ipl-logo

Opioid: The Use Of Narcotics In America

444 Words2 Pages

The use of narcotics in America is on a steady rise, Opioids such as Heroin being the deadliest. It’s categorized as a “Schedule 1,” meaning a high potential for abuse, along with severe psychological and physical dependence. Before the Twentieth Century, Heroin was actually widely available and marketed by Bayer, and Aspirin Company. This deadly substance can be injected, snorted, or smoked. After the consumption of this substance, it enters the brain very quickly. Health risks of this Opioid include: high risks of infections such as HIV/AIDS, collapsed veins (making treatment very difficult), infection in the heart lining and valves, liver disease, and can be fatal if the overdose is substantial enough. Psychological effects are: Confusion, drowsiness, blocked pain messages, slowed breathing, nausea, and itching. The long term effects of Heroin result in: Addiction, insomnia, and arthritis. Symptoms of a Heroin overdose or near overdose are as follows: Loss of consciousness, tremors, clammy skin, and convulsions. …show more content…

A tolerance can be developed in as little as 2-3 days with continued use. When needing a fix, and unable to obtain their usual narcotic, some users may substitute one drug for another, also forming multiple addictions. When patients are given narcotics to treat legitimate medical issues and pain, there is less of a risk of addiction because the dosage is closely monitored. As long as the patient takes the substance as prescribed, no damage should occur. Only about 5-10% of people who use drugs become

Show More
Related
977 Words | 4 Pages

Hydrocodone and hydrocodone combination medications were rescheduled from Schedule III controlled substance to Schedule II controlled substances on October 6, 2014. This shift brought about several changes in prescribing practices and has produced several issues for patients who require pain control. Hydrocodone and hydrocodone combinations products should be reclassified as Schedule III controlled substances because patients who truly need this type of pain medication are being denied adequate pain control, in some states mid-level practitioners are no longer able to prescribe these medications, and emergency room physicians often avoid prescribing them even to those who present with obviously painful injuries or conditions. There are many patients who have become addicted to hydrocodone, due to it being an opioid medication and these addiction problem are what ultimately brought about the decision to change its classification, however those who take their medication properly are suffering as well. Hydrocodone, is a form of medication used to treat many types of pain.

Read More
673 Words | 3 Pages

The psychosocial effects of heroin can be depression. Heroin is extremely devastating, and users often have can’t stay on a job, relationship problems, legal complications and financial

Read More
584 Words | 3 Pages

Heroin is a depressant that is converted back to morphine when it enters the brain. It then attaches to opioid receptors. These receptors are located in many areas of the brain and are that control the sensitivity to pain and reward. After a hit of heroin, users feel a rush of euphoria along with a dry mouth and heavy limbs. After the feeling of euphoria has dissipated the user experiences a consecutively restless and drowsy

Read More
935 Words | 4 Pages

Underlying Causes: The increase in the sale of opioids is considered to be the root of the opioid crisis, as the drugs have been proven to be highly addictive. An addiction to prescriptive opioids, however, can lead to an addiction to synthetic, illegal opioids, such as heroine or fentanyl, which are less expensive and easier to acquire. In fact, in their journal article, “Associations of nonmedical pain reliever use and initiation of heroin use in the United States” Pradip Muhuri and associates discovered that “the recent (12 months preceding interview) heroin incidence rate was 19 times higher among those who reported prior nonmedical prescription pain reliever (NMPR) use than among those who did not (0.39 vs. 0.02 percent)” (Muhuri et. al). In other words, abusing prescription opioids significantly raises the chances of abusing illicit drugs, such as heroin.

Read More
157 Words | 1 Pages

Availability of opioids puts more and more people at risk for addiction. A simple prescription from the doctor for a migraine or back pain can turn into an addiction. Doctors are faced daily with patients who complain of pain, acute and chronic. It has become a simple solution for them to write out a prescription for pain medication to help their patient. In turn, not helping them at all.

