The Opioid
Epidemic
In 2014, approximately seventy-eight people
died a day from an opioid overdose (The Opioid Epidemic: By the Numbers). This was not just seventy-eight deaths a day,
this was seventy-eight families ruined a day; seventy-eight parents losing
their children a day; seventy-eight
funerals full of grieving people. Some addicts had children who will grow up in
foster homes; children whose only crime was being born to a parent who abused
prescription drugs. Opioid
abuse is a growing problem resulting from a failure in how America handles its
prescription drugs. In
order to curb the abuse of prescription pain killers, there must be reform in
how we allow doctors to prescribe opioids. To
allow another innocent life, another innocent family, or another innocent
community to be claimed by the struggles and hardships of drug addiction and
the suffering that comes with recovery would be a tragedy like no other. To
allow this epidemic to strangle the bright future America would be one of the
greatest failures of our generation.
Prescription drug abuse is
nothing new to America. In fact, opioids have been in abused in America for
over 120 years.
America’s dangerous dance with opioid addiction
began with laudanum in the 1800’s. Laudanum is a highly addictive concoction
composed of opium and alcohol. The
addictive properties of laudanum were not truly understood at the time since
laudanum was prescribed primarily to women. Women, at the time, did not have a
strong voice to comment on the effects that laudanum had on them so for many
years, laudanum was prescribed for problems ranging from anxiety all the way to
diarrhea. Men during this time did not see a high addiction to laudanum as the
vice of choice for men was alcohol. Women were as a general trend not allowed
alcohol (“History of Prescription Drugs”).
Towards the end of the 20th
century, a new drug was conceived: Heroin. Heroin is an opioid that Heroin was
prescribed flippantly in the same way laudanum had been. Doctors and dentist
alike would prescribe Heroin for toothaches, headaches, stomachaches, and other
maladies. Initially heroin was not understood to be addictive or dangerous. Substances
like cocaine and barbiturates were prescribed by doctors and used like over the
counter drugs simply because people were not aware of how dangerous these items
could be. Very shortly after heroin’s conception, it was found that this was
not the case. Heroin was discovered to be extremely addicting and by 1924, the
Heroin Act made the manufacturing and possession of heroin illegal in America (The
History of Prescription Drugs). Eventually,
doctors became aware of how truly dreadful opioids could be. For several
decades, doctors became extremely reluctant to prescribe any high strength pain
killers even in extreme cases. In the
late 1900’s, a shift occurred linked to the Vietnam war. The United States
government passed out stimulants like amphetamines in order to help with
“combat readiness” (Elkins, Chris). Soldiers became addicted to drugs like
heroine with the purpose of coping with the stresses of combat which required
them to sometimes go days without sleep with the constant threat of death
looming at every corner. This constant combat stress led to PTSD in hundreds of
thousands of soldiers. Additionally, some soldiers were in constant pain from
injuries sustained during combat and to help these patients, doctors would prescribe
them high dosage opioids which have a sedating effect. Doctors also sought to
ease the pain of cancer patients and burn victims; people who were living with
constant agonizing or excruciating pain. Many medical articles were written
championing the beneficial effects of opioids while downplaying the potential
risks (Elkins, Chris). In this sense, history repeated itself with the
exception being that we knew better this time yet allowed the same events to
occur. The actions of these doctors were admirable and sincere, yet naïve. These
doctors did not consider how easily people could become addicted to these drugs
or how callous certain individuals could be in their prescribing of highly
addictive opioids for minor injuries and ailments.
Prescription drug abuse does not have an
isolated effect. The abuse of prescription drugs can affect not only the
individual abuser, but also the family and the community of the drug abuser. A
person who purchases opioids from street dealers will eventually begin to steal
things. The drug abuser will pawn the items they steal in order to get enough
money to satiate their drug habit. Drug abusers can be seen stealing any item
of value from any family member to get their drug money. One teen who overcame
his opioid abuse admitted not only to pawning his younger brother’s
possessions, he also admitted to p awning off his Christmas gifts in order to
purchase heroin ("True Story: Alex.").
