The number of Americans consuming opioids and heroin has increased dramatically in recent years. Additionally, the use of these narcotics has brought a rise in overdose deaths. The misuse of these drugs results in more deaths, more financial losses, and even the dissolution of families. Approximately 18.7 million to 28 million person abuse opiates worldwide (Wolf, 2021, p. 155). As of 2019, 1.7 million individuals in the United States are addicted to the usage of prescription opioids (Wolf, 2021, p. 155). Since more people are dying because of abusing prescription painkillers, there are grave repercussions from the overuse of these drugs.
The fact that opioids adhere to pain-blocking sites in the brain and spine makes them a common medication for pain treatment. Euphoria is one of the side effects of this pain blocking. This sense of being high can quickly develop into addiction and drug abuse. The need to numb the pain is more intense than the high. Over time, the body adjusts to the medications, necessitating progressively greater dosages to retain efficiency. This frequently results in opiate dependence and severe addiction. These prescribed opioids may also act as a stepping stone to heroin, a more harmful narcotic.
Opioid use for pain relief first spread across America in the early 19th century as a treatment for injured soldiers. Many of these troops who sought morphine therapy later developed dependence and addiction to the drug (Wolf, 2021). The overprescription of these medications by physicians to relieve pain rather than looking for other treatments is the cause of the opioid epidemic. These medications are a simple substitute because insurance plans cover them more than complementary therapies and treatments. For this problem to be solved effectively, it is necessary to comprehend the causes of the opiate epidemic.
Reference
Wolf, J. K. (2021). A review of Dreamland: The true tale of America’s opiate epidemic by Sam Quinones. International Journal of Rural Criminology, 6(1), 154-157.