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The Solutions for the Opioid Epidemic in the U.S.

The United States is In a heavy opioid problem nationwide and the over-prescription of this drug is being wasted. Citizens of the nation have become dependent on the prescription of this highly addictive drug that can be found everywhere, prescribed from the Experient medics for surgical or chronic pain; or stealing medications from others, or buying them illegally on the streets. Later addicts start to experiment with a more dangerous drugs for example heroin because it’s easier to obtain and […]

What is the U.S. Opioid Epidemic?

Almost two million Americans are now addicted to opioids. The National Institute on Drug Abuse notes that over 100 people die each day in the U.S. from opioid overdoses. This unprecedented level of abuse — which involves not only heroin, but also prescription pain relievers such as OxyContin, Percocet, morphine, codeine, and fentanyl — has become a national crisis. Along with that crisis is the unethical issues that have paved how to allow this crisis to continue to rise. Some […]

Who is Responsible for Increased Opioid Crisis in America?

Opioid epidermis or crises is defined as rapid increase of using opioid drugs. The opioid drugs can be prescript or not. Those responsible with prescribing usage of these painkillers are pharmaceutical man and woman. As a result of increased use and addiction of these opioid drugs, have raised questions on who should be responsible for its crisis. Many think that pharmacists are the one to be blamed and others argue that the blame lies to the consumers. As a result […]

Nurse Role to Combat the Opioid Epidemic

Introduction In the past several years, the opioid addiction has become exponentially greater with more and more deaths occurring daily. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention report that the opiate related deaths are a public health crisis with an average of 130 Americans dying as result of an overdose daily (CDC, 2018). An opioid is a drug used to relieve pain and noted to work by inhibiting pain signals sent to the brain (Bradley University). Some examples of opioid […]

The Pharmaceutical Industry and the Opioid Epidemic

The opioid epidemic has taken an estimated $1 trillion from the United States’ economy for the past eighteen years. It has been a continued problem throughout the United States for the past fifty years. It all began in the 1990s. The pharmaceutical industry began to market the drug Oxycontin. The industry portrayed Oxycontin as a non-addictive painkiller that was created to treat all types of pain. The advertisements stated that less than 1% of patients who took Oxycontin became addicted. […]

Mass Media’s Effects on the Opioid Epidemic

Is Greed the Cause of Banking Fraud? Abstract With the development of economy, more and more banking frauds take place and cause many risks. However, according to the case study, one of the main reasons is greed. In recent years, psychologists and legislators have taken a keen interest in the relationship between bank fraud and psychology. This literature review examines one approach in which banking frauds occurs: psychology. It analyzes the psychology of greed which include the definition, the situation […]

Who is to Blame for the Opioid Crisis in America?

There is an opioid epidemic going on in America and no one really knows who to blame, but the culprits may not be the actual drug user but pharmaceutical companies and doctors. Most people believe that it’s the addicts fault they are addicted to drugs. People also believe that the drug companies are to blame for the opioid epidemic. Although most people blame the addicts, they are not all to blame for the epidemic. In fact, there are a combination […]

Drug Companies should be Held Responsible for Opioid Crisis

According to the article titled: majority of americans say drug companies should be held responsible for opioid crisis by brian mann for npr dated april 25 2019 one third of americans have been directly affected by the deadly opioid epidemic that has killed more than 200 000 americans since the 1990’s. with 57% of americans stating they think pharmaceutical companies should be held responsible for this and after big pharma has reached over 1 600 lawsuits filed against it it […]

Should People be Allowed Medical Marijuana

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “every day, more than 115 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids,”(Opioid). The misuse of an addiction to opioids like, prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids is a serious national crisis. Therefore presenting the question to many Americans whether or not people should be allowed medical marijuana in order to relieve their pain over opioids. One cannot fully take a stance on the efficacy of the two drugs […]

Cause and Effect about Drug Addiction

Drug overdose has become the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Richard Leadbeater (2017). Addiction does not discriminate and can tear even the most loving family apart. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019) noted an estimated 69,029 people died of a drug overdose in a year period ending in February 2019. Seven of the ten of these overdose deaths were due to opioids. The addiction to opioids is so multi- faceted in it’s causes and revolving […]

