Drug overdosing is not a new thing in America and can be seen frequently with any kind of drug, such as cocaine, crack, heroin, etc. Since 2000, drug overdosing has increased 137% reaching an all time high and keeps increasing every year. Everyone knows about the most common drugs that people can get addicted to and overdose on, but no one really focuses on opioids as a source of addiction. I most recently did a group project on this with some of my fellow classmates in my leadership class and the research we found was very interesting.
Opioids are prescription painkillers that physicians give to non-cancer patients who are suffering from any type of chronic or simple pain. Over time, starting in late 1999, people's addiction to opioids have grown more and more. The addiction problem began in more poverty areas, but then grew to reach middle-class neighborhoods and homes. That is when the media started to bring more attention to the crisis. By 2014 the opioid epidemic reached an all time high of over 47,055 people, which is 125 Americans a day, and opioid addiction still continues to grow today.
Understanding how opioids work inside the body help understand why so many can become so easily addicted. When a person takes opioids the drug attaches itself to nerves in the brain transforming into opioid receptors that help numb pain throughout the body. Opioids attach themselves to ideal nerves that allow them to interfere with humans' motor skills needed on a daily basis. For example, the limbic system - controls emotions, the brainstem - controls what the human body does, and the spinal cord - a catalyst for nerves to work to the brain. Once opioids get into these systems they are able to alter their functions. For example, in the limbic system opioids can change the way the emotions are displayed and how often they occur, and the body can become so used to this change. Once a person stops using the drug the system starts to feel withdrawal, in turn creating addiction. A person can easily build on that addiction because of the availability of opioids and the fact that opioids can be found in almost any type of prescription drugs. Opioids are also seen as pharmaceutical grade heroin, so if a person can not find reasons to get prescriptions or can not afford them they can reach that same wanted high though heroin.
The most common effects from using opioids are mental disorders, such as being bipolar, anxiety, and depression. There can also be mood, behavioral, physical, and psychological symptoms as well, but one person will not always showcase every disorder or symptom. Being addicted to opioids can also affect your outside life as far as your capability to keep a job, relationships with family and friends, and being able to carry out simple tasks like driving or walking. There can be kidney and liver failure within the body and pregnant women can cause birth defects to occur if they get hooked on opioids. If a woman starts to become addicted to opioids and then stops there can be a withdrawal syndrome in the infants called Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). This increases the possibility of congenital heart defects and mental disorders within the child later on in life.
This epidemic is one that can not be easily prevented or broken simply by cancelling distribution of opioids out into the world. Opioids are involved in many of the medications that help to cure certain pains and illnesses allowing humans to handle and treat the problem more. Solutions are still being tested, but one solution that is most common today is sending people through detox treatments and group therapies with addicts just like themselves. The drug is hard to break cold turkey and programs are being created to support a person through the healing process.
This epidemic is something that should be made more known to the public so that people can be aware of some of the possibilities of using opioids during treatment. Not many are aware of how much people are dying from this drug, and how the mortality rate is forever growing bigger and bigger throughout the United States. Even with treatment, the addiction can be hard to break and many can be going through addiction without family and friends even noticing. If you do ever come across someone struggling from addiction try to reach out a helping hand get them help because this is a very powerful killer that can not be put behind bars or killed off permanently.
