According to the Center for Disease Control, or the CDC, 44 people in the US alone die of a prescription painkiller overdose each day. Too many people look at this number as small, or insignificant when compared to the entire population of the US. As a community this number should be looked at as too large, and the efforts to minimize prescription painkiller abuse should not cease until that number has gone from 44 to 0. The US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy stated this, “We, as clinicians, are uniquely positioned to turn the tide on the opioid epidemic.” Opioids are the most commonly prescribed painkillers, and the most commonly abused include medications such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, meperidine, hydromorphone, and propoxyphene. The question must be asked, how does this happen? …show more content…
This epidemic needs to be stopped, and the way to do that is education. Prescription painkiller abuse should not be faulted to a person. It is not the fault of the doctor, the pharmacist, or the abuser. Painkiller abuse falls into the hands of everyone. With proper educational techniques, the opioid abuse epidemic can be stopped. Physicians themselves may not always have the correct training on how to recognize an addiction to the drugs that they are prescribing. The problem that makes combating a painkiller addiction so difficult is that the only person who knows with certainty that there is an addiction is the abuser; however, with proper public education on the dangers, and risks of painkiller abuse, communities can be proactive in stopping prescription drug addictions. The first action that should be taken is not to place blame on one person, or group, for the abuse of prescribed pain medication. In the situation of who’s at fault for prescription painkiller abuse, the answer is no one person. The fault for abuse cannot be targeted towards anyone