Your Revised Thesis Statement
There is an opioid crisis affecting the healthcare sector with other far-reaching consequences. The situation originated by pharmaceutical organizations believed to be giving more than enough drugs (Marks, 2020). Physicians who accept direct payments or bribes from suppliers and manufacturers for opioid prescriptions are likely to recommend significantly larger medication quantities (Marks, 2020). Medical practitioners and healthcare workers bear the burden of ethics regarding the excessive use of opioids, as observed in the evidence provided, to prove how they have every tool at hand to prevent it.
Your Prewriting
Brainstorm for a list of five reasons your stance is important and valid, and write those five reasons below
- Pharmaceutical companies are providing more drugs than recommended as a deception to influence dozes by medical experts.
- Companies are colluding with healthcare facilities to sell more for some commission and revenues.
- Some medicines work well in large quantities to meet the required standards of treatment.
- Several medical officials invest in companies producing drugs, hence the influence in the large doses.
- Large quantities of opioids are the solution to fighting pain.
Brainstorm for a list of five reasonable opposing arguments others may make against your thesis/stance and write those five opposing arguments below
- Pharmaceutical companies are just doing their normal business without forcing anyone to buy their drugs. The exercise remains a task of pharmacists, who should carry the blame.
- Healthcare institutions should be on the outlook to regulate the dosage and prescriptions given.
- The misuse of drugs is on the rise, and opioids are not the only types on the list.
- The human body is not developing enough immunity to fight diseases, hence the need for more drugs.
- Medicines manufactured in the current days and age are of low quality and can only function when taken in overdose.
Your Introduction Paragraph Draft
The healthcare department has a case to solve at any given time. It could relate to the professionals or the public that they serve. At times, the crisis falls even to the stakeholders operating the medical department. According to King (2018), opioid use and misuse have been on the rise, with medical practitioners in the mess’s limelight. Health associations are worried about the rising crisis that will soon declare the country as abusing drugs. Around 1990 when the concerns were beyond containment levels, medical manufacturers reiterated to the populace that the crisis would as soon as it began. However, the trend has been on the rising curve since then, leaving people with a barrage of questions to solve the riddle (Graeme, 2017). There are reasons justifying the blame on medical experts and stakeholders, while others are mentioning that the increasing cases are beyond the medics. Medical experts should be responsible for the blame regarding the excessive use of opioids, given the evidence provided and their ability to correct the mistakes.
Your Argument Plan
Claim
Medical professionals and stakeholders should bear the direct blame for the misuse of opioids in relieving pain.
Grounds, Warrant, and Backing
“Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) is a 3-year cooperative agreement through which CDC funds health departments in 47 states, Washington DC, two territories, and 16 cities and counties for surveillance and prevention efforts” ( Center for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d). The provision of medical funds for surveillance means there are underhand deals that the government wishes to hijack and stop. According to National Institute on Drug Abuse (n.d), most of these touch on medical experts who understand the problems they should be preventing but fail to do. In other words, it is an act of negligence and disregard to the laws guiding the medical facilities and patients. According to Cobin et al. (2017), there exist various drug agencies to control the use of drugs. These include their sale and manufacture in hospitals and companies, respectively. This means that the agencies as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) are not exercising their full authority to ensure the use of drugs reduce.
Counterclaim
Others may claim that the FDA and DEA should provide every stakeholder with the guidelines to follow and prosecute practitioners that do not abide by the law. Since there is no evidence of their efforts, it means the mess is now at the agencies’ and medical practitioners’ discretion. Patients do not face harsh judgment while they are the major people at the center of the argument about the misuse of the drugs.
Rebuttal
It is not clear that the agencies mentioned cannot afford to regulate medicinal misuse. Most companies operate without a trace, leaving little evidence to warrant prosecution. It is also not within their jurisdiction to control what companies manufacture, as that is under the trade department. Additionally, the large numbers of medical practitioners and manufacturers involved within and outside the country are more than the forces established by the regulatory bodies to handle comprehensively. The rising cases of opioid misuse are within the misdoings of countless healthcare organizations, stakeholders, and manufacturers. Evidence point back at their failure to remain ethical in the process, making it tricky to control the use of drugs.
Conclusion
The misuse of drugs and opioid overdose occurs because of inadequate control measures by the regulatory bodies. Medical facilities are also in the conundrum of promoting the mess in drug misuse as they encourage patients to use more than is needed. The government does not provide enough regulation or is sometimes overwhelmed by the cases. Such an incident leaves a gap and leeway for the patients and medical practitioners to use the drugs in ways they find satisfactory to their needs. There should be a plan to reduce the cases to regain the trust of the healthcare sector.
References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d). Understanding the epidemic.
Cobin, S., Raeford, B., Derric, V., John, M., & Banu, R. (2017). The US opioid crisis: Crrent federal and state legal issues. Anesthesia and Analgesia, 25(105), 1675–1681.
Graeme, D., W. (2017). The opioid epidemic of America: What you need know about the opiate and opioid crisis… And how we can heal from it. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
King, S. A. (2018). The opioid epidemic: Who is to blame? Psychiatric Times, 35(6).
Marks, J. H. (2020). Lessons from corporate influence in the opioid epidemic: Toward a norm of separation. Bioethical Inquiry, 17, 173–189.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (n.d). Opioid overdose crisis.