When people begin to abuse opioids, it
attracts drug dealers and host of different crime associated with drugs. Drug
dealers operate in the same way a legitimate business owner would operate. If McDonald’s
saw that there was a demand for burgers in an area, they would attempt to build
a restaurant wherever that demand is. Similarly, if drug dealers see that there
is a demand for drugs, they will move into an area to supply their product. Unfortunately,
when drug dealers move, prostitution, kidnapping, illegal gambling, and a large
host of other crimes follow. After drugs move in, small and quiet towns can be
transformed into dens for illegal activity in a very short period of time. The
drug abuse of a community member becomes a drain on the community emotionally
and economically. Stress and depression increase due to the increase in crime
while property values plummet because of crime as well. More money must be
funneled towards jails and preventing crime which burdens a city’s budget. Soon,
people begin to leave the community in order to escape the dying town and
eventually we are left with the husk of what used to be a thriving community.
Prescription drugs are easily accessible to
not only adults with moderate to severe chronic pain, they are also easily
available to children. Of the 2.4 million Americans estimated to have used
prescriptions drugs nonmedically for the first time in 2010, one third of them
were children aged twelve to seventeen (How Many People Abuse
Prescription Drugs). Opioid addiction is difficult to beat for fully grown adults
who have access to a strong family and friend network, rehab facilities, and
greater life experience. When a child becomes addicted to opioids, they grow up
only knowing addiction. They don’t truly understand what a drug free lifestyle
is like. Because of this, breaking free of their addiction is that much harder.
Also, since many key physical developments occur during childhood, their addiction
to prescription drugs has potential to alter their growth. The very concept of
this being able to occur is absurd in itself. Billions of dollars have been
allocated to stopping opioid abuse, yet, people still consume opioids in unsafe
quantities which puts them and the people around them in terrible and
heartbreaking conditions.
The story
of one woman named Cheryl is a great example of the effects that this epidemic
has on people and families. Cheryl woke one morning in severe pain across her
whole body. After going to the doctor, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, an autoimmune
disease that causes severe pain and inflammation across a person’s body.
Cheryl’s doctor prescribed her OxyContin, a powerful pain reliever and opioid. Cheryl
gradually became addicted to OxyContin and eventually began increasing her
dosage and experimenting with the drug as well. Because of her experimentation,
she ran out of her medication before the refill date and suffered through the
frightening withdrawal symptoms associated with opioid abuse. One would think
that after going through nine days of, severe vomiting, headache, constipation,
diarrhea, sweating, nausea, anxiety, fever, fatigue, and muscle aches that
Cheryl would put down the drugs and tell her doctor that she could never take
OxyContin ever again. Unfortunately for Cheryl, her addiction was so strong,
that this was not the case. Despite the pleadings of her husband, Cheryl lied
to her doctor and restarted her vicious cycle of drug abuse. Cheryl lost nearly
forty pounds over several months because of her addiction, and her personal
hygiene and health became backseat to her cravings. It was not until she was
sent to the ER from an overdose with her husband giving her a choice to either
get clean or he would leave her that she finally found the strength to say no
to opioids. Opioids are so strong that I took nearly losing her life and her
marriage to finally get Cheryl to come to her senses and get help ("A
Story From An OxyContin Survivor - Anatomy of Addiction / Overdose."). The grip
that opioids have on a person never completely goes aw ay, as seen in the case
of Manda Spitler.
Manda
Spitler was a twenty-year-old recovering heroin addict who relapsed after her
detox and died in the spring of 2002. Manda’s family was well off; her father was
a well-liked podiatrist in their town. Manda was not a troubled child until she
began using heroin at the age of thirteen due to the influence of her boyfriend
at the time. That began her long spiral of addiction and poor decision making. Manda
drifted from one terrible boyfriend to the next and surrounded herself with
friends who encouraged her heroin usage. Manda confessed to her parents about
her heroin addiction after seven years of constant drug abuse when her
boyfriend and her drug dealer were both sent to jail for possessing heroin.
Because of this, Manda no longer had a supply of heroin and would soon go
through the painful, and potentially fatal, withdrawal symptoms. Her parents
helped her and put her through a detox program. After two weeks at the rehab
facility, Manda was able to come home. Unfortunately, by the end of the third
week, Manda relapsed and injected herself with heroin while in her bath tub.
