Effects Of Opiate Dependence

Opioid use in the US has increased over the years, and this has led to an increase in substance abuse. Substance abuse is not only associated with use of illicit drugs but also prescription drugs. In 2015, of the 20.5 million reported cases of substance abuse, 2 million had an abuse disorder related to prescription pain relievers and 591,000 associated with heroin.1 The increase in substance abuse disorder has led to an increase in opioid related death. In 2015 drug overdose was the leading cause of accidental death in the US with 52, 404 lethal drug overdoses.2

Opioid abuse in America is a current health issue, like any other, where we view the problem from an analytical standpoint. While the numbers are devastating my main motivation for choosing this study comes from an emotionally driven place. Personally, I’ve known people who have been sucked into the addictive effects of opioids and, for years, it has affected an entire family’s, that I am close to, life from one person’s abuse of opioids. An example that many don’t think of when they imagine opioid abuse is how a simple mother could go from being an ordinary housewife to an opioid abuser, where her children are too scared to bring friend’s back home due to their mother’s state, and how she’s devolved into a person who steals from her

Analysis: Opioids are a class of drug that are medically used as very effective painkillers, like fentanyl and morphine, however, they are highly addictive and produce a feeling of euphoria (“Opioids”). This combination leads do a lot of abuse and dependency, where people take more than prescribed in order to feel better. People start off taking the opioid painkillers in order to not feel pain as prescribed by their doctors. Then, they end up getting addicted to them. There are also illicit opioids, such as heroin, that are also highly addictive and also lead to dependency and death (“Opioids”). These illicit versions are taken for recreational reasons, and are also often mixed with other drugs. The combination of taking an unregulated drug in conjunction with other drugs leads to a lot of overdoses.

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.

After reviewing this article, I have determined that the dimensions of health involved with this issue are physical, environmental, and intellectual. For starters, this issue affects a person's physical health because it causes the body to deteriorate until eventually the person dies. Those who become addicted fail to take proper care of their body with healthy products but rather ingest harmful ones. Another dimension involved is environmental because depending where a person lives will depend how accessible these painkillers are. In an area where a doctor over prescribes painkillers, or people illegally sell painkillers, there should be a higher addiction rate because painkillers are easier to obtain. The final dimension involved

I would like to thank my friends, Sarah Erwin and Anntasia for helping me review and edit my essay.

Prescription opioid abuse not only affects the abusers, but it also affects the families of abusers. An example of this is a women named Erin Daly. She wrote a personal narrative story about her experience after her teenage brother overdosed on opioids. Erin gave up her career as a legal reporter to research for an answer on why opioid addiction is becoming a widespread problem in adolescents and young adults. Finally, Erin got ahold of her brother’s journal and saw how his problem that started with gateway drugs, then to prescription opioids from the street, and ended in a lethal overdose of IV heroine. Erin Daly wrote, “ In 2011, 4.2 million Americans ages 12 or older reported using heroin at least once in their lives, and like my brother,

Apart from the medical impact of the opioid epidemic, the epidemic also has a big economic impact. 420 billion dollars a year is the estimated cost on our nation in the form of healthcare costs, crime and lost economic productivity relating to substance abuse disorders like opiate abuse. 81 billion dollars a year is the estimated cost, drug abuse imposes on employers. These are just a few numbers that show the huge financial consequences caused by the opioid

In the United States, there has been upward swing of opioid abuse over the past decade. Overdose deaths involving opioids – both prescription pain relievers and heroin – almost quadrupled between 1999 and 2014. Well-intentioned efforts to curb prescription opioid abuse have yielded new policies with unfortunate, unforeseen consequences for the 15% of the US population that suffer from chronic pain – nearly 45 million people.

Nonmedical Prescription-Opioid abuse in the United States and Michigan has continued to rise, and with it, the devastating results that accompany it. Research has shown that increased opioid abuse leads to an increase in overdose and death, increases in crime and increased incidences of costly blood borne diseases like HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis. It also leads to increased societal costs, such as an increasing number of children in foster care and increased healthcare, workplace and criminal justice costs that can decimate communities and local budgets. Many communities were caught with their heads in the sand, as they were overwhelmed by the influx of prescription opioids into their communities. When policies were finally implemented to curb the amount of prescription opioids in their communities, rates of heroin use (also an opioid) began to skyrocket and people began realizing they had an opioid epidemic on their hands. How to combat this heroin epidemic has been the topic of many debates. This article will attempt to examine the relationship of nonmedical prescription-opioid abuse and its effects on heroin use.

Have you ever thought about doing drugs? If so you're not the first, but you probably didn't think about how it could affect you and your life. In 2016 63,600 people didn’t think of the consequences and ended up dying from overdosing in the United States. 42,249 deaths involved an opioid. Opioids are drugs made to replicate opium. They both include legal painkillers like morphine, oxycodone, or hydrocodone prescribed by doctors. The problem with opioids has been growing for years and its growing with each year. The misuse of and addiction of opioids is a serious national crisis. It effects public health as well as social and economic welfare.

Opioids and opioid addiction obviously effect those who find themselves abusing such drugs both legally and illegally. Arguably one of the worst effects of opioids is the destruction of the family unit. One thing that holds true is, no matter what type of family structure one lives in, every person in the family (both immediate and sometimes extended) is effected by the trauma of a family members abuse. Abuse can diminish a family’s financial, physical, and mental well-being.4 Any family of an opioid abuser is traumatized; however lower class families suffer the most. The financial instability and often nontraditional unit structure of lower class families renders them venerable to the negative constructs of opioid addiction.

The first written mention of opiates is believed to have come from third-century B.C. Greek culture and the writings of philosopher Theopphrastus. By this time, people had discovered that drying the poppy plant's extracted fluid created a highly powerful drug which would become known as opium. The first opiates are believed to have been cultivated during the Neolithic period in what is now known as Switzerland. The settlements in this area cultivated Papaver which was a source of poppy seeds. Many historians agree that these early individuals discovered the narcotic effect of the poppy plant and therefore were the first users of opiates (Rosen, 2009). Opiate analgesics have been used by humans for thousands of

The term “opioid” refers to the family of chemicals which are semi and fully synthesized from the opium poppy. These substances bind the opioid receptors not allowing pain signals to get to the brain, making these drugs the most advanced treatment in pain available in the country. Currently, the United States is facing one of the biggest epidemics in history related to substance abuse. Abusing opiates could end up in physical and psychological dependence (fancy words for addiction), in addition I have to clarify that drug addiction is a disorder not a disease. Drug addiction disorder is the cause of a lot of the deaths annually in the world. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2014), “78 daily deaths are

This leads to an increase in criminal activity such as neglect of familial duties, robberies to fund their dependency, and violence to defend their habits. The ‘drugee’ becomes a nuisance to society. Some become homeless and exhibit poor health habits such as malnutrition and tooth decay. Other negative effects include the transference of diseases because of needle sharing. Though drug use is a personal choice, the effects on the rest of society are undeniable. The best intentions are formulated on a personal level, but this is overcastted by its negative effects. This argument, however, is a bit one-sided because the reason for using and dependency varies between users.