How Opioids Affect Society

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Opioids have been apart of history since 3400 B.C (“A Brief History Of Opioids”). The first time the poppy plant was brought up was in Mesopotamia, and has been educated all over the world every since (“A Brief History Of Opioids”). Although some believe anesthetic drugs are useful, they have had negative effects of society because of their side effects, addiction related issues, and dependency in America.
Some would say anesthetic drugs are useful because they help treat people with pain. Which is true, but opioids have negative effects due to addiction. A statistic shows that, “In 2009, the abuse of prescription painkiller drugs accounted for more than 475,000 emergency room visits ” (“10 Opiate Addiction Statistics You Should Know About”). This shows that even though the opioids drugs help get rid of the pain many people they end up becoming addicted to them later on. Which can cause them to lead into harder substances such as heroin. “Data collected by the National Institute on Drug Abuse show as many as 4.2 million …show more content…

From the opioid drugs. One side effect is sedation,which can calm someone down or make them sleepy (“The Effects of Opiate Use”). This has affected society because of the side effects ,it changes people lives by calming them down it creates a escape from the reality a patient is in. Which can cause one to get heavily addicted and use them for a long period of time. The side effects from long opioid abuse are dependence,liver damage,brain damage (“The Effects of Opiates”). The brain damage can lead to respiratory depression as well according to the article called, “The Effects of Opiates”. This is important to society because it makes one realized that all drugs have side effects and Americans rely on the doctors making them feel safe. Not only is society affected by the side effects of anesthetic drugs, they are also affected because of the addiction related

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