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Pros And Cons Of Opioids

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Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics: Opioids Opioid misuse, dependency, and addiction has reached epidemic proportions across the United States. According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention (2016) approximately two million individuals misused or were dependent upon prescription opiates in 2014. Hydrocodone and oxycodone are two commonly prescribed drugs that are at the forefront of the epidemic, accompanied with prescription Fentanyl and illegal heroin (CDC, 2016). For future counselors understanding how opiates operate within the brain and body of a client aids in the treatment of dependency and addiction. Counselors are also expected to perform various roles to assist individuals with addiction including assessments, creating individualized treatment plans, and counseling (SAMHSA, 2016).
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Opioids
Discuss the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of opioids (2-3 paragraphs). Be sure to identify neurotransmitters, specific sites in the brain that play a role with opioids, and information related to how the drug is metabolized. Pharmacokinetics is explained as how opioids are absorbed into the body and distributed into the tissues. Additionally, how opiates are metabolized or changed into metabolites and the …show more content…

Prescription or illegal forms of opiates can create a physical dependence when prescribed and ingested for as little as two weeks (Gordon & Dahl, 2011). Tolerance occurs when the brain adapts and the drug loses some of its effects. Dependence occurs when the opiate is suddenly stopped and the individual experiences withdrawal symptoms. Addiction is a chronic disease that is distinguished by lack of control, compulsive use, and continued use of an opiate despite the risks associated with seeking more (Gordon & Dahl,

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This allows for the oxycodone to enter the bodies system rapidly. Ultimately, snorting the crushed pills result in overdose, which creates the high feeling for the user. After snorting the crushed oxycodone, the next step the users in the study took was injecting the crushed pills into their bodies. As a result, the people’s desires were not fulfilled as their tolerance level increased. Heroin was the final step in many of the user’s addiction, either ending in death or overdose (Dertadian, George C., and Lisa Maher 102-04).

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Within the same period, the data show, 81 percent of first-time heroin users had previously abused prescription drugs” (Markon and Crites, 2014). Prescription painkillers and heroin are known to

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The problems of the opioid crisis in the United States have always been of great concern, but the recent developments in this respect are very worrisome. One of the articles about the “fourth wave” of the opioid crisis by Kaitlin Sullivan was published in NBC News on September 14, 2023, according to the researchers. The stage is marked by a dramatic rise in overdose deaths related to the combination of stimulants and the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. Sullivan highlights the devastating impact of the opioid epidemic by starting her article with a statistic: the number of overdose deaths in 2021 has surpassed 100,000 for the first time. Most of these fatalities were attributed to synthetic opioids, particularly fentanyl, thus representing a significant divergence from the earlier stages

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Many teens use painkillers for everyday use such as party's, pain/aches, or to relax and escape from reality. But not all the teens or adults know that just taking painkillers can lead them later to use heroin. A reason why teens and adults lean more towards the use of heroin is because it can get the person higher faster just as it’s mentioned in Stacey Naggiar article, Opiate addiction: How prescription painkillers pave the way to heroin, Naggiar states, “Consuming a pill by mouth can take up to a few hours to have an effect... Injection is the second-fasted way to achieve the desired effect...

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Recent reforms can curb the opioid epidemic. Yes, health care professionals have realized the complex problem and they now understand the problem and what needs to be done. According to CQ Researcher, “Experts see some progress in the fight against opioid painkiller abuse. After peaking in 2012, the number of prescriptions written for opioids declined 12 percent between 2013 and 2015, according to IMS Health, a market research company. Symphony Health Solutions, a data company that studies the pharmaceutical industry, found an 18 percent drop in that period.”

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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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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.

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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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After an injury or surgery, even with careful prescription management, a patient can develop a dependence on prescription drugs. At that point, they are 40 times more likely to turn to illicit drugs such as heroin (Bock, 2015). Depression, insomnia, or stress can also encourage patients to self-medicate and misuse their prescription- especially in patients using them for an extended period (Rosenblatt & Catlin, 2012). No one is immune from this potential problem. There is no discrimination in who can become addicted to opioids- young, old, male, female, white, black, Asian, rich, poor, educated, uneducated-

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“Everyday, more than 115 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids,” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018, Opioid Overdose Crisis). Opioid drug abuse has become a growing issue in the United States since the late 1990s. “In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates,” (Public Affairs, 2018, What is the U.S. Opioid Epidemic?). Opioids can be either prescription medications such as morphine, however heroin is also considered to be an opioid. Opioids have been proven to be highly addictive, and there has been an increase in misuse and overdose of opioid drugs.

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America is in the midst of an epidemic that is growing at an exponential rate: opioid addiction. Despite laws and regulations, the use and abuse of opioids is increasing at an alarming rate, raising the death toll with it. America’s opioid epidemic affects the the lives of roughly two million citizens and counting each year. Contrary to past popular belief, Doctors and pharmaceutical corporations are among the largest distributors of opioid substances and deadly narcotics. Painkillers prescribed by doctors are some of the most addictive and deadly substances in the narcotic industry.

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The Opioid Addiction Crisis is the worst troublesome addiction crisis in American history. Each year, drug overdoses is responsible for more than 64,000 deaths and the nation’s life expectancy has dropped for two years in a row. Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce effects similar to morphine in hopes to relief pain. An Ohio deputy sheriff named Bender has stated a powerful statement reading, “Opioids reach every part of society; blue collar, white collar, everybody. It’s nonstop, it every day.

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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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In the journal, Upadhyay, et al informs to neurologists, because opioids can affect pain receptors in the brain, they are extremely dangerous. Opioids endanger brain development. The importance of the brain developing is illustrated, “findings suggest that prescription medication opioid dependence is associated with structural and functional changes in brain regions implicated in the regulation of affect and impulse control”. Opioids are harmful to the brain, which affects crucial development. People who are addicted to prescription medication and specifically opioids run a high risk of damaging the development of certain functions of the brain which will eventually affect the body.

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