Rhetorical Analysis Of The Other Opioid Crisis

An ethical issue related to medical care is pain management and the inappropriate judgment of patients being labeled as “Drug Seeking”. There are statistics that prove there is a rise in abuse in opiates within communities. However, at what point does the nurse or provider get to decide what is an adequate pain threshold and how much they should endure? When does the ethical duty to relieve pain and suffering subside to personal biases? Patients deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as they entrust medical providers to relief their pain and suffering.

In his article, “Toward a Policy on Drugs,” Elliot Currie discusses “the magnitude and severity of our drug crisis” (para. 21), and how “no other country has anything resembling the American drug problem” (para. 21). The best way to describe America’s drug problem is that it is a hole continuously digs itself deeper. America’s drug issues were likely comparable to other country’s at one point in time, but today it can be blamed on the “street cultures” (para. 21) that continue to use and spread the use of illegal drugs. These street cultures transcend the common stereotype of drug users, such as low income communities in cities or welfare recipients, and can be found in every economic class and location. They are groups of people who have

         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. In American society, this solution would be the best way to lower drug overdoses by providing alternative treatments without using

In the Elegiac Addict Angela Garcia argues that far from inducing recovery, medical and juridical understandings and approaches to addiction trap addicts into the painful past and moral dilemma, perpetuating the addiction and making relapse inevitable. Present medical definition treats addiction as a “Chronic health problem, not a moral failing or a social problem”, liberating the addicts from self-guilt and the social judgments based on morality. On the other hand, by emphasizing the chronicity, it produces the sense of hopelessness among the addicts and the belief that addiction is inevitably repetitive and endless. According to Alma, the woman author followed for part of her life, illustrates this point by pointing out that “the clinic didn’t

David Sheff’s memoir contains emotional appeal to achieve its purpose. It is packed with heart-wrenching moments that make the reader feel his pain. For instance, Sheff is always worried sick when his son disappears without saying where he’s going. One particular time, when Jasper asks where his older brother is, Sheff responds, “with more emotion than I intended to betray: ‘We don’t know.’ Jasper begins to cry” (Sheff 101). This moment makes the audience feel for Sheff and his family, because it is a new side of the common addiction story that has more impact emotionally than one may think. People hear the side of the addict themselves so much more often, that the parents’ point of view is more shocking and emotional. Thus, they are able to understand better because they can relate to his normal family, that is going through an abnormal

Losing a battle to illness is devastating and utterly heartbreaking. With addiction, it is quite often that people fail and fall into their old habits. Others simply don’t want to be sober. In How to Help Someone with an Opioid Addiction, published by the Chicago Sun Times, the author lists ways for friends and family members to assist in the process of sobriety. But, what if it doesn’t work? This question is addressed in the third section of the article. For that reason, the author writes with a rhetoric of pathos to encourage the reader to persevere and also purchase Naloxone, a drug which can alter the effects of opioids in case of emergency.

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.”

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.

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). When people take these synthetic heroin pills, they do not feel as though it is a drug addiction as much as it is a way for them to deal with pain, over-stimulation, and as a tranquilizer. Today, we are currently facing an epidemic with drug addiction and continuously trying to solve the problem with a war on drugs. “The U.S. spends about $51 billion a year enforcing the war on drugs, and arrests nearly 1.5 million people for drug violations, according to Drug Policy Alliance, a drug policy reform group” (Ferner). Since the United States spends so much money on this epidemic, the numbers should start to go down, but it is instead doing the opposite. It is easy to figure out the numbers through doctors, “Increases in prescription drug misuse over the last

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

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).

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

Without patient’s being aware of how to power the drug was, it eventually leads to the Opioids Crisis in America which now put a horrible word for the doctors and companies when it all starts by one person abusing the opioid pill.

The legalization of drugs has been at the center of interminable debate. Drugs have widely been perceived as a dominant threat to the moral fabric of society. Drug use has been attributed as the source responsible for a myriad of key issues. For instance, it is believed that drugs have exacerbated the already weak status of mental health in the United States in which some individuals suffering from mental illness administer illicit substances such as heroin or cocaine in an attempt to self-medicate. Moreover, drugs are blamed for turning auspicious members of the community into worthless degenerates. Thus, vast efforts have been made to regulate the alleged drug problem through various avenues. For example, programs have been created to steer

In his article, Drugs, Gore Vidal argues that there is a solution to the drug epidemic in America: simply make all drugs legal and sell them at cost. Gore has a particularly compelling argument, and much of that has to due with the rhetorical strategies and techniques he uses. Gore starts his argument off by saying that marijuana is neither addictive or dangerous, and definitely not as dangerous cocaine and heroin. While this article was written in 1970, many Americans feel this way in 2016— that marijuana is not as dangerous as other drugs. Gore, in a way, is aware of his audience, and accommodates them.