Opioid Addiction Research Paper
we are living through the worst epidemic of addiction in american history, and the drugs causing the most deaths are legal prescription opioids like oxycontin, percocet, and vicodin. How did so many of us get addicted to painkillers? and why are so many americans dying from drug overdoses? to find out you have to go back to the early 90s. Before that time doctors generally considered opioids dangerous but in 1996 a company called purdue pharma released a new drug ,oxycontin. purdue spent hundreds of millions of dollars to convince doctors that oxycontin was safe and not addictive. there marketing strategy worked, their prescriptions for oxycontin skyrocketed but purdue 's claim that oxycontin was safe and not addictive just wasn 't true. as sales skyrocketed so did addiction, overdoses, and death. …show more content…
users also found that they built up a tolerance to oxycontin and other prescription opioids and that 's where heroin comes in. heroin is an opioid like oxycontin though lots of people who built up a tolerance to prescription painkillers moved on to heroin and today more americans are addicted to heroin and die from it than ever before. The abuse and misuse of opioid products containing oxycodone and hydrocodone, including brands such as OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet and Lortab increased significantly in the early-to-mid 2000s, doubling between 1998 and 2008. In 2002, 6.2 million Americans were abusing prescription drugs, and emergency room visits resulting from the abuse of narcotic pain relievers had increased dramatically. The misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers was responsible for more than 730,000 emergency department visits in 2009, a number that nearly doubled in just five
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1386 Words | 6 PagesReformulation did not help diminish preexisting OxyContin addictions but provoked people to seek out their fix through stronger means. Opioid pills paved the way for street drugs such as heroin. Black tar heroin was appealing to many OxyContin addicts as it was incredibly cheap, yet potent; and most of all, satisfied their opioid cravings. CDC data suggests that “people who misuse prescription opioid painkillers are 40 times more likely to become addicted to heroin than those who do not misuse prescription opioids” (Wickramatilake et al. 171). Consequently, America saw an en-masse departure from pills to heroin which began permeating wealthy suburbs, high schools, and other locations previously assumed to be “safe” from street drugs.
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798 Words | 4 PagesOxycodone is just the government harnessing another revenue of income if they can take advantage of victims of addiction just to take what they have left. It is their choice whether they take the government's so-called help but as the author said “Through all this, patients were getting used to demanding drugs for treatment. They did not, however, have to accept the idea that they might, say, eat better and
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485 Words | 2 PagesHowever, from 2013 to 2014 there was a 20 percent increase in drug overdoses. (4) Individuals with opioid prescriptions need to be educated, counseled and given appropriate help when
Opioids Research Paper
193 Words | 1 PagesOpioids come in many forms, both licit and illicit drugs. Licit drugs would be considered pharmaceuticals, since they are prescribed by doctors and usually come in pill forms. Some examples of licit opioids are: OxyContin®, Vicodin®, codeine, morphine, methadone, and fentanyl. The illicit drugs would be heroin and can come in many different forms. Both forms must be consumed with caution due to their addictive nature.
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737 Words | 3 PagesWithin 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.
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935 Words | 4 PagesUnderlying 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.
Persuasive Essay On Opioids
929 Words | 4 Pages“Every year 214 million prescription for opiods pain killers are given to patients” One of the most prescribed drug that causes overdoses are opioids. a high percentage of the population have issues with the addiction, and not everyone has the possibility to get help, some of them are alone who don't have anyone to help them or they don't have enough income for drug rehabilitation. at the same time rehab is charging thousands of dollars for help. While most people are struggling with money and it's easier and cheaper for them to buy or get drugs prescribed and make the drug help them forget their issues.
Opioid Overdose Research Paper
596 Words | 3 PagesDependence 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,
Opioid Epidemic Research Paper
685 Words | 3 PagesHowever, hospitals have changed the approach to pain management but still haven 't made a change. More hospitals still provide opioids to patients with the dependence on the drug. Overall, the opioid addiction represents a serious issue in American society. The best solution in decreasing the number of overdoses is the low dosages of opioids provided by hospitals and doctors.
Prescription Drug Abuse Persuasive Speech
954 Words | 4 PagesA couple fellow classmates in high school and college were always taking some kind of pills. Myself not knowing much about drugs, I thought they were prescribed. Later, I found out that they weren’t prescribed. My classmates were using them for themselves and also distributing to other students. I never spoke up about it, since I never witnessed the distribution but rumors go around.
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1036 Words | 5 PagesAccording to Michael Klein, “The most prescription drugs that are commonly misused are opioids, tranquillizers, sedatives, and hypnotics.” Unintentional overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers have quadrupled since 1999 and have outnumbered those involving heroin and cocaine since 2002. (Klein). The reason some people abuse opioids is just to “get high”.
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970 Words | 4 PagesThese 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).
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