Overdosed On Drugs: A Narrative Fiction

Drug overdose from medications designed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are on the rise. This is likely due to an overwhelming amount of children, nearly 3 million, prescribed medication for ADHD each year (Spiller, Hays, & Aleguas, 2013). ADHD affects nearly 10% of the national population and is rising due to newer diagnostic criteria (Levine, et al., 2013). In the past, ADHD was only diagnosed in school aged children, but new studies suggest that diagnosis can be made in the preschool age as well (Levine, et al., 2013). Because of the new age criteria affecting more young children, the number of prescription of ADHD drugs will rise each year which will increase the amount of ADHD prescription overdose (Adis, 2014).

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

Every year thousands of people die from an overdose, leaving behind friends and family. Once someone starts using drugs they get addicted and they can't stop. They will go out of their way to get drugs and will do anything to use. People go against their family and friends and end up caring about themselves and nothing else. Being addicted to drugs is like having a disease that is very hard to get rid of.

There is no cookie cutter heroin user. In fact, many of heroin’s newest addicts are in their teens or early 20s; many also come from middle- or upper-middle-class suburban families. Heroin is a dangerous drug that has many different “street names” such as Smack, Mud, Dope, Dragon, and Junk. The scientific names are diacetylmorphine or morphine diacetate, also known as diamorphine.

As we learned in class last week, victimless crime can be one of many things. Victimless crime is defined as a crime taking place where there are no harmful injuries done from one person to another. Instead, the damage being done is committed by the individual who is committing the crime. Some examples of a victimless crime are, Drug use, prostitution, gambling, suicide, traffic citations and trespassing.

The United States is currently in the midst of an Opioid overdose epidemic. Deaths from overdoses of prescription drugs continue to be the leading cause of unintentional death for Americans. Last year, 47,055 people died from drug overdoses - 1.5 times greater than the number killed in car crashes. Overdose is an excessive and very dangerous dose of a drug. Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically, they are primarily used for pain relief. The most commonly prescribed opioid medications are Vicodin, OxyContin, and Percocet. Drug overdoses can be either accidental or intentional. They occur when a person takes more than the medically recommended dose. Treatments for overdose include medications

Opiate overdose may cause significant failure to health, physical distress, breathing damage and increase mortality and morbidity. Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle aches, periodontal disease, osteomalacia and osteoporosis [6-10]. Low bone mass has also been reported in opioid-dependent individuals

“Not good,” he replied softly, before sipping his coffee. “We had the same experience, she said nothing to us, showed no interest in anything…what about drugs?”

The boy suddenly spoke, “Don't worry. They stopped drugging you a few days ago. That’s just to give your body nutrients. Just close your eyes. And don’t make a scene when they come back, or they’ll drug you again.”

How does Temazepam work, and what are the indications for its prescription? What are the onset, duration and peak of the drug?

The doctor yelled at security as the patient convulsed uncontrollably on the ED bed. I watched as the officers grabbed her arms and legs, and secured them to the bed with a belt. There were very prominent track marks running down her arm and obvious burn marks on her lips and fingers. The patient had been brought in for a reported methamphetamine overdose, but what should have been a straightforward central line insertion crawled on for more than 15 minutes. I witnessed the doctor take quick action, giving the patient haloperidol and a benzodiazepine. It was incredible to see the amount of training, knowledge, and skill the doctor possessed, ultimately saving this patient’s life. Though this patient survived, this type of situation

“You don’t just feed junk to someone after two months of-” He cut himself off, groaning and rubbing his temples. It didn’t look like the coffee was doing much for him.

There is a total of about 250,000 illegal drug use deaths yearly around the world. (Statistics on Drugs n.d.) Drug overdose was responsible for 41,340 deaths in the US in 2011. It is estimated that more than 70,000 lives were lost to drug overdoses in European Union countries in the first decade of the 21st Century. European Union nations reported 6,100 overdose deaths in 2012. Nearly four Australians die every day from overdose. Overdoses out-numbered road fatalities in Australia in 2012. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics overdose deaths totaled 1,427 in 2012.

Hearing what drugs or abuse of drugs did to her definitely makes me not want to do them. I will stay out of drugs and other harmful things that can hurt me and my body. I’m saying no to drugs now and no to drugs

Heroin use and overdose related deaths have increased considerably in the United States in recent years (Jones, Logan, Gladden, & Bohm, 2015). The results of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health [NSDUH] (2014), showed in the year 2013, approximately 517,000 Americans abused heroin, which was almost a 150 percent increase since 2007 (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2014). According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIDA] (2014), in the year 2011, 4.2 million people who were twelve years of age or older said they used heroin at least once in their lifetime. Furthermore, data from NSDUH showed approximately 460 people, twelve years of age or older, used heroin each day in 2013 (Lipari and Hughes, 2015). An even more frightening statistic is death rates doubled for people who were twelve years of age or older as a result of heroin overdose in the years 2010 through 2012 (Hedegaard, Chen, and Warner, 2015).