ipl-logo

Essay On Opioid Addiction

797 Words4 Pages

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, an average of 116 people die daily from Opioid Addiction (The US Opioid Addiction). It is becoming an epidemic in the United States that a huge number of people have no idea about. This is a big situation that needs to be prevented and even stopped before the numbers increase more. Addiction to opioids can affect people of all ages and can happen from specific prescriptions that doctors have given patients. Opioid addiction is becoming an epidemic in the United States that can be prevented by improving opioid prescriptions, as well as informing patients, managing pain differently, and helping treat this with naloxone. Opioids are drugs that relieve pain; they work by attaching and activating opioid receptors in the brain. They work in the limbic system, the brainstem and the spinal cord (How Do Opioids Work?). As they are in the body they can make you feel relaxed. Opioids can either completely stop the pain or reduce it. Anyone can misuse these type of drugs and that is where Opioid Addiction happens. Opioid addiction occurs when your brain relies on opioids to stop the pain. Over time you can either gain drug tolerance; where your body stops being affected, or you can gain drug dependence; where your body and brain feel the …show more content…

This would prevent overusing the drug and avoid the risk of gaining an addiction (CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain). Going along with how doctors play a huge part, they can also inform patients about what opioid addiction is. Many people have no clue what it is and may have it. If doctors or anyone taught and informed people about what it is and how to prevent it, they can have a huge impact on stopping it. They would understand how opioids work for their pain but also be informed on how it can be a downside too, so they make sure they aren’t taking too many

Show More
Related
935 Words | 4 Pages

I. Importance: As American deaths from drug overdoses continue to rise in the United States, the nation is faced with a public health crisis so profound that in October 2017, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic to be a national public health emergency (Merica). President Trump’s declaration came after numerous studies indicating the danger opioid addiction posed; for example, a 2016 study entitled “Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths—United States, 2010-2015” claimed that drug overdose deaths “nearly tripled during 1999-2014,” reaching a startling high 52,404 deaths in 2015 (Rudd, et al). These statistics are more than just disturbing revelations regarding the opioid crisis; they are evidence of a serious problem that is rapidly affecting the lives of more and more Americans every year. Death by overdose is not the only public policy concern, however, as millions of Americans are also addicted to prescription opioids.

Read More
737 Words | 3 Pages

“ Because they produce euphoria in addition to pain relief, they can be misused. Regular use- even as prescribed by a doctor can lead to dependence ,and when misused, opioid pain relievers can lead to overdose incidents and deaths” (Drugabuse.gov/opioids) Prescribing opioids have more dangers to the human than they do

Read More
737 Words | 3 Pages

For these reasons one can agree that addicts are not to blame for the opioid crisis because opioids are imprudently and over prescribed, produce money, and (FDA) approved.    Americans are being overprescribed with medication to self-medicate oneself 24/7 for three (3) weeks according to the article by Mc Greal. With the mass prescribing it can lead patients to become less tolerant thereby leading them to take more

Read More
474 Words | 2 Pages

Since the opioid crisis is so widespread and vastly growing, attention is brought to a nation level. Victims of the opioid crisis mainly stem from normal lives, obtaining opioids as a form of legitimate pain management for medical reasons. Upon prolonged use of these opioids

Read More
2012 Words | 9 Pages

Some addicts will also mix their opioids with other drugs, such as alcohol or other narcotics, or take multiple drugs at the same time (“A Bold”). Some opioids or drugs like heroin can be altered by the dealer in a bad way by adding other harmful drugs, making it possible to cause more problems to the body (“A Bold”). This makes an overdose more likely to happen, and repeated overdoses are also more likely because of stronger heroin being made (“Naloxone Saves”). Because of its influence on the economy, harsh side effects, and common multiple uses, using naloxone on overdose victims lacks

Read More
596 Words | 3 Pages

Dependence on prescription opioids can stem from treatment of chronic pain and in recent years is the cause of the increased number of opioid overdoses. Opioids are very addictive substances, having serious life threatening consequences in case of intentional or accidental overdose. The euphoria attracts recreational use, and frequent,

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

Opioid Epidemic in the United States              The opioid crisis has risen over the years here in America. The addiction to painkillers has caused many drug overdoses across America. According to the Vox," In 2015, more than 52,000 people have died from drug overdoses from linked to opioids such as Percocet, heroin, Oxycontin or even fentanyl. This problem did not become an overnight health crisis, but it has become quickly known in America.             Expanding our drug treatment centers across America would provide the support to those who are addicted to drugs.

