Origins and Causes of the Opioid Crisis. Social Sciences Essay

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Origins and Causes of the Opioid Crisis
Opioids are sometimes known as narcotics or pain relievers. Some of the prescription drugs of this type include tramadol, hydrocodone, fentanyl, and oxycodone. In particular, illegal drugs such as heroin are also used as opioids. Physicians prescribe opioids to patients with chronic pain. In most cases, these drugs are used to relieve individuals from pain after major surgeries or severe illnesses such as cancer (Medlineplus.gov). Opioids can be detrimental to people’s health when they are misused. The abuse of these drugs can occur when one takes them without the prescription from doctors and intending to get high. Some individuals use drugs belonging to others, which makes them be addicted. The most significant problems in the United States of America (USA) are opioid addiction, overdose, and misuse of these medicines. Some people take opioids to get high, which means that they look for all possible ways to acquire these drugs even if it means faking illnesses to get them from pharmacies or hospitals. The overdose of opioids is another issue that makes many users of these medicines become addicted. For this reason, prescribing opioids as pain management drugs has significantly contributed to the addiction, misuse, and overdose of these medicines in the USA.
The opioid crisis or epidemic took place in three primary phases. The first stage occurred in 1991. The country started to witness many deaths emanating from the misuse of these drugs. Notably, during this time, the prescriptions of opioids or related medications increased since they were used as the primary medicines for pain management. Medical societies, prescribers, and pharmaceutical companies claimed that there was a low risk of addiction-related to these medications. As such, opioids were the best drugs for managing chronic pain. Moreover, pharmacies promoted the use of these medicines to eradicate pain not related to cancer regardless of the lack of reliable information or researches, showing the benefits and risks of using them. In 1999, about 86% of people used opioids to manage pain that was not related to cancer (Liu et al.). The communities or regions where opioids were prescribed were the first places to encounter abuse of these drugs. The second wave took place in 2010, which was marked by a rapid rise in number of deaths associated with the misuse of heroin. At this juncture, pharmacies and health institutions started seeing the adverse effects of opioids since the majority of individuals were addicted and did not use these medicines as prescribed by health professionals. They adopted some measures to control the abuse of opioids, such as making it difficult for people to obtain these drugs. Many people misused heroin since it was readily available and cheap. Besides, individuals across different ages, socioeconomic statuses, and sexes were taking these illegal narcotics. From 2002-2013, overdoses related to heroin rose by around 286%, where about 80% of people who used these drugs admitted having misused the prescription drugs before they started using heroin (Liu et al.). In most cases, people who used heroin injected themselves without minding who they were sharing needles with since they only wanted to get high. As such, these individuals increased their risk of acquiring diseases such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and skin infections.
Furthermore, the final phase took place in 2013 when the number of people dying from opioid-related medications further increased due to the availability of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl. Although pharmaceutical companies and hospitals warned people about the dangers of misusing opioids, they continued prescribing and selling these drugs to the public. Besides, both of these institutions are businesses that were looking for ways to maximize their profits. Many people died in 2016 due to the abuse of opioids since they got these medicines easily from profit-driven manufacturers who did not care about public well-being. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) came up with comprehensive guidelines that doctors and pharmacists were required to follow strictly, particularly when prescribing opioids for non-cancer treatments, end-of-life, and palliative care (Jalal et al. 3). For example, the CDC encouraged physicians to look for other alternatives before using opioid medications. Additionally, it stated that patients taking opioids should be assessed and evaluated regularly.
Over-prescription of pain medications significantly contributed to the misuse or overdose of opioids. In the 1990s, no studies or researches revealed the effects of opioids on patients. The medical fraternity did not bother to understand how these drugs affected consumers. That is the reason why pharmacies and hospitals prescribed these medications to many individuals who did not even need them in the first place. For instance, non-cancer patients began accessing opioids. That must be the point when many people noted that these prescription drugs were making users get high. Initially, individuals did not fake to obtain opioid medications since they believed that these drugs were for patients, particularly those with cancer. However, as the prescription of these drugs continued, people managing non-cancer related pain started to get these medications, and they also realized that heroin could serve the purpose (King et al. 34). Notably, pharmaceutical companies and medical centers made the society to perceive ...