Understanding the Psychological Influences

There are several psychological influences firstly, stress as part of everyone’s daily life can lead to individuals using opioids to control stress and relax (Al’absi, 2007). Stress is highly associated with increased use of opioid drugs. Research suggests that the presence of chronic stress from areas such as relationships troubles and work-related problems can cause an increased vulnerability to the use of opioids and therefore addiction (Sinha, 2008). The presence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is also a risk factor […]

Policy Proposal Reduce Mortality from Opioids

Goal Statement My goal in this policy brief is to continue to bring awareness to the opioid epidemic specifically in Ohio and show that the problem is getting worse and not getting better. I would like to include how the medical field has such a large hold on this epidemic and how I feel a different route of medication could help reduce the deaths in Ohio from opioids. Scope of the Problem History of the problem The opioid problem started […]

Prescription Drug Abuse

Prescription drugs have valid medical purpose and are crucial for the health of the American people. However, the over-prescription of drugs by physicians presents a serious danger to a person’s health. The Uniform Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and Opioid Abuse Reduction Act is designed to reduce the availability of Opioids and fund the research to create non-addictive pain medication. This bill seeks to create a national database to monitor and regulate over prescription. Not to mention, the act will fund […]

Prescription Drugs-Gateway to Street Drugs

It is a known fact that drug overdose deaths are on the rise. Based on research I have read, most addicts say they started with pills, turn to heroin and die from the synthetic opioid painkiller fentanyl. Opioids are too accessible; there are other effective alternative pain managements that are almost never discussed as a treatment option. Other medications like Ibuprofen (Motrin), Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and Naproxen (Advil) are good effective options. Discussing these options and implementing them would drop the […]

Opioids: Conflicts and Controversies

The world has become increasingly more knowledgeable throughout the course of history regarding the field of medicine. Many plagues viruses and diseases have swept the globe over decades that have past throughout history. Prior to these catastrophic events humanity has come to learn from mistakes and procedures that can be done to prevent further disaster and damage to the world. Vaccines, medications, and sanitation requirements are just a few of many implementations that have been added to make humanity safer […]

Dreamland: the True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic

In the book Dreamland, by Sam Quinones, Quinones tries to strengthen our inadequate classroom focus on opioid addiction, and pain management. The teaching of these topics are limited across U.S. medical schools. Yet, in the past year, the subject matter of opioid addiction has come up many times. Throughout Quinones’s book, he weaves together two national stories that collide in Ohio, in the small city of Portsmouth. Quinones tracks the rush of heroin harvested in Mexico, while at the same […]

Workplace Drug Testing

The idea that an employee can be fired for their off the work conduct should not be tolerated. If employees are able to drink in excess every evening following their workday without it interfering with their work, employees should be able to implement CBD into their regular lives to prevent from using harmful prescription drugs. Comparing other states and countries to Indiana and the United States it is clear from the statistics that CBD should not be the cause of […]

America’s Drug Overdose Epidemic

The opioid epidemic is one of the most rapidly-spreading crisis’ the nation has been faced with since the 1980’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, on average, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. Overdose rates have increased from 16,849 in 1999 to 70,237 in 2017 (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Even short-term use of opioids can lead to addiction. To put an end to this ongoing crisis, the government should take more […]

The Opioids are very Dangerous and very Addictive

What is the opioid epidemic? They are a group of chemicals that reduce pain, increase pleasure, and make your breathing slow down. This opioid can be deadly if it were to cause and overdose. They are usually prescribed to treat severe pain. They opioids can be very addictive and they can also be deadly due to the overdose. The opioid epidemic causes a lot of health problems such as slow down breathing, cause brain damage etc. These drugs have caused […]

Bureaucratic Injection: Government in Hoosier Medicine

Opioids on Campuses College is where to specialize your skillset to compete in this globalized market. Unfortunately, the reputations of United States colleges are being disturbed by the opioid crisis. Young adults are more likely to overdose now than in any recorded time. This graph shows the number of opioid-related overdose deaths in Indiana from 1999-2016. In 2016, there were 794 opioid-related overdose deaths: 304 involved synthetic opioids, 297 involved heroin, and 262 involved prescription opioids. Categories are not mutually exclusive […]

