Narcotic Epidemic In America Essay

Mike Alstott knows first-hand how opioids, when used correctly, can play an important role in managing pain and helping people to function, but he is also keenly aware of the growing crisis of opioid misuse and overdose. More American adults are dying from misusing prescription narcotics than ever before. An estimated 35 people die every day in the U.S. from accidental prescription painkiller overdoses resulting from things like not taking a medication as directed or not understanding how multiple

Opioids are being over prescribed in the United States resulting in increased deaths by drug overdose. Pain medication strategies are being looked into as substitutes for pain management. Over decades, the amount of medicine being prescribed has more than tripled. State policies regarding the medication were implemented and who'd a small decrease in the likelihood of opioid prescriptions. Nationally, death rates are on the rise. Studies monitoring prescription drugs do not account for illegal opioids and manufactured fentanyl. While not mentioned in this article, there is a possible correlation between young people prescribed opioids and illegal drug use seeing that overdoses are common in patients already abusing their prescription medication, yet overdose death being most common after

The drug epidemic in America is a growing problem and continuing to take hundreds of lives everyday, particularly opioids. These highly addictive drugs are taking the world by storm and claiming thousands of life with no remorse. The pharmaceutical industry is making millions off the addiction and pain of the American people causing a widespread of drug overdoses and deaths all across the United States. According to The New York Times, “Public Health officials have called the current opioid epidemic the worst drug crisis in American history, killing more than 33,00 people in 2015.” (Scott Morgan) Addiction, money, and the vulnerability all play a part in the opioid widespread epidemic.

According to the guidelines, there are three important principles to follow for the improvement of patient safety and care. Non-Opioid therapy is suggested if patients are non cancer chronic pain patients or in hospice care. Additionally, if opioids are needed, the lowest dose possible for the shortest amount of time is recommended to reduce risk of opioid overdose. Lastly, clinicians must monitor all patients carefully when they prescribe them opioid analgesics. Prescription opioid use is not solely the responsibility of the health care providers. There are a few guidelines patients should follow regarding chronic pain to ensure their safety. Patients should become informed about prescription opioids and learn the risk factors involved. Before going to the doctor about pain, they should consider physical activity, non opioid medications, or cognitive behavioral therapy before automatically thinking they are in need of painkillers (CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids). Continuing education (CE) is another regulation. While Continued Medical Education (CME) is required in most states in the U.S. for physicians every ten years, there should be a continuing pain medicine education requirement for all physicians due to the heavy increase in prescription

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

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 addiction is a condition that is preventable as well as one which individuals display several noticeable risk factors before the actual addiction prognosis to the point of causing death. There is a strong correlation between the early misuse of prescription opioids, which are prescribed for non-cancer pain management, and the development of a dependence on such opioids. Early detection of risk factors such as the misuse of opioids that are prescribed will help indicate that a patient is developing an addiction.1 Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers must closely monitor patients and the rate at which opioids are consumed as well as refilled.

Talking to the doctor about all the choices available will ensure the method of pain management which suits the patient best to be chosen. Discussing any side effects of opioid use can determine whether or not prescription painkillers are the right option for the patient (CDC, 2017). Furthermore, pharmacists can help patients understand opioid use and how they should be taken (NIDA, 2017). Following the pharmacist’s instructions, a patient will understand when to take opioids, how much to take, proper storage, and proper disposal (CDC, 2017). The increase of communication amongst these people can allow patients to safely take opioids, minimizing the risk of

Patients would regularly take their prescribed opioid medications in order to relieve the symptoms of their pain. In

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

Living with pain is a daily struggle for many among us. We as a society push our bodies past the breaking point and live to tell the tale through opioid pain relievers. What did the many generations before opioids were created do, how was the pain relieved? That’s easy enough to answer they lived with it, or they didn’t. Medical and pharmaceutical interventions have come a long way in the treatment and management of pain, so much so that now we have run into another problem, the epidemic of opioid addiction and abuse. Out of this problem a far greater problem is being seen and that is the health risks associated with any drug used in a recreational form.

Mandated limits on opioid prescriptions for acute pain offers the promise of advancing the safe use of these medications in two ways. First, it will reduce the exposure of first time users to these addictive substances following episodes of acute pain. For some patients who come to misuse opioids, the euphoria or sedating effects of these medications are initially experienced in the context of routine medical care. There are countless anecdotes of patients who take opioids for a minor orthopedic injury or some other acute pain condition and then go on to use prescription opioids non-medically. A recent population-based study suggested that 6% of incident opioid users progress to long-term use.4 Another study found that patients who received opioids following minor surgery were 44% more likely to become long-term opioid users compared to those who did not.5 Decreasing the initial amount dispensed may potentially lessen the risk that patients develop an affinity for these drugs and transition to chronic use or misuse.

In 2008, prescription drugs spending was $234.1 billion, almost 6 times the $40.3 billion spent in 1990. Moreover, 70% of Americans were found taking at least one prescription drug and more than half of those patients were already on two or more prescription drugs. As a result, drugs-related deaths have become the fourth leading cause of death in America, and one of the biggest culprit is the overprescribing of opioid pain medications. The use of hydrocodone and oxycodone, the two most common opioids, by Americans is frightening. In fact, statistics show that 99% and 80% of the world’s use of hydrocodone and oxycodone respectively are done by Americans. Thus, the rate of death due to opioids overdose has quadrupled since 1999. In most cases, opioid pain medications are usually reserved specifically for cancer patients or patients in hospice care when their pain becomes unbearable. Opioids can also be used for a maximum of three days to relieve short-term pain, but a survey from the National Safety Council showed that almost all of the doctors prescribe the medications for a longer period of time and disturbingly, 20% percent of the doctors put their patients on the pills for one month. I believe this isn’t due to bad intention from the doctors. They just want to help their patient feel better but they’ve underestimated the addiction that comes hand in

Chronic non-cancer pain is a condition that need different alternatives in order to be treated while some patients could respond efficiently to some medications some others not. Nevertheless, in the market there are available enough options that offer a variety of strategies to treat pain, including opioids. Conversely, in the last years an increase in the abuse of pain reliever drugs containing opioids has increased alarmingly some specialist have termed it as “opioid abuse epidemic”.

In order to understand the relationship between narcotizing the masses and the possibility of progressive change in the US, one has to take a look at the reason behind the phenomenon of controlling the masses. To understand narcotizing the masses, one has to look at it from a critical point of view. One way to look at this phenomenon is by using critical theory to dissect narcotizing the masses.