Heroin Is The Most Addictive And Habit

Opioid addiction is so prevalent in the healthcare system because of the countless number of hospital patients being treated for chronic pain. While opioid analgesics have beneficial painkilling properties, they also yield detrimental dependence and addiction. There is a legitimate need for the health care system to provide powerful medications because prolonged pain limits activities of daily living, work productivity, quality of life, etc. (Taylor, 2015). Patients need to receive appropriate pain treatment, however, opioids need to be prescribed after careful consideration of the benefits and risks.

Opioid drugs are some of the most widespread pain medications that we have in this country; indeed, the fact is that opioid analgesic prescriptions have increased by over 300% from 1999 to 2010 (Mitch 989). Consequently, the number of deaths from overdose increased from 4000 to 16,600 a year in the same time frame (Mitch 989). This fact becomes even more frightening when you think about today; the annual number of fatal drug overdoses in the Unites States now surpasses that of motor vehicle deaths (Alexander 1865). Even worse, overdose deaths caused by opioids specifically exceed those attributed to both cocaine and heroin combined (Alexander 1865).

In the early 1990’s many doctors were hesitant in prescribing narcotics because they were seen as harmful and habit forming. Purdue Pharma the creator of OxyContin changed the ways of the drug industry. Purdue changed the mindset of many physicians and family doctors inconveniencing them that the new to the market drug was revolutionary, with promises of quick pain relief that last up to 12 hours. With marketing adds like “Remember, effective relief just takes two” Purdue Pharma convinced doctors that it was virtually impossible to become addicted (HARRIET RYAN, 2016). The rise of OxyContin started in 1996. OxyContin

The opioid epidemic in America continues to grow at an alarming rate with no end in sight. All narcotics are derived from the opium poppy plant and then manufactured into different forms of drugs such as morphine, heroin, and other pharmaceutical and synthetic opioid drugs sold on the market for pain. Opium derived drugs block and suppress pain by binding to and stimulating the natural receptor sites for endorphins found in the central nervous system of a user’s brain. Patients who are prescribed narcotic drugs can quickly become addicted to the drugs because their body’s will stop producing endorphins and instead

In fact, there was thought to be more of a need for them. Before the last two decades, opioids were used for cancer related or acute pain. However, in the 1990s chronic non cancer patients got attention because people nationally felt there was a shortage in patients receiving opioids, thus making them deprived of adequate pain management. Because of this, clinicians were encouraged to treat chronic non-cancer pain and patients in hospice care more often than they were used to. It was also encouraged to use high doses of opioids for long periods of time (Cheatle). The idea that providers seemed overly cautious about these medications caused a large increase in opioid prescriptions from health care providers. Threat of tort and litigation for some doctors that were deemed for not prescribing enough to alleviate pain of patients was also a concern for doctors This quickly turned a shortage of prescription opioids into a national prescription opioid abuse epidemic in under twenty years. From 1999 to 2010, the amount of prescription opioids sold to hospitals, pharmacies, and doctors offices quadrupled, and three times the number of people overdosed on painkillers in this time (Garcia). While some patients have benefitted from the increased sales and loose guidelines of prescription opioid analgesics, the increasing in opioid misuse, abuse, and overdose is truly daunting. As a nation, we need to back track, and

Doctors and clinical prescribers have discovered their role in curtailing the increased opioid prescriptions in America. It is without a doubt that they play a role in facilitating the opioid misuse endemic in the past by being enablers of the situations. When patients ask for pain medications, they do not take time to analyze the pain complaints or suggest alternative medications other than opioids. Even in instances when one doctor declines to offer a patient an opioid prescription for their pain needs, the patient is likely to find another who will give the prescription. However, there has been wide recognition of the opioid misuse endemic such that clinical prescribers are practicing more vigilant prescribing and are advocating opioid-free

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.

Although addiction and overdose of opioids was not declared an epidemic by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) until 2011, the beginning of the epidemic can be traced back as early as the 1980’s when attention in medical care began to turn toward pain management. By the early 2000’s the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations named pain “the fifth vital sign,” implying that pain is as important clinically as pulse rate, temperature, respiration rate, and blood pressure (Wilson, 2016). At the same time, there has been an emphasis change from patient wellness to patient satisfaction metrics. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Advil, Aleve, or aspirin have raised safety their own safety concerns, contributing to increased use of opioids. The lack of patient access to and insurance coverage for chronic pain management specialists or alternative healing therapies also contributes to the opioid epidemic (Hawk,

Opioid abuse, misuse and overdose is a problem in The United States. You can’t turn on the TV or read a newspaper without some mention of the epidemic. This issue has caused the practice of prescribing or taking narcotic pain medication to be looked at under a microscope. Patients are fearful to use some necessary pain medication, because they may become addicted. Other patients who genuinely do have pain and need medication are having a tougher time obtaining the help they need. The problem of abuse and addiction is tough to solve since for some people the medications are the only way they can function and live a semi-normal life. A patient with pain may be hesitant to visit the doctor and

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.

Statistics for the growing prescription opioid abuse problem are alarming. Prescription analgesics are the second highest dispensed drug in the healthcare system. (Younger, et al., 2011). In 1991, approximately 76 million prescriptions were written for opioids. By 2011, that number had grown to 219 million (Jamison & Mao, 2015). Around 63 million people in the U.S. have used nonmedical prescription

Next, there is an extensive history of opioid use for pain management, and other symptom management as well. Morphine can be traced back to Civil War veterans trying to manage pain and, consequently, being addicted. “‘Drugs were already on the scene and being consumed at alarming rates long before the start of the war,’ said Mark A Quinoes, a scholar who studied drug abuse during the Civil War.” It was not until 1898 that heroin was on the market for commercial sale, considered a “wonder drug,” it began to spread in use along with users that found out injecting it would increase its effects. There was little known about these new opioids, they were even used as cough suppressants. Heroin worked for what is was being used as, a pain suppressant, and there were few other options. In 1914 the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act imposed a tax on importing and selling opium or coca leaves. In 1924 doctors were avoiding using opioids after being aware of their addictive nature which lead heroin becoming illegal. Without this opioid, doctors had to get creative when treating World War II soldiers, this sparked research into nerve blockers. These nerve blockers managed pain without the use of surgery. This was, unfortunately, not the end of the opioid. While these results were shocking the pharmaceutical industry still faces much leniency from the federal

Opiates have been commonly used in the United States for several decades. During the late 19th century opium and morphine became regular ingredients in a lot of widespread patent medicines (Spohn & Belenko, 2015, p. 25). Since then, the use and abuse of opiates has been a serious epidemic that has been growing at a fast pace in the United States for many years now. Every day roughly forty-one people die from overdoses which are related to prescription painkilling drugs in the United States (Clark, 2014, p. 1).

Death by drug overdose is quickly becoming a leading cause of death in the United States, surpassing deaths from automobile accidents and firearm related deaths in 2013. Prior to the 1990’s, opioid medications were only used to treat severe pain, mostly pain due to severe accidents, surgery or cancer. This changed when Purdue Pharmaceuticals initiated an aggressive, misleading campaign for their new powerful opioid drug Oxycontin. Alleged to be a non-addictive wonder drug suitable for almost any type of pain, Oxycontin flooded the market. Pain management lobbyist, funded by the U.S. opioid manufacturers were able to convince the medical community to ease the restrictions on prescribing opioids. The use of opioids for commonplace ailments from

Opioids are pain relievers that bind to opioid receptors on nerve cells throughout the body. They produce feelings of euphoria, tranquility and sedation. However, opioids are “considered the most harmful of all illicit drugs” (Amato et al., 2005, p.321).