Read More
1087 Words | 5 Pages

Prescription drugs (opiates only) have caused over 165,000 deaths within the last 15 years and is currently on the rise. Over 2 million Americans in 2014 were addicted to Opiate prescription narcotics. The most troubling fact is listed directly on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website: “As many as 1 in 4

Read More
1240 Words | 5 Pages

Going into this class, I thought it was just going to another English, but now thinking back I did learn something new. I would like to believe that I was pretty attentive. I did not miss any task, but I did turn in seven task in late; task number two, six, seven, nine, ten, eleven, and fourteen. I did open all of the readings and I would either skim it or I would read it; several times even. My favorite reading was by Bill Ivey and Steven J. Tepper the “Cultural Renaissance or Cultural Divide?”.

Read More
97 Words | 1 Pages

Opioid is a medicine that makes sedation and relief the pain. It reduces the amount of pain signal that goes to the brain. This medicine works by sticking to some proteins in the brains called opioid receptors, when they are stuck that’s when they reduce the amount of pain. This drug has negative effects, for example they can caused the patient drowsiness, mental confusion, nausea, constipation, and it can also cause depress respiration. Also being addicted to the drug can kill you by overdose or you can experience symptoms when the drug is suddenly reduced or

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

It can also be deadly for individuals abusing it. It 's important that this drug does also come with side effects, such as shortness of breath, vomiting, or even overdosing.   It can also be troublesome for the addict to get to the clinic every day for a dosage of methadone. "If individuals taking methadone develop a physical dependence on the drug and they stop taking it or decrease their dose they will begin to experience methadone withdrawal"(Methadone Statistics). Methadone withdrawal is far more painful and burdensome than other forms of opiate withdrawal and can last up to 5 or 6 weeks.

Read More
128 Words | 1 Pages

It’s painful to have your veins collapse. I read this one book written by a heroin junkie; he said as much. I never did heroin, but with all the blows to the body, the blocking with my arms and knees, I can sympathize. You feel like all of the life is draining slowly from you. Because it is.

Read More
815 Words | 4 Pages

Heroin is a very widespread drug American culture today. Heroin is not a new drug, it showed up in the late 1960’s. Heroin is an opium derivative and, as with any of the opium derivatives, there is a strong physical/mental addiction that comes when Heroin is abused. In the mid to late 1800’s, opium was somewhat a popular drug. Retreats where opium could be done were spread throughout the Wild West.

Read More
1745 Words | 7 Pages

They are used after surgery, to treat cancer pain, and for children who experience ongoing pain. Symptoms of opioids include nausea, vomiting, sedation, pruritus, respiratory depression, and constipation (West Midlands Pedatric Macmillion Team 2005). Constipation is the most common adverse reaction. It affects quality of life and causes additional stress in children already suffering from serious illnesses. Although children over time get used to the other effects of opioids, such as drowsiness, they never adapt to constipation.

Read More
1077 Words | 5 Pages

Heroin is such a highly addictive drug to a point where many people who come in contact with heroin develop a dependency to it. What an individual will experience during heroin addiction treatment depends on specific factors including how long they have been using, and how much of it they have been consuming. The recovery of an addict will also depend on their ability to understand and deal with other challenges, such as underlying psychological problems that may have caused their abuse, or been caused by the abuse. Treatment for heroin addiction includes both behavioral and pharmacological treatment. Both of these approaches help restore a degree of normalcy to the individual’s brain function, and behavior.

Read More
523 Words | 3 Pages

If every drug users knew what the effect drugs can have are, I do believe anyone will get addicted to it or even try it, or before get a shot of it, they will think twice. All they know or think the drugs do to them is, helping them to kill their pain and it makes them feel better. What are the consequences of drugs?

Read More
79 Words | 1 Pages

A recurring problem of epic proportions in my community is the opioid crisis. I am deeply saddened watching and hearing stories of how this epidemic is destroying both individuals and families on a daily basis. I have seen the destruction first hand in my high school which inspired me to join SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions). I have both counselled and consoled my fellow students inspiring them to get help and, equally important, caring for them during their

Read More

More about Opioid: The Use Of Narcotics In America

Related Topics

Open Document