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? In the 1990’s, many persuasive journals told doctors that opioids were not addictive, even though they actually …show more content…
It might seem like the simple solution would be to stop prescribing opioids altogether, but that would actually create more problems. If opioids became illegal, people would just turn to other drugs like heroin. Some patients really do need opioids, and the drugs can be good for them. Removing access would hurt the people who need them the most. Switzerland had an opiate problem in the 1980s and ‘90s, and they tried solving the problem in multiple ways. They tried to punish the sellers, let addicted people use the drugs in a park, and arrest people who were starting fights because of opioids. Nothing worked until Switzerland started sending people to hospitals where they were supervised while taking the drugs. “There have been zero overdose deaths on legal opiates”(Hari) ever since the solution was used. There have been a few solutions that have started to take place in the United States, but America is a big country with lots of people. Not every town has a place for addicted citizens to go, and not everyone has enough money to use the available facilities (if there are any). Medical schools have started teaching their students about the right treatment for pain, and people are more aware of the dangers of opioids. However, there is still a lot of work to be