One overdose every six hours. No, this is not the national average rate for opioid overdoses, this is the rate in which one individual overdosed on opioids in a single day. At one thirty in the afternoon, thirty-four year old Patrick Griffin was found by his dad lying on his bedroom floor passed out from a heroin overdose. Just an hour and a half later, at three o’clock, he overdosed again, but this time he became unconscious. Paramedics arrived at his house and revived him with Narcan, the antidote that blocks the effects of opioids in an overdose. A short hour later, at four o’clock, he overdosed again. He was found by his parents, just like before, unconscious. He was revived by paramedics yet again and taken to a hospital, but he checked …show more content…
When deciding the allotted amount of funds to distribute to each individual state, the state’s population is looked at, as opposed to taking into account the death rates. New Hampshire is one of the smaller populated states, but has the second highest opioid death rate in the country. In a statement given by NH State Senator Maggie Hassan, “it is critical that the new federal dollars are prioritized for states like New Hampshire that have been hardest hit” (Souter). It is unfair how States with larger populations get more funding than smaller states, even if they are affected more by drugs. One of the state’s biggest non-profit drug treatment centers, Hope for New Hampshire, was forced to close four out of its five treatment centers because of a lack of government funding (Garrova). As Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky said, “a safe place to congregate that has people with lived experience can be so necessary and empowering for people – especially in the early days of recovery” (Willingham). It is important that there be more government funding allocated to New Hampshire so that treatment centers like these may stay open to provide proper help and care for those suffering from opioid addiction. Despite the lack of funds, local organizations like the Manchester Fire Department are taking action to help provide care for those suffering from
On the typical day, over 90 people will die at the hand of opioid abuse in America alone (National). In fact, as of 2014, nearly 2 million Americans were dependent and abusing opioids. The Opioid Crisis has affected America and its citizens in various ways, including health policy, health care, and the life in populous areas. Due to the mass dependence and mortality, the crisis has become an issue that must be resolved in all aspects.
According to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, they have assessed the nation’s health system annually since 2003, reported that, in 2015 the health care delivery system has made progress to achieve the three aims of better care, smarter spending, and healthier people (City of White Plains Health Equity Report, 2017). However, they continue to promote health equality and reach the goal of New York State being the healthiest. But most importantly aiming to reduce or eliminate racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic health
About 435,000 Americans regularly use heroin, a large increase in the last decade. 28,000 deaths a year are attributed to opiate overdoses, 2,590 of which occur in Ohio. This causes an increase of children in government custody, law enforcement officers carrying naloxone, and overflow in treatment centers. Drug traffickers choose Ohio to avoid violence involved with drug trade in large cities. Clinics over-prescribed very addictive painkillers, but once law enforcement cracked down they became very expensive, giving the cheap drug heroin an advantage. Adam Conkey was prescribed with pain pills twenty years ago, which started him on the road to heroin. Conkey and his girlfriend, Natasha
The documentary states that over 27,000 deaths a year are due to overdose from heroin and other opioids. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015 prescription pain relievers account for 20,101 overdose deaths, and 12,990 overdose deaths are related to heroin (Rudd et al., 2010-2015). The documentary’s investigation gives the history of how the heroin epidemic started, with a great focus on the hospice movement. We are presented with the idea that once someone is addicted to painkillers, the difficulty in obtaining the drug over a long period of time becomes too expensive and too difficult. This often leads people to use heroin. This idea is true as a 2014 survey found that 94% of respondents who were being treated for opioid addiction said they chose to use heroin because prescription opioids were “more expensive and harder to obtain (Cicero et al., 2014).” Four in five heroin users actually started out using prescription painkillers (Johns, 2013). This correlation between heroin and prescription painkiller use supports the idea presented in the documentary that “prescription opiates are heroin prep school.”
...tistical data put forth that the phenomenon of using and manufacturing methamphetamine is rising in our country. The state of Kentucky, particularly the rural areas, is being taken over by the use and manufacturing of meth. This phenomenon is largely costing the tax payers, as well as, putting our future generation in jeopardy. This author feels it is important for the Kentucky Legislative to look at the numbers, the cost and proper treatment in order to deal with this large problem correctly. Passing one law to decrease the manufacturing by less than ten percent isn’t enough.
Opioids are used as pain relievers and although it does the job, there are adverse side effects. Opioids are frequently used in the medical field, allowing doctors to overprescribe their patients. The substance can be very addicting to the dosage being prescribed to the patient. Doctors are commonly prescribing opioids for patients who have mild, moderate, and severe pain. As the pain becomes more severe for the patient, the doctor is more likely to increase the dosage. The increasing dosages of the narcotics become highly addicting. Opioids should not be prescribed as pain killers, due to their highly addictive chemical composition, the detrimental effects on opioid dependent patients, the body, and on future adolescents. Frequently doctors have become carless which causes an upsurge of opioids being overprescribed.
