A Revision Of The Controlled Substances Act Essay

“The U.S. is currently experiencing an epidemic of prescription opioid overdose. Increased prescribing and sales of opioids-a quadrupling since 1999 helped create and fuel this

The United States of America has had a war against drugs since the 37th president, Richard Nixon, declared more crimination on drug abuse in June 1971. From mid-1990s to today, a crisis challenges the health department and government on opioid regulation, as millions of Americans die due overdoses of painkillers. Opioids are substances used as painkillers, and they range from prescription medications to the illegal drug, heroin. Abusing these substances can cause a dependency or addiction, which can lead to overdoses, physical damages, emotional trauma, and death. To ease the crisis, physicians are asked to depend on alternatives to pain management. Law enforcement cracks down on profiting drug-dealers and heroin abusers. People are warned against misusing opioids. The controversy begins for those who suffer from chronic pain, because they depend on opioids. There’s so a correlation to the 1980s cocaine epidemic, and people are upset over racial discrimination. Nonetheless, the best way to avoid this crisis is to recover the people at risk, reduce inappropriate opioid description, and have a proper response.

The United States currently faces an unprecedented epidemic of opioid addiction. This includes painkillers, heroin, and other drugs made from the same base chemical. In the couple of years, approximately one out of twenty Americans reported misuse or abuse of prescriptions painkillers. Heroin abuse and overdoses are on the rise and are the leading cause of injury deaths, surpassing car accidents and gun shots. The current problem differs from the opioid addiction outbreaks of the past in that it is also predominant in the middle and affluent classes. Ultimately, anyone can be fighting a battle with addiction and it is important for family members and loved ones to know the signs. The cause for this epidemic is that the current spike of opioid abuse can be traced to two decades of increased prescription rates for painkillers by well-meaning physicians.

It is important for our culture in western society to educate doctors on how to modify and limit their prescribing behavior so that less people become dependent on opioid medication. Doctors must start limiting and monitoring the number of opioid prescriptions they administer to patients. Limiting the number of prescriptions will lower the chances for potential abuse within patients, as well as lower the ease of access and circulation of opioid medication on the streets.

In 1970, the controlled substances act was passed to regulate the manufacture and distribution of drugs whose use may result in dependency or abuse. Since the Act was passed anyone who has access to Controlled substance is watch and monitored very carefully by the Drug Enforcement Administration which is a branch of the department of justice, to regulate the use of these drugs. This includes to prescribing, refilling, and storing the controlled substances. This law is in place to control the distribution of these drugs legally and illegally. Doctors and medical assistants are responsible for maintaining the controlled substances in the office, with that when a drug is leaving an office it is critical to log the patients name, drug name, dose, date, ordering physician, and employee who handled the procedure. With having this law in place the bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Established a Schedule to categorize these Controlled substances. Schedule I, The high category of high risk drugs are not approved for medical use. These include heroin, Marijuana, opium, peyote, mescaline, etc.. Schedule II, are the drugs with a high instance of abuse or addiction and no refills are allowed. A new prescription is always

Last summer two men in Hunt county Texas were arrested for selling synthetic drugs reported by the Herald Banner. The lab reports returned “the substance was not illegal at the time of the offense”. This is not an isolated case but a continuing dilemma for law makers, enforcers and prosecutors against the makers and distributors of designer drugs. (1) Creating a ‘War on Drugs’ is not a solution. Due to the simplicity of manipulating a product on the banned substance list, chemical change formulations outpace efforts to impose control. (Stock, S. Web)

Amongst those who become addicted to misusing their drugs and people readily taking advantage of this situation, there is an irrefutable and profitable market. Due to the growing accessibility and faulty restrictions on prescriptions, almost anyone can acquire opioids, and there is a large population of patients that sell their medication rather than use it. An article by Celine Gouder entitled “Who Is Responsible for the Pain-Pill Epidemic?” reports her experience with a cancer patient. According to Gouder, her patient "was selling his prescription narcotics to help support his wife and himself," and when hospitalized, overdosed when his medicine was actually administered to him. Though the legality of sharing, trading, and selling prescription medication is heavily restricted, the penalties for doing so are almost never applied, which fosters growth in these illegal activities. According to the CDC’s “Prescribing Data,” on opioid overdose:

Prescription drugs are given to patients daily all over the world. Opioid painkillers are known to provide pain relief, but there seems to be an excessive amount of death and injuries because, more than ever, they are highly marketed and incorrectly prescribed. More than 2 million of Americans are dependent or abuse prescription pain pills (Opioid Crisis…). Worldwide nearly 26.4 million people abuse opioids (Public Affairs). It’s not just an issue in the United States but is becoming a worldwide crisis. The issue is known as the opioid epidemic. This is the question that is being asked: What are the factors of prescription opioids in the United States?