Short and Long-Term Effects of Opioids

The opioid epidemic is something that affects every part of a person’s life whether it be the user or the user’s family. It also affects professionals that come into contact with the user. The opioid epidemic affects healthcare professionals because their patients are misusing the opioids that have been prescribed to them. Also, healthcare professionals are one of the first people to see a person once they have arrived at a healthcare facility. Opioids also affect the user’s family members […]

Growing up in Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings

Growing up in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, I was always hyperaware of staying away from substances due to the fear of addiction. My family and I joined my father in his AA meetings as he struggled with nicotine addiction and alcoholism. When my sister turned 21, my father would always warn her not to drink excessively. I wasn’t even aware that prescription medication could be abused until the media introduced me to this issue. I watched “House M.D.” and the main […]

The Opiod Epidemic and the Criminalization of Addiction

In the beginning of the 1990’s, opioids and opioid-combination medications were being prescribed and introduced as a form of treatment to relieve pain. At the time, it was said that the likelihood of getting addicted to the prescriptions were very low, therefore, pharmaceutical companies didn’t hold back in prescribing the drugs to people even excluding cancer related pains at even greater rates. As a result, this led to the mistreatment of both prescription and non-prescription opioids in a form that […]

Prevention of Drug-related Deaths

In 2016 and 2017, policies, initiatives, and regulations discouraging opioid prescriptions began to appear after two-thirds of the 63,600 deaths by overdose in the United States were found accounted for by opioids (Kertesz, Gordon). Due to the chronic overprescription of opioid painkillers, thousands of individuals are trapped in addiction, and when they cannot get hold of over the counter prescriptions, they turn to heroin and fentanyl (American City and Council). On the other hand, in the late 1990’s, after an […]

Effects of Drugs in America

Drugs have been around for many years and can affect the body in positive and negative ways. All drugs produce a chemical which may have a therapeutic or non-therapeutic effect. When drugs were first introduced to people they were only used for medical use or in religious rituals. Opioid addiction is a serious issue and I will show how opioid use is becoming more accessible. Opioid use has become an epidemic, and everyday more than 130 people die after overdosing […]

Most Leading Factors of Deaths in the United States

In today’s word, the opioid epidemic has become one of the most leading factors of deaths in the United States. In excess of nine hundred individuals every seven days pass on from narcotic related overdoses, and a few specialists state the loss of life may not top for quite a long time. In the interim, millions of additional Americans experience the ill effects of narcotic enslavement. As of the previous years, the U.S. government has increase endeavors to cut both […]

Drug Abuse

Do you know how many overdose-related deaths occurred in 2017? According to data that was collected by the CDC, and graphs showing trends found on the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2019) showed that the number is 70,237. Out of the 70,237 drug overdoses 47,600 were caused by opioids of any kind. Out of the 47,600 opioid-related overdoses, 17,029 were caused by prescription opioids. If we unpack that data we see that nearly 68% of the overdoses are caused by […]

Overprescribing of Opioids

Throughout mankind, humans have experimented with drugs for a vast assortment of purposes. While some people use drugs for recreational use, most of the population will consume them for pain management. During the early 19th century, when Friedrich Sertümer isolated an active alkaloid in opium, known as morphine and pharmaceutical companies started to flood the market with morphine, the U.S developed its first opioid epidemic. Fast-forward to the present time, with the advances in chemistry and pharmacology (science of drugs […]

It is Easier for Americans to Get High than to Get Help

The opioid crisis began during the 1990s and during this time pharmaceutical companies took the opportunity to push the doctors to prescribe their drugs. The doctors lacking the resources and time to find the solution of the multiplex pain problems of their patients thought that prescribing pills was an easier fix. According to, pain specialist Sean Mackey; opioids should not be a first-line treatment due to the dangerous risks. Over time, the misuse of prescription painkillers led to the misuse […]

Special Topic Paper

One main issue this article talks about is the huge increase of children younger than 18 having a parent addicted to opioids (Williams & Devooght, 2017). The article mentions a survey conducted from 2002 to 2007 that researched and concluded over two million children are watching at least one parent or guardian have a drug addiction which includes opioids. It goes on to mention how this can have a negative impact on families and the health of children (Williams & […]

Opioid Essays