Essay On Overdose

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 the number of overdoses grow along with the people who pick up drugs. From 2010 to 2015 the number of deaths caused by overdose tripled. Out of the 7 billion people 13.5 million take opioids or use heroin. Overdoses are becoming more and more common around the world. In Europe every 4 out of 5 deaths were caused by opioids. In

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).

The rate of death due to prescription drug abuse in the U.S. has escalated 313 percent over the past decade. According to the Congressional Quarterly Transcription’s article "Rep. Joe Pitt Holds a Hearing on Prescription Drug Abuse," opioid prescription drugs were involved in 16,650 overdose-caused deaths in 2010, accounting for more deaths than from overdoses of heroin and cocaine. Prescribed drugs or painkillers sometimes "condemn a patient to lifelong addiction," according to Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This problem not only affects the lives of those who overdose but it affects the communities as well due to the convenience of being able to find these items in drug stores and such.

Opioids are killing Americans throughout the world and also decreasing their lifespans overall. According to a medical report from JAMA Opioids take about 3 months off of our lives. In 2015 life expectancy in the US decreased since the year 1993. Deaths from drug overdose continue to get higher and according to The Center for Disease control there were 64,000 deaths from a drug overdose in 2016. The amount of deaths related to Opioid’s has multiplied by four since 1999. One of the main causes for opioid overdose deaths has been from heroin and fentanyl. According to the CDC Fentanyl is the number one cause of opioid overdose. (CNN)

Other than drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine, prescription drugs also contribute to the overdose rate in New Mexico. In an article about New Mexico’s drug deaths, it included that the “state needs to step up efforts to curb addiction, including better monitoring of prescription painkillers.” (Uyttebrouck) Prescription opioids were the leading cause of death

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

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

Additionally, opioid medications are the primary cause for overdose deaths in the United States. According to the Weekly Standard, “In 2014, the most recent year for which we have measurements, 47,055 Americans died from drug-induced deaths, with almost 29,000 dying from opioids…” (2), a figure that includes illicit synthetics, heroin, and prescriptions. From 2015 to 2016 in Maryland, fentanyl deaths rose by 268 percent and heroin deaths by sixty eight percent. Fentanyl has contributed to this dramatic increase in OD deaths because of its potency and lethality. It only takes two milligrams of fentanyl to kill a human. In fact, a single kilogram of fentanyl is capable of killing 500,000 people (Murray, Blake, and Walters 2). More than 30,000 opioid deaths occurred for the first time ever in 2015, which is 5,000 more than in 2014. Since the 1990s, heroin deaths had not surpassed prescription opioids (oxycodone and hydrocodone) until now. In 2007, gun homicides outnumbered heroin deaths at a rate of five to one, however at the height of the epidemic, now heroin OD deaths outnumber gun homicides (Ingraham 2). It is obvious that these unprecedented levels of drug deaths are derived from the opioid epidemic and need immediate attention.

The misuse of opioids has been around for over 20 years in the United States. In a 2017 article “Opioid Crisis”, it states that in the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies misled healthcare providers by informing them that patients would not become addicted to opioid painkillers. As a result, healthcare providers too liberally prescribed opioid pain relievers. Opioid abuse rates started to climb and it was clear that these medications were highly addictive. According to Volkow, Frieden, Hyde, and Cha (2014), between 1990 and 2010 death rates from prescription opioid overdose quadrupled in the United States. This surpassed the death rates from cocaine and heroin overdoses combined. Furthermore, they state that the epidemic is a result

The rate of poisonings associated with drug overdoses has been on the rise, especially concerning those involving opioids (Paulozzie, Budnitz, & Xi, 2006). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not mince words regarding the status of opioid utilization in the United States: ?The United States is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic? (CDC, 2016). Opioids are now the most common cause of prescription drug use deaths (Rudd et al., 2016). Even as overdoses associated with the more historic killers such as heroin and cocaine increased, opioid overdoses rose the fastest between 1990 and 2002 (Paulozzi, Budnitz, and Xi, 2006). The prescription opioid epidemic contradicts traditional assumptions of drug use being a problem with illicit drugs: a majority of those who overdosed had a prescription for their cause of death (Kolondy et al., 2015). As asserted by Paulozzi et al., ?licit drugs have therefore recently replaced illicit drugs as the most common cause of fatal poisonings in the US? (2006, p 624). Further, it is important to note that these numbers represent just a fraction of the problem of prescription opioid abuse. Other adverse impacts associated with the epidemic of prescription opioid abuse include non-fatal hospitalizations and infants born addicted to opioids (Kolondy et al., 2015).

In the United States, 40 people die across each day due to overdosing on narcotic prescription medicine. One of the most commonly abused prescriptions is opioids painkillers such as Vicodin and codeine. Another medicine to treat anxiety and sleep aids such as Valiums and Xanax. Other abused prescriptions are stimulants to treat Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder (ADHD) like Adderall and Ritalin. When the overdose first became a problem, 60 percent of NC prescription overdose victims were dying before the arrival of emergency medical

The CDC reports that “66 percent of drug overdose deaths involved an opioid. In 2016, the number of overdose deaths involving opioids was five times higher than in 1999. From 2000 to 2016, more than 600,000 people died from drug overdoses.” That means that at least someone reading this will at least know a family member, neighbor, friend, or even you that is currently facing the opioid addiction.

The misuse and abuse of prescription medications in the United States remains high, but few people are aware of just how big the problem really is. According to ASAM American Society of Addiction Medicine, "Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 55,403 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Opioid addiction is causing this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and also overdose deaths relating to heroin". Opioids are drugs which are prescribed to relieve pain. With continued use, the pain-relieving effects lessen and pain can become worse, so the body can develop dependence on the use of opioid. Opioid dependence causes withdrawal symptoms, which makes it difficult to stop taking

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention 44 people die each day in the United States of America due to an overdose of a prescription painkiller (“Joining the Fight”, n.d.). A staggering 2.1 million people in the United States suffer from substance abuse disorders and the number of people using opioids for nonmedical uses is continuing to rise (Volkow, 2014). Who is to blame for these outrageous numbers? I believe that the patient and the pharmaceutical companies are to blame for this on-growing problem. Some of the largest contributing factors to these growing statistics is that the pharmaceutical companies have very aggressive marketing of the medicines, which in turn leads to a rising number of prescriptions written for