Manda’s father performed CPR on her unresponsive body until the EMT’s arrived.
Manda was placed on life support at the hospital and was dead five hours later.
Manda wanted to get clean. She was frightened and in pain. But her addiction
was so powerful, that even after going through detox and having a supportive
family, she still succumbed to opioid addiction (Ward, Maribeth).
So what
can be done to about the opioid epidemic? What can we do to stop the next
Cheryl or the next Manda Spitler from ever having to go through opioid
addiction? Educating people might have the greatest impact. The reason why
opioid abuse is on the rise now is because believe that under no circumstance
whatsoever should they be forced to feel pain. In 1991, there were 76 million
prescriptions for opioids in the United States. In 2013, there were 207 million
prescriptions. In a little over 20 years, the demand for prescription drugs
nearly tripled and the United States now accounts for almost 100 percent of the
world’s hydrocodone, another powerful opioid (National Institute on Drug Abuse).
People simply feel that it is the doctors job to make sure that they never feel
pain no matter how simple or short the procedure may be. By constantly
informing patients and the general public of the dangers and risks involved
with the use of any opioid, people may be deterred from ever wanting to use them
which effectively reduces the number of prescriptions that are prescribed and
kills the problem before it ever manifests itself. Of course, one problem with
this is that already we have funneled over a trillion dollars to create ad campaigns,
educational classes and videos, television specials, and even a whole week
dedicated to saying no to drugs called Red Ribbon Week. Despite this, we still
have seen no clear sign that we have won the “War on Drugs” that was started in
the 1980’s (Branson, Richard).
The best
possible solution is creating new pain killers that are equally as effective at
relieving pain without the addictive side effects. Creating this “next
generation” pain killer would revolutionize health care as doctors would not
have to worry about “poisoning” their patients with pain killers. The need for
rehabilitation clinics would decrease as fewer people would ever become addicted
to opioids and other prescription drugs. Currently, research is being done into
drugs that are difficult to abuse or are simply more effective with a lower
risk (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Of course, the problem with this that
it will take several more years to perfect and test any of the potential drugs
before they will be marketed in America. In the time it takes for those drugs
to reach the general public, million may die from opioid overdose.
Camus’
absurdity well relates to this topic because people do not act sensibly when it
comes to prescription drugs. In America, there exist people who glorify the
selling and usage of drugs despite the fact that using drugs has caused so much
suffering to families not only across America, but across the world. These same
people resist the earnest attempts of recovering drug addicts, family members
of those who have died to opioid abuse, and those who simply are appalled by
drugs in order to continue their selfish and self-destructive behavior. Because
of how wide spread opioid abuse is, and how this epidemic can claim all people
from the most innocent and kind, to the most vile and evil of people, Camus
would likely think that the Opioid Epidemic is very similar to the plague. The
Opioid Epidemic, like the plague in Camus’ La
Peste, is responsible for mass hysteria and has brought out the evil in
some people who profit off the suffering of others, while showing truly
marvelous characteristics in others; those who have overcome their addiction
and tried to help those who still struggle. Camus would likely think the
outcome of the opioid epidemic is quite different from the outcome of La Peste. In La Peste, the plague eventually subsided and the people of Oran
were freed from its grip. The opioid epidemic, however, has and never will
offer any respite. The opioid epidemic will probably never end, but eventually,
opioid abuse can be dramatically reduced. While America may never be freed like
the people of Oran, we can at least take solace in the small victories that we
may achieve when it pertains to beating back Opioid addiction.
In
our current society, pain killers can be seen everywhere. Gone are the days of
having to deal with pain. If you have a problem, there’s a pill to fix it.
Headaches, stomachaches, backaches, and more can be banished by a pill and a
glass of water. Unfortunately, people are not perfect and neither are our
painkillers. Not only must people realize that all pain killers can have
serious side effects and consequences, but people must also realize that those
who are fighting addiction are chemically dependent on their drug and need all
the support that could possibly be given. Thousands of people are dying from
addiction and it is our duty to reform our usage of opioids so that no parent
will ever have to bury a child because of prescription drugs. Not every person,
family, community, town, and city can be saved from the powerful grip of opioid
addiction, but every individual, or individuals, that are saved are well worth
the fight.
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