Born on April 13, 1961 Robert William Fisher was born to a single mother in Brooklyn, New York. The struggles of a single parent caused Robert to experience a troubled childhood, which trickled over to his adulthood. Trying develop a better life for his family, he became a surgical technician, which paid for his schooling to become a respiratory therapist. Even with the support of his wife, life became difficult due to substance abuse. The drug of choice was crack cocaine, classified as a tertiary amine, which has three carbon atoms bonded directly to the nitrogen atom and general formula is R3N (Johll pg.
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.
The paper on triple aim for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs’) provides great insight into how we can contribute to solving the opioid crisis as curbing the opioid crisis will contribute to lowering cost, improving quality and improve population health overall. Given that by their nature and function seeks to coordinate and improve multiple teams and levels of healthcare providers and professionals insurers and patients which can be very complex. The paper used a very effective High Reliability Organization (aircraft industry) to analyze how; key processes through which organizations achieve reliability; leadership and organizational practices that enable it and the role that professionals can play when charged with enacting it. The
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.
Semi-synthetic opioids include hydromorphone, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. There is also heroin, made from morphine. Opioids that are man made are fentanyl, pethidine, levorphanol, methadone, tramadol, and dextropropoxyphene. Doctors should not be allowed to prescribe opioids to people to relieve pain because of the many dangers, it poses. Prescribing opioids to people can kill them or turn them into addicts.
The political issue I read about was drug addiction. “Opioid and heroin abuse is so widespread that it stands to unite us across party lines.” There has been an increase on doctors prescribing prescription painkillers and patients have been using them as a substance-usage. Many people have lost family members or friends over addiction. Trump’s older brother passed away from alcoholism.
Opioids are a prescription medication involving various forms of drugs, it can benefit patients as little as a few minutes, however, it can be extremely dangerous to patients without self-control. Morphine, heroin, oxycodone, and fentanyl are used for many different medical uses until companies started to combine these four ingredients into one small simple pill. The pill reduces chronic pain from a body in a matter of minutes taking a minimum dosage. The company that produces Opioids have discovered that for the most part opioids are healthier and safer than any other medications. Like other medications, opioids can also have its side effects too such as; sedation restlessness, respiratory depression, nausea, vomiting, constipation and much more.
In the last decade, opioid abuse rates are going up but is now starting to get seen in the public’s eye. Multiple celebrities have passed away because of overdoses due to opioid painkillers or illegal drugs. Peaches Geldof, Philip Hoffman, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, and Prince all died because of overdoses. They were pushed aside by the public because nobody wanted to acknowledge that they died because of a drug overdose. In 2014, there were more than 18,000 death due to opioid overdoses.
Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Opioids are also frequently used non-medically for their euphoric effects or to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Examples of opioids are morphine, heroin, oxycodone, and methadone. Opioid overdose is an acute and serious condition due to excessive opioids use.
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.
For years, various drugs have existed in order to serve the needs of humans in numerous ways. Depending on the type of drug, humans will intake them for their own purposes. In modern times, the classification of drugs have been divided into two categories: pharmaceutical drugs and recreational drugs. Pharmaceutical drugs are used to prevent and cure illnesses, and can be either prescribed by a doctor or can be obtained by buying them over the counter. These drugs have been officially recognized by doctors and medical scientists for them being deemed safe and efficient enough to treat people.
The prevalence of opioid drug-related overdose has risen progressively over the past two decades becoming one of the leading causes of death in the United States. According to Center for Disease Control, drug overdoses accounted for 52,404 U.S. deaths, including 33,091 (63.1%) that involved an opioid in 2015 (Rudd, Seth, David & Scholl, 2016). To date, the numbers are continuously snowballing and it has been a major factor in the burgeoning costs of healthcare in the United States. In fact, the economic burden of opioid abuse cost the nation a staggering amount of $78.5 billion a year, taking into account the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and even goes beyond issue of criminal justice (Florence, Zhou, Luo &
Addiction is this feeling that takes over the whole body and drives the body insane before it gets what it wants. For me personally, my addiction is to soda. I have to have it with every meal when I am thirsty. I want a soda, and just in my everyday life, I feel like I need a soda. So for my addictions experience, I decided to give up soda for thirty days and evaluate myself and how I felt during the experience.
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).
Drugs like opioids (a type of pain reliever), depressants (used to help anxiety or to cause sleep), and stimulants (used in treating ADHD) are the most commonly misused prescription drugs due to their availability. You can easily get a prescription from your doctor for a certain drug if you have say an injury or you need Adderall if you have ADHD. These drugs are most commonly used in the wrong form, like breaking and crushing a pill or capsule and snorting the powder. “One in eight
