Social Epidemics: The Opioid Epidemic by Madeleine White

The Opioid Epidemic

Opioids are a rapidly growing issue among younger age groups, especially teenagers. Opioids are an addictive compound with severe psychological effects. This issue is so important because these drugs are very likely to ruin lives if one becomes addicted to them. The addiction is easy to hide until they become completely dependent on pills; they walk around sluggishly, waiting for their next high. The overdose rate for opioids in 2008 was almost four times the rate in 1999, and it is still climbing (Opioid Addiction 1). Opioid abuse is a spreading epidemic and it isn’t discussed enough, which makes it an even bigger issue.

Opium comes from the opium poppy flower; more specifically, its milky sap. Some of the earliest uses of opium come from Mesopotamia in 3400 B.C. The narcotic was not only used for medicinal purposes; its name “Hul Gil,” which means Joy Plant, came from its recreational use (A Brief History of Opioids 1). Ancient societies had many ways to utilize opium for things such as sleep aid, pain relief, and to calm crying infants. Eventually, opium spread to the ancient Greeks, Persians, and Egyptians, all using it for a very early and “crude version” of the anesthesia we use during surgery today (A Brief History of Opioids 1). In the 1800’s, German chemist Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Serturner isolated morphine from opium, which led to morphine becoming “the new mainstay for medicine” throughout the 19^th century, until users became heavily addicted. The addictions to morphine then led to the development and mass production of heroin as a way for morphine addicts to get over to their addictions, which, unsurprisingly led to yet another form of opioid that causes major addiction. In the late 1900’s pharmaceutical companies searched for more pain relievers, and eventually came up with Percocet, Vicodin, and oxycodone, reassuring doctors and patients alike that the users would not become addicted. With pharmaceutical companies creating more painkillers, illegal drug traffickers saw a bigger opportunity for profits and began producing synthetic opioids by the mass, which caused the American life expectancy to drop by two years in 2015 and 2016 (Hendi). In 2016, 64,000 people died from opioid overdoses, which is a higher death toll than guns, car crashes, and HIV/AIDS related deaths have had in one year in the U.S. Because doctors were tired of dealing with hard-to-treat, painful diseases, they signed prescription slips for any patient who had any sort of pain, which led to easier access to opioids than to tobacco.

Because of the number of opioids prescribed and circulating on the black market, there has been a sharp increase of children entering the foster care systems in nearly three quarters of the states, the primary reason for this being parental substance abuse. Not only are older children affected, but many newborns are born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, or NAS. According to the Center for Disease Control, the number of babies born with drug withdrawal symptoms has quadrupled over the past 15 years (Matthew, Rivlin). NAS is a drug withdrawal symptom that occurs when expectant mothers take drugs (usually opioids) and the drugs pass through the placenta, which can cause fatal problems for the baby, possibly even the mother (Matthew, Rivlin). The symptoms begin to show almost immediately after birth, typically occurring among infants that were exposed to opioids in the womb. Newborns that experience this can suffer from seizures, poor feeding, breathing problems, and many more potentially life-threatening symptoms.

With Colombia supplying less poppies to produce heroin and other opioids, Mexico has taken over, with their poppy production expanding 800% in a decade along with supplying 90% of the illegal opioids the U.S. ends up acquiring (Partlow). Guerrero, Mexico is the state with the largest amount of poppy production, producing “more than half of Mexico’s opium poppies (Partlow). However, it has also become the most violent state in Mexico with over 2,200 killings in the past year (Partlow). The organized crime in Guerrero used to be “more organized,” but when the heroin trade spread to Mexico, many new gangs and drug traffickers have moved to Guerrero, each fighting for a patch of land, in turn triggering the rise of citizen militias (Partlow). The crime lords keep their control over locals by paying the police off to be quiet and forcing local businesses into extortion, along with threatening kidnapping and robbery, and they are clearly not afraid to do so, because kidnappings are no rare occurrence. Guerrero was nowhere near as violent as it is now, but because of the new and popular poppy demand, it has fallen into a deep hole that it will likely never come out of.

Opioid addictions are not something to be proud of, but they are something that needs to be made known so everyone is aware of the damage they can cause. In the article, “Some of the Best Opioid Coverage is Not Where You’d Expect,” many deaths by opioid abuse and overdose are brought to light, but not in a bad way. Instead, the victims’ families chose to highlight the good in their lives and inform the public that the addiction problems are very real and preventable through beautifully composed obituaries. These obituaries track the “devastating cost of a modern-day plague” and “build a case for better public policy and social services,” hopefully leading to those affected by addictions or those surrounded by addicts to address the issue, get help, and not feel ashamed (Clark). Many families of opioid overdose victims feel that honesty is their “first and best weapon,” and this cannot be closer to the truth; there will be no change unless there is more knowledge on the opioid epidemic and the fatalities associated with it (Clark).

