America's Struggle with Opioids: Analysis of Opioid Epidemic

The opioid epidemic has claimed over 400,000 lives since 1999 and is the leading narcotic killer in America (Understanding the Epidemic). It kills 142 Americans every day and leaves millions of people addicted to the drug for their entire life. It is not slowing down anytime soon (How the Opioid Epidemic is Changing Emergency Care). The opioid epidemic affects people from all walks of life negatively by destroying families, causing an increase in homelessness and crime, and creating health problems that lead to death.

The opioid epidemic has hit America in three waves: The increase in the prescription of opioids, the increase in opioid-related deaths, and the rise of synthetic opioids (Understanding the Epidemic). The first wave began in the nineties when pharmaceutical companies started pushing Doctors to prescribe their patients opioid medications as a treatment for pain (History of the Opioid Epidemic). Before this, Doctors were very wary of prescribing any opioids to their patients because they were aware of the side effects that could lead to addiction (Rummans, Burton, and Dawson 346). However, they went against this because the pharmaceutical companies assured Doctors that the risk level of their patients getting addicted was very low. (Rummans, Burton and Dawson 346). Dr. Thomas Frieden, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says, “Opioids are not safe. These are probably the single most dangerous class of medications that there is. There is no other medication that kills so many people as opioids. There is no other medication which within a week can condemn someone to a life of addiction.”

In 1990 there were 2 million to 3 million prescriptions of opioids, and in 1999 it jumped to 11 million, and since then, it has been growing (Rummans, Burton and Dawson 346). Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the Co-Director of Opioid Policy Research at Brandeis University, said, “They were able to take this old generic drug and turn it into this blockbuster product; a product that would bring in more than 1 billion in sales a year. Other drug companies very quickly saw how profitable this was and began to do exactly the same thing. This is an epidemic that was caused by greed”.

Crooked pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma were one of the leading companies that pushed the prescription of opioids on so many doctors. Steven May, the former Purdue Pharma Sales Representative says “You know one of the things that bothered me about a situation was as they came out with a plan, you know, to help doctors document better, and we would go and provide them with these tools to better document the treatment of pain. But then what would happen when those same exact doctors would get in trouble for “overprescribing” using the documentation that they (Purdue Pharma) provided, they wiped their hands. No support for those doctors and some doctors lost licenses, doctors who committed suicide, and doctors who went to prison, lost everything. They were doing exactly what the company (Purdue Pharma) taught us to teach them to do”. The Purdue Pharma company has earned more than $35 billion from their opioid sales, and the family who owns the company has a net worth of over $13 billion (Addicted: America’s Opioid Crisis). So far, 48 states have filed one or more lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies on the grounds of their role in the opioid epidemic and the lives lost because of it (Addicted: America’s Opioid Crisis).

The second wave of the opioid epidemic started in 2010 when people started to realize the effects of overprescribing opioids for pain management (Understanding the Epidemic). Steps were being made to make access to opioids harder for people to lessen the addiction rates (History of the Opioid Epidemic). However, this good intention backfired quickly when opioid abusers turned to a cheaper and more sustainable drug: heroine (History of the Opioid Epidemic). Prescription opioids were much more expensive than heroin because the users either had to get them from a doctor or buy them from a seller illegally. This made the heroin a very appealing drug to young people who could not afford to keep buying prescription opioids. For many people, opioids were a gateway drug to heroin and other opioids (Prescription opioid use is a risk factor for heroin use).

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The third and most recent wave of the opioid epidemic is the use of synthetic opioids like fentanyl and drugs that contain fentanyl in them (Understanding the Epidemic). It began in 2013 when a new string of opioids hid the illegal market that was fifty times more powerful than heroin (Addicted: America’s Opioid Crisis). This means that only a small amount of fentanyl can be taken without it being deadly. This also means that the amount of overdoses tends to be higher because people do not know how potent it is until it is too late (Synthetic Overdose Data). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 28,000 deaths in 2017 from fentanyl. It is the most lethal type of opioid that can be found in America today, and the use of this dangerous drug is only rising (Synthetic Overdose Data).

