Prescription Painkillers As the human race grows the demand for better health care and medication to support our exponentially growing population. What happens when the medication and healthcare system we trust and believe in to keep us going slowly kills us? With the invention of medication with curing and pain reliving properties abuse has always been in the same conversation. In 1898 and the years coming a lot of new medication such as heroin, aspirin, morphine, cocaine and Barbiturates became common, in the years following the world had its first drug epidemic. A lot of people using medications didn’t know how much to consume and he doctors didn’t know exactly how much to prescribe, most of the patients were test subjects as they were used to understand how medications with different properties affected the human body and mind. A few years after regulations …show more content…
As much as we would want to list all the negatives associated with prescription painkillers we have to come to terms that if suppressing pain and helping the patient with recovery wasn’t the main purpose then it wouldn’t be administered. Prescription drugs are needed for the country to have a reliable healthcare system the fact that addiction plagues our hospital s true but with modern medicine and innovation comes change, with this improvement there should be a decline in opioid addiction cases, cheaper medicines and effective medication with a lower risk of addiction. To put this in perspective prescription drugs are essential for a thriving healthcare system to help people deal with pain is like lifting a big burden of them and to have this option is essential as most countries have shortages were the population can’t acquire
Although this epidemic has been surging for the past 30 years, there has yet to have been an effective solution to drastically reduce the number of deaths and recurring addictions. The U.S. government has implemented different solutions, but the use of opioids still prevails. Even though drug use is criminalized in most places in the U.S., people are still continuing to use and abuse drugs. While many different approaches are hypothesized to stop the use of drugs, new forms of opioid use and problems seem to arise. There exists stigmas, stereotypes, and false information that have spread about drug use and addiction which hinders people's abilities to be able to understand and offer help to addicts and drug users.
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
Prescription opioids are pain relievers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine that have been prescribed to the patient by a doctor. However, prescription drug abuse is a growing trend in America. Many pharmaceutical companies have played a large role in creating this epidemic. Companies such as Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and Endo Pharmaceuticals began a trend of marketing the drugs for minor pain such as neck and back in 1990. Prior to this prescription opioids had only been prescribed to patients with long term illness and pain, such as cancer patients.
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.
It also states that legally prescribed opioids are generally safe when taken for a short amount of time and are prescribed by a doctor. It described that opioids can be misused by being taken in a different way, in larger quantities or without a doctor’s prescription. Also talks about the drug that can reverse an opioid overdose if given right away, which is naloxone (Abuse). b. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that since 1999 the number of overdose deaths involving opioids has quadrupled. The number of opioid involved deaths continues to increase in the United States.
“ Because they produce euphoria in addition to pain relief, they can be misused. Regular use- even as prescribed by a doctor can lead to dependence ,and when misused, opioid pain relievers can lead to overdose incidents and deaths” (Drugabuse.gov/opioids) Prescribing opioids have more dangers to the human than they do
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.
“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.
According to a recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2016), approximately one individual out of five patients established with a pain-related conditions, is recommended to use opioids for their pain. This practice has continued with time increasing the levels of opioid use among different patients. Medical practitioners have contributed largely to the increase of opioid usage because they are the ones who prescribe these drugs mostly to the patients. However, they have established a major challenge facing them on the prescription of these drugs, as there is a confluence of pain control versus the danger of misuse of such prescriptions. These facts have increased the need to curb this situation before it becomes impossible to deal
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,
For less dosage of the painkillers, patients would decrease the number of opioid addiction that being said that could lead to death. As to cutting back on opioid prescriptions, there will be less of inappropriate distributing to those who would abuse it improperly. Doctors have found other medical treatments to their patients without providing opioids. Hospitals have prescribed opioids more than doctors do. According to the Baltimore Sun, "Only 20% of doctors have shown to only provide opioids.
Some patients prefer not to take pain medication because they fear addiction or may have a history of substance abuse. Educating the patients on their right to be free of pain and having their pain managed aggressively is a priority in the recovery phase. The goals that I hope to achieve during this clinical practicum
According 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”.
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).
Prescription drugs (opiates only) have caused over 165,000 deaths within the last 15 years and is currently on the rise. Over 2 million Americans in 2014 were addicted to Opiate prescription narcotics. The most troubling fact is listed directly on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website: “As many as 1 in 4