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Opioids in the united states essays
Opioids in the united states essays
Opioids in the united states essays
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More than ninety people a day in America overdose on opioids. People have become so dependent on them and the high they give people. Opioids are a class of drugs that include illegal heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and pain relievers. Around eleven and half million Americans age twelve and up have reported misusing prescription drugs. That is a sad fact, Americans are dying and leaving behind innocent children due to their addiction. Which leads us to the million dollar question, what is our government doing about the crisis? Our government has just began to take a stand. This crisis needs attention brought to it and people need to take a stand. Enough is enough, it’s time we stand up and end this crisis. This crisis hits very close to home. Southwest Virginia is in the top four jurisdictions for opioid abuse. Opioids cause the brain to …show more content…
That statement is just hard to understand, because so many people are affected by it. You may feel good at the time but, the person taking it doesn’t understand the harm that they are putting on not just themselves but, loved ones as well. People say opioids are helpful and to some people they are. The people that don’t abuse them should be able to use them. It’s not fair to the people that really need the medication. The people abusing it don’t realize that there are actual people that need help and need to the relief that the medication provides. This is the stand that a lot of Americans need to understand that we do not need to take opioids from the people that do not use them for a bad person. Some people think that it would be an unfair situation. I think the only way to solve this problem would be that doctor’s only write this presciption to the people that only need them for their own health and well being. If we just give them to the people that do not abuse them then America would have one of our many problems solved in a matter of
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.
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.”
Almost one hundred years ago, prescription drugs like morphine were available at almost any general store. Women carried bottles of very addictive potent opiate based pain killers in their purse. Many individuals like Edgar Allen Poe died from such addictions. Since that time through various federal, state and local laws, drugs like morphine are now prescription drugs; however, this has not stopped the addiction to opiate based pain killers. Today’s society combats an ever increasing number of very deadly addictive drugs from designer drugs to narcotics to the less potent but equally destructive alcohol and marijuana. With all of these new and old drugs going in and out of vogue with addicts, it appears that the increase of misuse and abuse is founded greater in the prescription opiate based painkillers.
Opioid addiction is a tragedy that affects countless of Americans on a daily basis. Almost everyone is acquainted to someone, who suffers from opioid addiction. Everyone, but specifically family and friends of the victims to opioid addiction need to understand why their loved ones are so susceptible to becoming addicted to opioids. The word opioid in itself is complex to define, but it entails a variety of prescription medications. Most opioids are used as pain management medications and qualify as CII medications also known as narcotics. They are supposed to be used on an “as needed” basis, but that is not the case for many users of opioids. Opioids cause great fear in the health community because they are easily addictive and
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
Also, simply increasing the number of addiction treatment centers around the United States would likely get people help with their addiction. There are people who want to end their addiction, and there are people who do not want to end their addiction. The American people should not try and help the people who do not want help because if they are forced to get help or forced to go to a treatment center. When someone gets out of the treatment center they can go back to doing drugs again. Then, it is their choice and the American people’s time and money wasted. People who die from Opioid drug addiction are also people who disobeyed the law by illegally purchasing the drug, and put themselves at risk from the
As I’m sure you would agree, doctors have to stop over prescribing their patients with opioids. Although opioids are used as pain medication and are prescribed more to patients who are fresh out of surgery or have chronic pain, it can become highly addictive. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 11.5 million people have misused the opioids they were prescribed(Thompson). Their misuse can be due to the fact that their doctors are prescribing them a ridiculous amount of opioids, instead of just giving them regular ibuprofen. It doesn’t matter how well these drugs are working, what matters is how it’s affecting the patients who are given this deadly drug. Clearly doctors aren’t taking into consideration at all the
According to the DEA's Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, from 2001 to 2005 “unintentional overdose deaths involving prescription opioids increased 114%, and "one-third of all new abusers of prescription drugs in 2006 were 12 to 17 year-olds. "(Urschel 1) It's important for us all to pay close attention to what we can do in our own homes to stop perpetuating these statistics. Your health is just something else that comes into danger when abusing prescription
By the year 2000 opioid medicine containing oxycodone etc., are being abused and misused and more than doubled in 10 years’ time.
Prescription drugs are making parents more overwhelmed than ever before about their teenaged child! Why must they worry so much about their teenaged child? “When you can stop you don’t want to, and when you want to stop, you can’t…” (Davies). This quote signifies that adolescents and adults have the option to quit or not try the drug when being introduced, but when they get started on the drug and they are thinking abouting quitting, they cannot because of the addiction they have on the drug. Each day they try to stay away from the drug, but they are having really bad withdrawals. Rockingham County Schools should inform parents about the strategies for preventing, recognizing, and addressing prescription drug abuse.
Introduction Addiction is a complex disease of the brain. It causes an uncontrollable (compulsive) need for a substance. You can be addicted to alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, or prescription medicines such as painkillers. Addiction can change the way your brain works. It affects memory, behavior, and how you make decisions.
Though we make up less than 5% of the world population, Americans have some of the highest rates of drug consumption, including consuming 80% of the world’s opioid supply (Gusovsky). All over the media lately is the “opioid epidemic” with doctors being arrested for overprescribing and reports of fentanyl and other opiate overdoses. Yet between the news are advertisements for drugs that potentiate the effects of those same drugs or alternatives to them. Our society is based around consumerism, and this includes the healthcare market. Pharmaceutical companies are more concerned with making a profit than they are with the safety and efficiency of their
A very good explaination on what exactly the drug is. marijuana is a classified as “schedule1” substance by the food and drug amistration as a result of it schedual 1 status it is illegal to possess or use marijuana under the federal law. For years and years marijuana has been used as a depression drug in various parts of the world. theres over 22.6 million people in 2017 that use this drug and also 2,300 are getting introduce to this drug every minute, and the fact that we are not taking about adults,kids are the big future of this . this plant is mostly made up of a chemical compound known as tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly referred to as THC.
There are many other options and treatment plans for people to consider before handing their life over to drugs. Drugs are not meant to be legalized without proper information and education about the drug for the public. Educational programs in the school system are a way of teaching the youth of how harmful these substances are. Even though some may be effective in treating pain, there are long-term side effects associated with these drugs that people need to consider. Pain is inevitable and suffering is
Senior citizens. According to Pew Research Center for the Press & the Press, 65 percent of Americans over the age of 65 think that marijuana should remain illegal. I am here to change your minds. Although many people believe marijuana use is dangerous to your health and a gateway drug, if people are properly educated it’s legalization could be beneficial for our whole country.