The Drug enforcement Administration has targeted as a top priority the illegal use of the prescription painkiller OxyContin in the wake of what the agency says is a dramatic and dangerous increase in the drug's availability. Simply crushing the tablet can negate the controlled-release effect of the drug, enabling abusers to swallow or snort the drug for a powerful morphinelike high. The tablet can also be crushed, mixed with water and injected. In this paper I discuss the abuse of OxyContin and other prescription painkillers.
The synthetic Opioid OxyContin has become a drug of abuse, following in the steps of other prescription drugs that contain Oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin. The level of abuse and the number of people who have died because of OxyContin abuse are growing. At first many pain specialist initially believed that the controlled-release oxycondone had a low potential for abuse, boy were they wrong. In recent years, this drug has exploded to the streets. The latest report from the DeA, the Drug enforcement Agency, states that Oxycontins have played a role in over 282 people since the beginning of 2002. (1) The DeA says that it is only a matter of time before every community in this country is confronted with the problem of Oxycontin abuse. No prescription drug in the last twenty years has been so widely abused after it's release. Oxycontin was pain reliever meant to do good, not bad. Oxycontin is prescribed to patients, who are chronic pain, patients who are dying of cancer, recovering from major surgery and or suffering from unbearable headaches. This pain reliever is known for its significant improvement over all other pain relieving medications. The time-release mechanisms allow the right amount of the medication to be released to keep sustained relief for people in severe pain for up to 12 hours. (McHugh) Not only street users become addicts, patients also become very addicted to their own medicine. Many patients go threw heavy withdrawal symptoms when their prescriptions have ended. No longer will insurance pay or doctors write prescriptions. So they too must turn to the black market to fulfill their addiction. In the worst cases some patients turn to heroin because Oxycontins to expensive.
Before a person is prescribed this pill, the patient is supposed to undergo a complete physical examination, the patients record should be contained with detailed documentation of the nature and intensity of the pain, current and past treatment, other illnesses, and their history of drug and alcohol use.
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.
In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act, that was years in the making was finally passed under President Roosevelt. This law reflected a sea change in medicine-- an unprecedented wave of regulations. No longer could drug companies have a secret formula and hide potentially toxic substances such as heroin under their patent. The law required drug companies to specify the ingredients of medications on the label. It also regulated the purity and dosage of substances. Not by mere coincidence was the law passed only about five years after Bayer, a German based drug company began selling the morphine derivative, heroin. Thought to be a safe, non-habit forming alternative to morphine, heroin quickly became the “cure-all drug” that was used to treat anything from coughs to restlessness. Yet, just as quickly as it became a household staple, many began to question the innocence of the substance. While the 1906 law had inherent weaknesses, it signaled the beginning of the end for “cure-all” drugs, such as opiate-filled “soothing syrups” that were used for infants. By tracing and evaluating various reports by doctors and investigative journalists on the medical use of heroin, it is clear that the desire for this legislative measure developed from an offshoot in the medical community-- a transformation that took doctors out from behind the curtain, and brought the public into a new era of awareness.
Once a patient meets all the qualifications, submits the request to a physician, and is approved by two physicians, the patient can move forward with this process. Typically, a physician prescribes the patient a medication at a specific dose, essentially aiding the patient in overdosing. Once the patient receives the medication, they are allowed to take it where they feel comfortable, though they are advised not to do so in public. Patients also must take the medication in the state they receive the medication in and reside in; if a patient takes their medication outside of the state they’ve been prescribed it in, they will not be protected by law and their death will be ruled a suicide. One in three patients who receive their prescription end up never taking it.
Almost everybody on Long Island, and probably all around the world, has been prescribed a drug by a doctor before— whether it was to knock out a nasty virus, or relieve pain post injury or surgery. However, what many people don’t realize is that these drugs can have highly addictive qualities, and more and more people are becoming hooked, specifically teenagers. But when does harmlessly taking a prescription drug to alleviate pain take the turn into the downward spiral of abuse? The answer to that question would be when the user begins taking the drug for the “high” or good feelings brought along with it—certainly not what it was prescribed for (1). The amount of teens that abuse prescription medications has been rapidly increasing in recent
Morphine is a highly addictive opiate psychoactive painkiller. It is often used before or after surgery to alleviate severe pain. Morphine acts by attaching to specific proteins called opioid receptors, which are found in the brain, spinal cord, and gastrointestinal tract. The drug was originally derived from the poppy seed plant before it was chemically enhanced and manufactured. Starting off, the drug was used to cure alcoholism and certain types of addictions. This didn’t last very long considering morphine was found to be much more addictive than alcohol. In the early 1900s, morphine was identified as a controlled substance under the Harrison Act. The Harrison Act was put in place to control morphine by making it only legal for those with a prescription for the drug to carry and use it. It is now considered a Schedule I&II drug, which basically defines the levels of enforcement against the drugs. At the time, morphine was the most commonly abused drug, because of its mind-numbing, and reality shattering capabilities.
Almost overnight one such venerable substance (or class of substances) has been catapulted into the national spotlight: prescription painkillers, namely those derived from the opium poppy. This class of analgesic encompasses everything from the codeine in prescription cough syrup to the morphine used in the management of sever pain. These compounds are commonly referred to as opiates and are produced naturally by the poppy. The sub-class of this type that has gotten all of the attention recently is the opioids, which are semi-synthetic compounds derived from the opiates (Wade 846). Opioids were developed for a variety of reasons, such as reducing the cost of production (morphine is expensive to synthesize) and attempting to reduce the addictiveness of the drugs.
A documented patient evaluation, including history and physical examination to establish the diagnosis for which any legend drug is prescribed.
the left of a pair of crystals that are a mirror image of each other.
Potent pain medication contains the aspects of utilizing medications such as morphine or demerol, how the medications are dispensed, and t...
Observe, record, and report to physician patient's condition, treatment provided, and reactions to drugs and treatment
Due to my uncertainty, I asked the pharmacist for some tips on how to proceed. He said to use simple language and tell the patient the medication’s dose and frequency, as well as how long to take it for. He also said to mention the cautions and side effects, and which side effects would require coming back to see the pharmacist or the patient’s GP. I was also told to mention any interactions (i.e. if alcohol interacts with the drug to cause drowsiness then avoid driving). These points are in accordance with the NHS’s Patient Counselling and Consultation Skills (2014). Having a mental checklist of what to do improved my confidence when it came to talking to the patient, therefore making me feel less
Secondly, they advise their patients in assuring the appropriate use of medications. It is important to tell the patient about the name of the drug, what is it for, when to take the drug, how many times per day, whether it should be taken before meals, after meals or with meals, the method of taking the drug and its side effects and possible drug-drug interactions. (Swanson, 2005)