Opioid Overdose Research Paper

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 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.

Last year there were over 64,000 reported opioid-related deaths in the United States – making it the leading cause of accidental death in people under the age of 50 in this country (Katz). Opioids, also referred to as painkillers, have become a growing problem over the past two decades particularly in rural communities all across the country where the death rates are higher per capita compared to the death rate in cities (“America’s Opioid Epidemic is Worsening”). These narcotics, such as codeine, fentanyl, hydrocodone, morphine and oxycodone are extremely addictive and, as a result, this silent killer has quadrupled the overdose death toll since 1999

In Nolan and Amico’s article, “How Bad is the Opioid Epidemic?” they argue the opioid epidemic has become the worst drug crisis in American history. Heroin and other opioids overdose kill more than 47,055 people a year. Deaths caused from drug overdose has outnumber as much as 40 percent compared to the death caused from car crashes in 2014 (Nolan and Amico 3). Furthermore, in 1999 there were only 15000 people died from drug overdose. This number has tripled in 15 years. Also, in his article, “America’s Addiction to Opioids: Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse” Volkow also presents the fact that “with an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012 and an estimated 467,000 addicted to heroin. The consequences of this abuse have been devastating and are on the rise. For example, the number of unintentional overdose deaths from prescription pain relievers has

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 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.

There is no question that the alarming rate of deaths related to opioid overdose needs to be addressed in this county, but the way to solve the problem seems to remain a trial and error approach at this point. A patient is injured, undergoes surgery, experiences normal wear and tear on a hip, knee or back and has to live with that pain for the rest of their life or take a narcotic pain medication in order to improve their quality of life and at least be able to move. The above patients are what narcotic pain medications were created for, a population of people that use narcotic pain medications for fun is what is creating a problem. Narcotics are addictive to both populations, however taking the narcotic for euphoric reasons is not the intention of the prescription that the physician is writing. The healthcare system needs to find a way to continue to provide patients that experience chronic pain with the narcotics that work for them while attempting to ensure the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) doesn’t have to worry about a flood of pain pills hitting the streets by granting access to the population with a substance abuse problem.

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.

Opiates are derived by opium. Opium is a gummy substance collected from the seed of the opium poppy. This

Opioids are classified as opium like compounds; some (ex. codeine and morphine) exist naturally in opium, which is a gummy substance derived from the seedpod of the opium poppy, indigenous to Southern Asia. Other opioids are of the synthetic category, such as methadone or fentanyl (opioidaddictionsource.com). Though the use of prescription opioids may be well intended, due to their effect on the brain chemistry, it is fairly common for one to become addicted to them; America is amidst a raging prescription opioid epidemic, in fact.

Since 1999 to 2015 more than 183,000 people have died in the United States from overdose involving prescription opioids (www.CDC.gov). The number of deaths in the US, involving prescription opioids, has nearly quadrupled. The number of opioids overdose nearly equaled the number of deaths involved in a car accident and, surpassed gunshot homicides (www.CDC.gov). Death ages range from 45-years of age to 64-year-olds, and is highest among non-Hispanic whites, American Indian and non-Hispanic blacks. Kentucky was dealing with at least 50 overdose cases per day. At the National level, there are several states that had the highest unintentional deaths due to opioids and are predominantly rural states, such as West Virginia, New Mexico, Utah, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nevada, Kentucky and Tennessee (http://hhs.gov). Canada has become the second largest consumer of prescription opioids to the United States. Since 2007, 47,000 per year are due to drug overdose, and the numbers continue to grow. In 2015 has been a record high, in opioid overdose. Many doctors liberally

Naloxone is an FDA approved overdose reversal medication. Naloxone is a prescription medication that when administered to an individual experiencing an opioid-related overdose restores the individual to consciousness and normal breathing (NAMSDL.org, 2016). Naloxone is always effective when administered correctly (NAMSDL.org, 2016). Since 2000, the drug overdose rate involving opioids has increased 200% (NAMSDL.org, 2016). Treatment centers, physicians and first responders in the rural areas of the United States need more access to naloxone to prevent opioid-related overdose deaths. The U.S Surgeon General Vivek Murthy stated, “People find themselves in overdose situations don’t have to lose their lives because family members or emergency responders don’t have access to the reversal drug naloxone” (Wolf, 2016). Expanding access to rural areas can save lives and prevent deaths.

A family member, friend, or other individual who is in a position to assist an individual who is apparently experiencing or at risk of experiencing an opioid-related overdose, is not subject to criminal prosecution for a violation of section 4731.41 of the Revised Code or criminal prosecution under this chapter if the individual, acting in good faith, does all of the following:

Opioids can be divided into three categories: Opiates, Semi-Synthetic Opioids, and Synthetic Opioids. Opiates are derived directly from opium poppies. They include drugs such as Morphine and Codeine. Semi-Synthetic Opioids are derived from Opiates. They include many prescription painkillers such as Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone, Oxycodone, and Oxymorphone. However, this category also includes the illegal street drug Heroin. The third category is Synthetic Opioids, which are not derived from opiates and include drugs such as Fentanyl, Buprenorphine, and Methadone.

Opiates and opioids are narcotic pain medications that are highly addictive and deadly. Although these two drugs are nearly identical, there is one major difference that sets them apart from each other; Opiates are drugs that are obtained through opium, while opioids are drugs that are created synthetically, and are used to parallel the effects and key characteristics of that of opium (George F. Koob, Michael A. Arends, & Michel Le Moal, 2014).