The Crisis In America
By: Geraldin Rueda
Tags: Opioids, Crisis, America

In recent years there has been an uprise in reported overdoses in America. Where a great amount of those has been associated with opioids. It has become so common that it is now a leading cause of death in the United States. According to the CDC government website it states, “… those deaths, almost 68% involved a prescription or illicit opioid”. Meaning that from the reported deaths 68% involved pills that were prescribed by doctors themselves. This is alarming since more than half of the drugs are being given legally and not from the street.

Photo by Online Marketing on Unsplash

Many argue that there is an opioid crisis because of the doctors themselves. Stating that they should have taken more precautions and background analyses to decide if the person showed risks of drug addiction. Others argue that it is the pharmaceutical companies fault for producing pills that are easy to get addicted to and for pushing doctors to prescribed such pills for money. Though there are many reasons that this epidemic has occurred, one major thing that stands out to people is how long the government took to acknowledge the crisis at all. Even then the government themselves have not regulated the amount of prescriptions doctors are allowed to prescribe but rather citizens themselves have started to demand change. There have been organizations trying to spread the word of what is happening and ways to help the victims fight drug abuse. Recently there also been lawsuits towards the pharmaceutical companies and towards doctors from the victims themselves. Fighting for change and for the justice they deserve.

Many people may not know what an opioid is exactly and what it does. An opioid is a drug made from opium which comes from the juice of the opium poppy. When made into medicine such as opioid pills they produce relief of pain. As stated in the article Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health, 2019. 4p. author Krisha McCoy explains how “opioids produce a quick, intense feeling of pleasure (euphoria) and pain relief followed by a sense of well-being and calm drowsiness”. Opioids are also known as Narcotics and include medication such as Morphine, Oxycodone, and Fentanyl. All are well-known pain medications that can easily be addicted if the person taking them is not careful. People of all ages can be affected by these pills. For example, on the Website of The National Institute on Drug Abuse published in 2019, it states “the opioid epidemic over the past 10 years have affected middle-aged and older adult Americans. Prescription opioid misuse increased older adults’ risk of suicidal thought”. As for adolescents, the issue continues to grow. As stated in the HHS.Gov website “In 2016, 3.6 percent of adolescents ages 12–17 reported misusing opioids over the past year. This percentage is twice as high among older adolescents and young adults ages 18–25”.

People often ask when the crisis began exactly. It began in the 1990s when doctors started to prescribe painkillers such as oxycodone to help treat patient’s chronic pain. Though they were trying to help their patients nobody realized how highly addicted these drugs could be. As mentioned in the video How America’s Opioid Crisis Spiraled Out of Control “The number of opioids prescriptions filled in 1992, 79 million. By 2012, that number rose, a lot, to 217 million”. In response to the opioid crisis, all states have established laws and policies regarding narcotics. The laws enacted usually target drug abuse and ways to help the victims. Others use the strategy of targeting the doctors and pharmacists who overprescribed their patients.

As for the effects of opioids, there are many stories told by people who were addicted. Many stories include overdosing in public places and almost dying. Trying to go into treatment and having horrible relapse illnesses that are the hardest part when trying to become clean. How most times many people go back to addiction because treatment is so difficult and takes time. One story in particular talks about a woman who decided she needed help after killing someone while driving high. This was the awakening she needed to know she had a problem and needed to solve it. While in jail she wanted to come out as a better person. So she sought out treatment and looked for different activities she could do to distract herself. Like this story, there are many out there that are similar and talk about how people were able to get through their addiction. However, there are also those sad ending in where people were not able to be saved. That’s why many organizations have made the medication called Narcan more accessible. As stated in the video How America’s Opioid Crisis Spiraled Out of Control it mentions how “States and Federal Government have also made the opiate antidote Naloxone more readily available. It’s credited with reversing more than 26,000 overdoses between 1996 to 2014”. Narcan is a medication that is used to reverse a partial or complete overdose. Though there are many forms of it including shots, nasal sprays have recently been approved by lawmakers. This is good because nasal sprays allow it to be easier and can be done without any medical training. Allowing more life's to be saved.

One of the major problems right now with opioids includes pregnant women. This is because there has been a rise in babies being born with withdrawal symptoms. Due to the fact that their mother was misusing opioids while pregnant. The babies experience Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) which makes them experience symptoms such as tremors. hyperactive reflexes, seizures, and unstable temperature. As Stated in the website National Institute on Drug and Abuse “A recent analysis showed that an estimated 32,000 babies were born with this syndrome in the United States in 2014, a more than 5-fold increase since 2004”.

There have recently been many efforts in trying to stop the opioid crisis. From having doctors and pharmaceutical companies pay for what they have caused. To making organizations and spreading the word of there being help available to those in need. Along with these lawmakers and the president of the United States have recently declared the opioid crisis a state of emergency. To which we all hope will help the cause and help save many lives.