Opioids do not only affect the people who use the drug, but it also affects everyone around them. There are 2.2 million children who have been affected by the opioid epidemic; they are put into foster care and have to grow up without their parents because they died of an opioid overdose (The Ripple Effect). It is not uncommon for a baby to be born suffering from opioid withdrawal. It is every 15 minutes and Kevin Morse, a recovered addict, said: “When he (his son) was first born they actually had to give opium and they put it into his baby formula just to keep him from shaking, and that was very scary, but they just told me that it was withdrawal symptoms, but he was shaking.” When a pregnant woman is addicted to opioids, she might refuse prenatal care so that her doctor does not find out she is addicted (The Opioid Epidemic: Impact on Children and Families). People who are addicted to opioids usually have inferior nutrition, and this can hurt the baby and cause problems during and after birth (The Opioid Epidemic: Impact on Children and Families). According to Michael Maes, Molecular Biologist and Neuroscientist from Deakin University, “The number of pregnant women using narcotic pain medications rose five-fold from 2000-2009 and continues to rise. The increase has resulted in infants being born with a condition called Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) that is linked to congenital disabilities and severe withdrawal symptoms demonstrated by the infant at birth”.

The opioid epidemic can affect everyone from all socioeconomic backgrounds and all ages. There are addicts in middle school, and there are addicts in their 60s who are struggling the same way (Opioids and Adolescents). Around 8 million children live in a household where at least one parent is an opioid user (The Opioid Epidemic: Impact on Children and Families). This creates a volatile living environment for a child and can cause them to suffer trauma and, in some cases, even become users themselves (The Opioid Epidemic: Impact on Children and Families). Stephanie Horton, a foster mother to Ben who was born addicted to heroin because his two parents can recall traumatic memories from his early childhood. Stephanies says “He would tell his preschool teacher that his “other daddy” would tie a rubber band around his arm and use a spoon and then he would be “asleep,” is what he would say, he would get sleepy, and Ben would say “I would try and wake up my dad, but I could not wake him up,” and he would say things like “I just wanted to be stronger, I want bigger muscles so when I shale him, he’ll wake up” (American Epidemic: The Nations Struggle With Opioid Addiction). Opioid users that are parents traumatize their children by subjecting them to their lifestyle and influencing them negatively.

Homelessness and addiction are almost always linked, and addiction usually leads to homelessness. Addictions destroy relationships with families and friends and can cause someone to lose their home and job (Substance Abuse and Homelessness). In 2008, when the opioid epidemic was in, it is the most dangerous state, substance abuse was named as the most significant cause of homelessness for single adults (Substance Abuse and Homelessness). In the first wave of the opioid epidemic, the majority of opioid users were obtaining the drug legally from a prescription. However, when doctors began to stop overprescribing opioids, addicts had to find a different dispenser, which would usually be illegal ( The Relationship Between Crime and Opioid Use). Either it was stealing opioids from people the users knew or buying them from dealers on the street ( The Relationship Between Crime and Opioid Use).

Opioids are a very addictive and potent drug that alters brain chemistry and gives the user a sense of euphoria and a sense of relief (Opioid Addiction). Frequent opioid causes you to become tolerant of the drug, which means that you need a higher dosage of the drug to get the full effect. When the dose is raised every time it is used, there is a point where it cannot be raised anymore, and the user overdoses (Opioid Addiction). When a user decided to go on a detox or try to get clean, they go through a phase called withdrawal. This happens because they have become dependent on opioids for everything. During withdrawal, the user can experience muscle cramping, diarrhea, and anxiety (Opioid Addiction).

The opioid epidemic is a human-made epidemic caused by pharmaceutical companies who want to make money. There is no real cure to the addiction caused by opioids and causes lifelong health problems. It is an everyday struggle for anyone who is dealing with or has dealt with this addiction. Sadly, the only way out for a majority of people is death. There have been many drug crises before the opioid epidemic, and there will be more after, our responsibility as a society it reveals the root causes and lends help to the people affected.