The Opioid Addiction Crisis is the worst troublesome addiction crisis in American history. Each year, drug overdoses is responsible for more than 64,000 deaths and the nation’s life expectancy has dropped for two years in a row. Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce effects similar to morphine in hopes to relief pain. An Ohio deputy sheriff named Bender has stated a powerful statement reading, “Opioids reach every part of society; blue collar, white collar, everybody. It’s nonstop, it every day. And it does not seem like it is getting any better.” Since the opioid addiction crisis is this brutal, the United states government is calling this epidemic a nationwide public health emergency; and not a national emergency. Legal opioid prescriptions are an …show more content…
Types of opioid include, codeine, heroin, morphine, meperidine etc. There are about 1.9 million Americans which is 0.8% that are reported to have an opioid addiction (Green 2017). It’s also been started that roughly 11.5 million of people have misused prescription opioids that they have received through illicit means. Increases in deaths involving prescription opioids starting in 1999. Each day, there are around 142 Americans that die from opioids (Green 2017). In 2016, over 64,000 people deaths were recorded that were opioid-related. The percentage increase of opioid-related deaths among adults aged 55-64 jumped from 4.2 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 21.8 in 2015 (Green 2017). There is numerous amount of reasons a person can get addicted to opioids; it may begin as an experiment, many are curious on how and what it feels like, and peer pressure from fellow friends. Another reason someone may abuse opioid is they begin taking their prescribed opioids due to surgery or chronic pain, but they are cut off from them, and they now have become addicted and need more (Green