According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than 115 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose. In addition to the casualty of lives lost, opioid abuse also accounts for an estimated 75.8 billion dollars of "economic burden" each year. The "economic burden" takes into consideration the costs of healthcare, productivity loss, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement. America's opioid dispute has torn apart families, physicians, and colleagues. The opioid crisis has divided our country and left victims helpless and hurting. This country has been fighting the drugs we classify as opioids since 1775 when opium first came to the United States. In the 1860s, opioids were used to treat Civil War soldiers and a reported 400,000 of those soldiers became addicted to the opioid morphine. During the 1900s, opioids became a wildly used recreational drug. In 1940 the Harrison Narcotics Act made opioids a prescription-only drug. This law was hopeful in reducing the number of opioids on the street and making them harder to obtain. For centuries, …show more content…
According to a recent study, most of the general public was quick to point fingers at the opioid addict themselves. Unfortunately, a study found that nearly 75% of opioid addictions begin with prescription medications (Cicero). When is an opioid prescription considered necessary? The necessity of an opioid prescription is determined solely by the physicians. Blaming the physicians may seem like an easy solution because sometimes they may over-prescribe opioids or write a prescription when over the counter painkillers would suffice. In other circumstances, big pharmacy companies ("Big Pharma") are partial to blame. These companies are accused of minimizing the public's awareness of the drugs' addictive nature to maximize their profit. The tactics the "Big Pharma" companies are currently using closely compare to those of the "Big Tobacco" companies before