Read More
651 Words | 3 Pages

The journal “Patient Opioid Education” explains how opioid abuse is better if researched health care providers can better educate their patients on the issue. According to Ms. Costello, research is being done to further educate patients about the drugs they are taking. In fact “a quasi-experimental pretest posttest design was used to evaluate nurses’ knowledge of opioids,” (309). Although, the research reveals that patients have a lack of knowledge about safe opioid use this is because nurses lack the understanding of the addiction. Accordingly, all health care providers should have education on opioid dependence to avoid such addictions.

Read More
423 Words | 2 Pages

This enormous conundrum is being ignored by several professionals and doctors. The “heroin and prescription opioid epidemic” is something more people should pay attention to. Opioids are a “class of drugs” (Page 1) that includes heroin, and other powerful, legal pain relievers. Opioids are valuable medicines that can produce emotions of pleasure and happiness. They are frequently misused by being taken in a greater quantity than prescribed, or without a doctor’s prescription.

Read More
582 Words | 3 Pages

“Everyday, more than 115 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids,” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018, Opioid Overdose Crisis). Opioid drug abuse has become a growing issue in the United States since the late 1990s. “In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates,” (Public Affairs, 2018, What is the U.S. Opioid Epidemic?). Opioids can be either prescription medications such as morphine, however heroin is also considered to be an opioid. Opioids have been proven to be highly addictive, and there has been an increase in misuse and overdose of opioid drugs.

Read More
1505 Words | 7 Pages

There are about two million people in the United States who are addicted to opioids, and ever since the 1990’s, the problem has continued to increase. Thousands of people are dying from overdoses every year, and unborn children’s lives are being put at risk. Shawn Bishop, a resident at Hope House (an addiction treatment center in Boston) who is just one of two million, became addicted after a prescription of opioids from his dentist. Most people started abusing opioids after getting a prescription from their doctor or dentist as well. If opioids are so dangerous, then why do doctors, dentists, and clinics continue to prescribe them?

Read More
1179 Words | 5 Pages

It is clear that money-making is outweighing the importance of the health of millions of citizens countrywide, and that doctors are being incautious in regards to the prescriptions that they’re giving these patients. Doctors should have more limits placed on them in regards to the medication that they prescribe, and doctors should be made more aware of the potential damage that opioids could bring about for each individual patient that they treat. The U.S. government should take action and restrictive laws should be passed, and doctors should have new limits placed on what drugs they are prescribing; in response, doctors will more than likely decrease the amounts of opioid prescriptions that they write. In return, the rates of abuse and misuse for opioids will decrease, reducing the rates of overdose due to these drugs. Patients that experience any type of pain should begin to explore different sources to alleviate pain, such as over-the-counter relief or physical therapy.

Read More
1036 Words | 5 Pages

According to Michael Klein, “The most prescription drugs that are commonly misused are opioids, tranquillizers, sedatives, and hypnotics.” Unintentional overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers have quadrupled since 1999 and have outnumbered those involving heroin and cocaine since 2002. (Klein). The reason some people abuse opioids is just to “get high”.

Read More
499 Words | 2 Pages

In the article, Foundation For a Drug Free World persuades to prescription drug users opioids ruin the user’s life because they are addictive. Prescription drugs are an epidemic worldwide. Describing the problem, “It is estimated that between

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

When people take these synthetic heroin pills, they do not feel as though it is a drug addiction as much as it is a way for them to deal with pain, over-stimulation, and as a tranquilizer. Today, we are currently facing an epidemic with drug addiction and continuously trying to solve the problem with a war on drugs. “The U.S. spends about $51 billion a year enforcing the war on drugs, and arrests nearly 1.5 million people for drug violations, according to Drug Policy Alliance, a drug policy reform group” (Ferner). Since the United States spends so much money on this epidemic, the numbers should start to go down, but it is instead doing the opposite. It is easy to figure out the numbers through doctors, “Increases in prescription drug misuse over the last

Read More

More about Essay On Opioid Addiction

Related Topics

Open Document