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Opioids Persuasive Speech

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Today, a crisis called the opioid epidemic is currently rising. The opioid epidemic is the use of prescription and nonprescription opioids. Examples of opioid drugs are heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, and many others. The opioid epidemic is swiftly increasing in the United States; however, it can rapidly decrease if people were to do these things: aware the new generation of the effects, provide the ill with better treatment options, and put a stop to overprescribing. Right now many people of all ages are taking prescribed and non prescribed drugs. It will be hard to stop them from doing this crisis; however, providing the new generation of the side effects opioids take on one's body will scare them into not doing the drugs. Taking prescribed or nonprescribed drugs when not needed can cause horrible side effects, and the new generation needs to be aware. Warning the new generation will put a stop to the addiction because it will aware them of the effects before they get the chance to become addicted. …show more content…

Opioid addiction is tough to treat because the addiction is so severe; however, it is not impossible to treat. Opioids relieve stress and create a sense of peace which is what has the people come back for more. If one were to treat the addict in the properly manner, the addict would feel no reason to go back to the drug. Also improving the access to these treatment options will decrease the crisis. The best type of treatment the addict can have is support. If one were to support them throughout the recovery, they would most likely feel confident and be able to live their lives regularly without the

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Prescription opioids are pain relievers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine that have been prescribed to the patient by a doctor. However, prescription drug abuse is a growing trend in America. Many pharmaceutical companies have played a large role in creating this epidemic. Companies such as Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and Endo Pharmaceuticals began a trend of marketing the drugs for minor pain such as neck and back in 1990. Prior to this prescription opioids had only been prescribed to patients with long term illness and pain, such as cancer patients.

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Opioid use can cause impaired judgement which can increase the patients risk of making a bad decision, such as sharing needles or mixing drugs. They can also cause slowed reaction time and lack of coordination because of the relaxing effect opioids have on the body. Opioids are prescribed to relieve pain but when taken in too large of a dose, they can cause the user to no longer be able to perceive pain which can cause an injury to become life threatening because it’s not felt. Opioids can also effect the user psychologically, which is why many end up abusing the drug in the first place. Opioids can cause euphoria, the feeling of intense happiness, which is why many users become addicts.

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In addition, Vilmont (2011) states, “At the recent American Psychiatric Association (APA) meeting, pain specialists said that treating patients in pain who are dependent on opioids involves a delicate balance between managing pain relief and risk of drug abuse (Vilmont, 2011).” However, Jones, et al. (2012) reported that “The use of prescription drugs for nonmedical purpose by Americans in 2009 exceeded the use of cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants combined.” Jones, et al. added, “Visits to hospital emergency departments (ED) involving the nonmedical use of prescription analgesics rose 111%, more than doubling the number of visits between 2004 and 2008…top three medications were oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone products.”

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Opioids are highly addictive drugs. These addictions typically start out as a prescription from a doctor for a high amount of pain, typically used after surgery or other highly painful injuries. The people that are given these pills typically form a bodily and mental dependency on the drug. Because of this, they will go out and search for opioids as a street drug in the form of heroin. Some will also use heroin because of peer pressure surrounding the drug or a necessity for a greater high compared to a simpler drug that they were on

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I believe the opioid epidemic is a systemic problem caused by numerous facets of society. The biggest contributor to this epidemic are the big pharmaceutical companies who utilize deceptive and misleading marketing practices. I feel that these companies oversold the preventive and healing abilities of these drugs while downplaying or even ignoring the addictive qualities of these medications with little to no substantial clinical evidence. This was all done for their own financial profit.

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One reason there is potential to curb the epidemic is a change in the way doctors think. The article mentioned in the 1990’s doctors thought that people should never have pain. It is possible that could have kick started the opioid drug crisis.

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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.

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“ 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

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Opioids are a class of drugs that relieve pain by acting on the nervous system. Even though many people receive these drugs as a prescription in order to relieve pain, over-medication often occurs, causing people to become hooked to these drugs. Also, many humans find ways to illegally obtain these drugs. According to the article, “The Opioid Epidemic: A Crisis Years in the Making” by Maya Salam, drug overdoses serve as “the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years old — killing roughly 64,000 people last year” (The New York Times).

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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

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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,

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For less dosage of the painkillers, patients would decrease the number of opioid addiction that being said that could lead to death. As to cutting back on opioid prescriptions, there will be less of inappropriate distributing to those who would abuse it improperly. Doctors have found other medical treatments to their patients without providing opioids.             Hospitals have prescribed opioids more than doctors do. According to the Baltimore Sun, "Only 20% of doctors have shown to only provide opioids.

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These numbers are horrifying. Many teens may not understand how serious abusing these medications may actually be to their health. Many teenagers think because doctors prescribe them legally, there is not a huge issue with taking them. They say they are safer than the illegal drugs (Phillips, 2013). Mendelson, Flower, Pletcher and Galloway (2008) go on to say that “every year since 1999, more than 2 million adults started abusing opioids in the U.S.”

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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”.

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These pills, such as xanax and oxycodone allow people for short periods of time to withdraw from the harsh reality faced today. “Between 1997 and 2002, sales of oxycodone and methadone nearly quadrupled” (Okie). Around 15 years later and the prescription pill problem is continuing to skyrocket. Since prescription pills are dispersed out to anyone by doctors, many people do not realize that it is as much of an illicit drug as cocaine and heroin is. “Misinformation about the addictive properties of prescription opioids and the perception that prescription drugs are less harmful than illicit drugs are other possible contributors to the problem” (NIDA).

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