Prescription pain medications are supposed to improve the health and well-being of an individual. Oxycontin, an opioid drug, is meant to help people manage their pain symptoms; however, many people are unaware that there is a danger of abuse of receiving drugs prescribed by their physicians. The essays “How to Create an Addiction” and “Erin Daly: OxyWatchdog” by Cynthia Andrzejczyk explore the problem of prescription drugs in the United States. Since 1999, prescription drug epidemic in the United States has been killing 15,000 people every year from overdosing (Andrzejczyk 275). People have been losing their loved ones due to a culprit meant to help. The Pharma Purdue company who created the Oxycontin was responsible for starting the

There are a variety of stakeholders that have influence over the abuse and exploitation of controlled prescription medication, some are supporters and some are opponents. All levels of government are aware of this epidemic and have a role to play in supporting the reduction of controlled substance abuse. According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1999 to 2009 the number of deaths from narcotic pills almost quadrupled to 15,597, more than the combined number of deaths of heroin and cocaine abuse. “A renewed focus on drug prevention is a major component of the Obama Administration's effort to implement a public health approach to reducing drug abuse and its consequences. Research shows that preventing drug use before it begins is a cost-effective, common-sense approach to promoting safe and healthy communities.” (Community-based prevention, 2012) The government can play a critical role

The earliest human records attest to the fact that human beings have been using addictive narcotics since we were hunter-gatherers. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, physicians prescribed drugs like opium, morphine, cocaine and even heroin in the United States. (Crocq 355) Currently, these substances are either highly regulated or they are outright illegal. The irony here is that the the largest pharmaceutical companies or Big Pharma as they are better known, are selling the general public narcotics that are just as addictive and harmful as what the many gangs in the United States are selling to their customer base. The last statement may sound extreme, however, the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer are prescription drugs both in the United States and in Europe. (Gotzche 628) Unfortunately, these pharmaceutical companies are not satisfied with just making us addicts, they are also bankrupting the American consumer and our health care system. The statistics of deaths and the criminal practices of these pharmaceutical companies are distressing, however, it is not surprising since their main objective is to maximize profits. First, let us take a look at some of the offenders.

The controlled Substances Act regulates the manufacturing and distribution of certain drugs that may cause dependency. There are five “schedules” for controlled substances that are listed from the highest potential for addiction and abuse to the lowest potential fir addiction and abuse. Schedule 1 includes non prescription narcotics such as cocaine and heroin which are mostly street drugs; schedule 2 carries a high potential for abuse and addiction where only a DEA-licensed physician can prescribe drugs such as codeine and morphine; schedule 3 are drugs such as anabolic steroids that have a moderate to low potential for dependency and abuse; schedule 4 drugs would include alprazolam (xanax) and diazepam that have a lower potential for abuse and addiction; lastly, schedule 5 drug examples would be drugs such as oxycodone that have the lowest potential for addiction and abuse. In my opinion, as a future health care professional the basis of these regulations would be to lower the risk of drug abuse.

Prescription drug crisis has jumped since 1999 and continues to grow. According to “Los Angeles Times”, “There are two quite different stories about why there is a prescription drug crisis in the United States, and why opiate-related deaths have quadrupled since 1999.” “LA Times” also states, “ In fact only 1 in 130 prescriptions for opiate such as Oxycontin or Percocet in the United States results in addiction, according to the

It is likely that at some point in a person’s life it will be necessary to obtain medical assistance due to a chronic illness, injury, or sudden accident that requires a physician’s diagnosis and perhaps prescription medication. Although this very routine happening may be necessary, and at times critical, the adverse effects of taking prescription drugs that contain opioids can lead to an addiction, possible overdose, and death. The research contained continues the debated topic focusing on the connection between heroin addiction and massive numbers of people who developed a dependency after taking legally prescribed opioid pain medicine. The topic will be

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2016), substance abuse refers to “the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs.” The term substance abuse may congregate images of drugs, such as cocaine, alcohol, and tobacco. However, the current drug afflicting the United States are opioids. Opioids are a category of illegal drugs, which includes heroin and opium, and can be found in pain medications (National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIH], 2014). Since 2000, opioid abuse has increased 200% with more than 47,055 deaths from drug overdose in 2014 (Rudd, Aleshire, Zebell, & Gladden, 2016). Therefore, many of the national bills being introduced this legislation pertain to opioid abuse. Meanwhile