicating the danger opioid addiction posed; for example, a 2016 study entitled “Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths—United States, 2010-2015” claimed that drug overdose deaths “nearly tripled during 1999-2014,” reaching a startling high 52,404 deaths in 2015 (Rudd, et al). These statistics are more than just disturbing revelations regarding the opioid crisis; they are evidence of a serious problem that is rapidly affecting the lives of more and more Americans every year.

          The opioid crisis has risen over the years here in America. The addiction to painkillers has caused many drug overdoses across America. According to the Vox," In 2015, more than 52,000 people have died from drug overdoses from linked to opioids such as Percocet, heroin, Oxycontin or even fentanyl. This problem did not become an overnight health crisis, but it has become quickly known in America.

For over a decade, acute and chronic back pain has been treated with opioid analgesics also known as opiates or narcotics (such as Percocet or Oxycontin), and nonopioid analgesic, including NSAID’s (such as Naproxen and Ibuprofen). On average, 182,727,272 opioid analgesic prescriptions are dispensed annually (Dal Pan, 2016). Unfortunately, each of which is accompanied by potentially serious adverse effects. Opioids serious side effects including respiratory depression, drowsiness, nausea, constipation, addiction, and ultimately death. Although constipation does not sound like a serious side effect, it does pose the potential for serious consequences. Because of the depressed peristalsis of the gastrointestinal tract or ileus the patient can develop constipation or

Prescription drug abuse in the United States has officially been declared an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Prescription Drug Abuse Statistics, 2013). Due to the increase of prescription drug abuse, prescription narcotics have been considered the new “gateway” drug to heroin addiction. The prescription drug epidemic is being fueled by prescribers and physicians that are not utilizing proper guidelines when prescribing narcotics to patients. A major concern is that doctors are shying away from utilizing therapy and counseling, which could alleviate the use and abuse of prescription medication. With the increase of prescription medication flooding the population, this has lead to society’s concern that doctors are

Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Opioids are also frequently used non-medically for their euphoric effects or to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Examples of opioids are morphine, heroin, oxycodone, and methadone. Opioid overdose is an acute and serious condition due to excessive opioids use. 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,

Within the last 22 years, from 1991 to 2013, the prescriptions written by doctors for opioids have increased from 76 million to 207 million. Opioids are a drug class that were developed originally, to treat severe pain for people who are dying of cancer or other severe illnesses. This began when pharmaceutical companies assured the medical community that people would not become addicted to opioid pain relievers. As a result doctors began to prescribe opioids more frequently. There are different kinds of opioids. Semi-synthetic opioids include hydromorphone, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. There is also heroin, made from morphine. Opioids that are man made are fentanyl, pethidine, levorphanol, methadone, tramadol, and dextropropoxyphene. Doctors should not be allowed to prescribe opioids to people to relieve pain because of the many dangers, it poses. Prescribing opioids to people can kill them or turn them into addicts.

Every citizen in the United States has individual rights protected by the Constitution. This protection also includes businesses that have gone through the legal process to become a legal entity ; more commonly known as becoming a corporation. Many times these individual rights, protected by the Constitution, conflict with the common good and as history shows, the courts consistently side with the common good when faced with a case that pits these two against each other. Big Pharma are corporations exercising their individual rights to market, and sell their product to consumers. In the process, the common good is suffering. We need to pass legislation that balances corporation’s individual rights to freely promote, market, and sell legal

A percentage of the population doesn’t consider prescription drugs very dangerous because they are prescribed by doctors. Unfortunately, that's true and it is very concerning to other people who are aware of the problem. We as a community must help each other and inform each other about the effects prescription drugs have. These types of drugs develop addicts which can be treated effectively depending the type of drug they took. There are two main treatments behavioral treatment and medications. Behavioral treatment helps addicts change unhealthy ways of thinking, counseling and sometimes psychotherapy. Medication treatment might sound wrong, why give them other prescribed drugs?. The addict suffers withdrawals symptoms and to help them stop using opioids, we supply them with other none dangerous drugs which close to the same effect. Treatment is possible, we just gotta reduce the epidemic among our young