One of the first steps to curing the opioid epidemic is creating easier and earlier access to doctors and intervention programs for addicts. Buprenorphine, a lesser form of what many opioid addicts are addicted to, can be prescribed to patients with the arrangement of a 24-hour follow up (What Exactly is Buprenorphine? 1). However, there are not enough doctors across the country that are able to prescribe this drug, and not all addicts can attend a follow up appointment (Zambon). An evidence-based program in Med-Star’s emergency rooms provides screenings, brief interventions, and referrals to treatment has screened over 300,000 people and treatment has been given to about 10% of all patients (Zambon). This program’s main goal is to catch opioid abuse and prevent it from becoming too severe, but when a patient comes in already suffering from an overdose, doctors give them Naloxone, which blocks the opioid receptors preventing the toxic effects from the overdose (Naloxone 1). With access to programs like this all over the U.S., it will be easier for addicts to find help and support when experiencing overdoses and withdrawals. Some states have also put new policies into effect that enhanced prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) (Opioid Overdose). In 2010, pain clinics in Florida reduced the number of opioids they were dispensing, and as a result, overdose deaths went down by 50% in two years (Opioid Overdose).

New guidelines for opioid prescriptions have been created by the Center for Disease Control to prevent abuse during and after a patient’s opioid prescription. In the 1990’s, opioid prescription rates were at an all-time high, with OxyContin being the most prescribed opioid (The Origin and Causes of the Opioid Epidemic 1). OxyContin was created with the intent to be a less addictive opioid pill, but doctors prescribed so much of it (much of the time it was not even needed), that it led to many new cases of addiction (The Origin and Causes of the Opioid Epidemic 1). The CDC’s new guidelines state that opioids should not be the first line of defense against pain; instead, they should only be used when the benefits of using the drug outweighs the risks to the patient (Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain). The new criteria for opioid prescriptions prevent patients from getting access to opioids when they may not need them.

Absurdism is the belief that the universe is chaotic and meaningless. The opioid epidemic can relate to absurdism in numerous ways, one of them being that addicts often find themselves abusing drugs to find a feeling or some purpose in their lives. However, I do not think Camus would support this trend because if he believed that life had no meaning and he spent his days searching for said meaning, he would not find it in painkillers because they create an illusion of euphoria and relaxation (Camus and Absurdity). While Camus contemplates suicide as the only rational reaction to how absurd life is, I do not think opioid overdose would be the exit of his choice because in the end, the high will give him no meaning, even though he ends up dying in the end for naught. On the other hand, an opioid addiction might just be one more thing that proves how absurd life really is. Nietzsche’s approach to absurdity claims the illusion with open arms, but Camus believed that we should not embrace illusions, but the absurdity of everything in general. Opioid addiction is quite literally so pointless, how could it not be considered absurd? Addicts will do anything to acquire opioids, so they feel “happy,” and as soon as the high goes away, they are right back to abusing. The repetition of abuse is absurd but accepting the abuse as a part of life might be the most absurd thing of all.

Understanding the opioid epidemic is the first step to stopping it, but it will take much more effort to be rid of the problem completely. Rehabilitation and intervention programs must be more readily available to addicts because this epidemic affects people across all socioeconomic groups. Reaching out to addicts can be the spark they need to change their lives, so we must be compassionate and understanding for the world to be completely rid of this epidemic.

Sources Cited

“A Brief History of Opioids.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 27 Jan. 2015, www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/purdue-health/a-brief-history-of-opioids/184/.

Abuse, National Institute on Drug. “Opioid Overdose Crisis.” NIDA, 23 Feb. 2018, www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis.

“Absurdism.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absurdism.

American Society of Addiction Medicine. Opioid Addiction: 2016 Facts and Figures. www.asam.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/opioid-addiction-disease-facts-figures.pdf.

Benson, William F., and Nancy Aldrich. Raising Awareness and Seeking Solutions to the Opioid Epidemic's Impact on Rural Adults.

“Camus and Absurdity.” Philosophy Talk, www.philosophytalk.org/blog/camus-and-absurdity.

“Experts Explore Causes and Solutions to the Opioid Epidemic.” Georgetown University Medical Center, 4 Mar. 2019, gumc.georgetown.edu/gumc-stories/experts-explore-causes-and-solutions-to-the-opioid-epidemic/.

Lopez, German. “The Opioid Epidemic, Explained.” Vox, Vox, 3 Aug. 2017, www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/3/16079772/opioid-epidemic-drug-overdoses.

Lynne.walsh. “Naloxone.” SAMHSA, 16 June 2015, www.samhsa.gov/medication-assisted-treatment/treatment/naloxone.

Maguire, Laura. “Camus and Absurdity.” Philosophy Talk, 2015, www.philosophytalk.org/blog/camus-and-absurdity.

Matthew, Dayna Bowen, and Alice M. Rivlin. “Unfinished Business: Bipartisan Help for Child Victims of the Opioid Crisis.” Brookings, Brookings, 12 Jan. 2017, www.brookings.edu/opinions/unfinished-business-bipartisan-help-for-child-victims-of-the-opioid-crisis/.

“Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 Mar. 2016, www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/rr6501e1.htm?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fmmwr%2Fvolumes%2F65%2Frr%2Frr6501e1er.htm.

Partlow, Joshua. “Violence Is Soaring in the Towns That Feed America's Heroin Habit.” The Washington Post, 30 May 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/violence-is-soaring-in-the-mexican-towns-that-feed-americas-heroin-habit/?utm_term=.85d96361683c.

“Opioid Overdose.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5 Oct. 2017, www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/policy/successes.html.