In 2016, 2,816 Canadians died from opioid-related causes, and that number will likely surpass 3,000 in 2017. People across the nation are seeing their loved ones die for reasons that could have been avoided.
Heroin is one of the most dangerous drugs in the world. When using heroin, people run the risk of developing serious “infectious diseases” such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis (The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 2014, para 10). Above all, heroin use often results in death. The DEA Strategic Intelligence Section (2016), who prepared the 2016 National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary claims that heroin is the most fatal drug compared to other drugs because heroin related deaths occur at a much higher rate. In 2014 cocaine users outnumbered heroin users by about three and a half to one, yet there were twice as many heroin related deaths compared to that of cocaine (p. 9). One of the main causes of the large amount of death is a result of what dealers are lacing their heroin with. Fentanyl, a drug that is considered “50” to “100” times stronger than morphine (NIDA, 2016, para 1), is being used by dealers to mix in with their heroin in order to increase its effects and the quantity of their product. Because of how strong fentanyl-laced heroin is, the possibility of overdosing rises, which is the effect that numerous addicts seek out to attain. In the article “Spiked”, written by Maggie Lee (2015), Lieutenant Rick Mason from the Atlanta Police Department emphasizes, “… if somebody OD’s, that’s who [heroin addicts] want to buy their heroin from because it’s the strongest and it must be the best” (para 22). Heroin addicts chase the powerful batches, often asking around for the dealer selling the batch that is causing mass overdoses. Their high tolerance for heroin lead them to believe that they will not fall victim to a deadly overdose until it is too late. When these users consume what they think is their normal dose, the fentanyl kills them. Those unable to receive prescription medication from a doctor will argue that heroin is a cheap way to relieve pain. While heroin may help to
In the United States, opioid addiction rates have majorly increased . Between 2000-2015 more than half a million individuals have died from Opioid overdose, and nearly 5 million people have an opioid dependence which has become a serious problem. The Center for Disease control reports that there are 91 deaths daily due to opioid abuse. Taking opioids for long periods of time and in
state epidemic and every day, more than 90 Americans die after overdosing on opioids. Drug
State and local public health departments throughout the country have the responsibility for improving health in workplaces, schools, and communities through identifying top health problems within society and developing a plan to improve. Barriers the public health system has encountered over the years include: changes in the overall health system that support cost containment and improved health, and an increase in the number of individuals with insurance coverage for direct preventive services; reduction of qualified public health professional and funding at all levels of government; increasing focus on accountability, with higher expectations for demonstrating a return on investment in terms of cost and health improvement (Trust, 2013). In the near future, health departments ...
It involves the mental, physical, emotional, and medical domains of the individual’s life, but due to the fact that many of these services are publicly funded, gaps exist. Cox (2007) reported that “community resources were generally perceived as inadequate. None of our participants had ready access to social workers in the office, so arranging home health care, adult day care, and other community services added to the difficulty of primary care” (p. 82). Not only are the services and programs inadequate, recent economic dilemmas and ‘recession’ has reduced public spending to meager allowances. Another sore problem is Medicare and general health care programs for the less wealthy. This was the sentiment echoed by one physician interviewed: “If you told me I had to run this place on the basis of what I get from Medicare, I would have to tell you I couldn’t do it, which is kind of sad, because they claim that they’re bankrupt and everything. Where in the hell are they spending their money? They sure ain’t giving it to
Attention getter: As quoted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an average of three Oregonians dies every week from prescription opioid overdose, and many more develop opioid use disorder.
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. Not to mention the fact that the doctors who prescribe these opioids often tend to misuse them as well. Abusing these prescribed drugs can “destroy dreams and abort great destinies," and end the possibility of the abuser to have a positive impact in the community.
Providing higher funds to gambling addiction clinics is one solution to the problem of gambling addiction. Clinics are important because they offer services to addicted people to help them get over their addiction. Six months after clinical treatment, 80 percent of people say they either don’t gamble or gamble much less (1). Sufficient amounts of free clinics is the key to decreasing the number of problem gamblers. “For the first time, we don’t have enough money to meet the growing demand of free clinics,” said Jeffrey Marotta, a clinical psychologists who manages problem gambling services for the Oregon Department of Human Services (1). In Washington, a state-funded treatment program for problem gamblers was started in 2002, but it ran out of money the next year (1). It is obvious that same states have a need for more clinics. Providing higher funding to create more clinics is the issue.