For my civic issue blog, I chose to use this as an outlet to discuss the complex issues surrounding the opioid epidemic throughout the semester. I chose this topic because this is an issue that affects millions of people worldwide, whether its individuals, communities, families, etc. I know for my hometown the opioid epidemic has truly become a crisis. Within the past five to six years I can think of about a dozen young people who have passed away due to a drug overdose in my hometown, the most recent being just a week ago. The impact of this issue has become far too wide and we must do something now to help those impacted and reduce these widespread consequences to society.
According to the National Capital Poison Center, the opioid epidemic has occurred in three waves, the first of which occurred in 1991. The National Capital Poison Center claims that this wave began “when deaths involving opioids began to rise following a sharp increase in the prescribing of opioid and opioid-combination medications for the treatment of pain.” This increase in prescribing of opioid drugs is said to have occurred due to claims made by pharmaceutical companies to prescribers in which they assured them that it was very unlikely for a patient to become addicted to opioids. By the late 1990’s many communities, especially those where opioids were more frequently prescribed began to see abuse of these drugs as well as diversion, or the transfer of drugs from those which it had been prescribed, to others. While this widespread use of opioid drugs by those without prescriptions may have started over 20 years ago, it seems as if it has only gotten worse with time. Today, in so many cities not only across our nation but worldwide, there is an enormous population of people who abuse prescription opioids, many of whom are not prescribed. Additionally, this terrible addiction, which is now medically recognized as a disease, does not discriminate. The population of those who are addicted encompasses a wide variety of races, social classes, occupations, and beliefs.
The National Capital Poison Center states that the second wave of the epidemic began around 2010 when many addiction-related deaths occurred from heroin abuse. This widespread increase in not only the use of heroin but heroin-related deaths is said to be a result of early efforts to reduce opioid prescribing. This reduction in the prescribing of opioid drugs made them less accessible, causing many to turn to heroin as a cheap, widely available substitute. The National Capital Poison Center goes on to support the point that the disease of addiction is non-discriminatory by stating that “the use of heroin increased in both sexes, the majority of age brackets, and all socioeconomic groups.” While it was apparent to me that heroin abuse has greatly increased in recent years, thus leading to a higher number of overdose-related deaths, I was completely shocked to learn that “deaths due to heroin-related overdose increased by 286% from 2002 to 2013.” Additionally, based on the information presented by The National Capital Poison Center, it seems as if prescription opioid drugs served as a gateway to more lethal drugs such as heroin, as “approximately 80% of heroin users admitted to misusing prescription opioids before turning to heroin.”
Furthermore, the third wave of the opioid epidemic, which is said to have started in 2013 due to “an increase in deaths related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.” This period of the opioid epidemic has experienced the largest number of drug-related deaths with over 20,000 deaths from fentanyl and related drugs in 2016. To reduce opioid-related deaths, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released strict guidelines for prescribers to ensure that opioids are only prescribed when absolutely medically necessary. While the US Government has taken many necessary steps in attempting to reduce the severity of this crisis, actions by pharmaceutical companies have aimed at counteracting these attempts by the government.
Despite attempts by the government to reduce the severity of this crisis, data from a 2018 survey suggests that the opioid epidemic is still a major problem in the United States today. According to this survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, two million people were addicted to opioids in 2018, with 130+ opioid-related deaths per day and a total of 47,600 deaths in 2018 from the overuse of opioids. This survey, which is attached below, reveals more daunting facts about the opioid epidemic in the United States highlighting the extreme need for regulations that help to reduce the impact.
Sources:
https://www.poison.org/articles/opioid-epidemic-history-and-prescribing-patterns-182
Hi Mark! I love that you chose this topic to blog about, I also considered choosing this topic because it is so relevant. I was not aware of the fact that there have been multiple waves of the opioid crisis. But I found it really interesting how there are three distinct waves of this epidemic. I also did not realize that the deaths began in the 1990s. When it comes to the opioid crisis, a huge point that sticks out to me are the demographic of who has been affected by this crisis. The areas that have the most deaths caused by opioid misuse are not large cities but rather small pockets of America. Growing up in Chicago, I heard about one heroine overdose, only one. As I talked to new friends at Penn State, who grew up in smaller towns, they had personal experiences with the drugs and its misuse. My roommate told me how her mom was living with someone who overdosed (did not die) on heroine, and a friend of mine told me he watched a friend of his become an addict. Rural Americans are the main people who are struggling with opioid abuse. This is especially concerning to me because this makes it especially difficult to get help and recover. I agree with you that the government really needs to step in. There need to be more rehabilitation centers, but in addition to that, there should not be as many prescription deaths as there are. In 2017, 35% of opioid induced deaths were caused by prescription drugs. There needs to be much more regulation in terms of who gets opioids and the support we are providing for addicts. I am really looking forward to this blog and seeing the other topics you cover within the opioid crisis.
Works Cited
https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/prescribing/overdose-death-maps.html
Hey Mark!! This topic is super interesting and so relevant because it hit my home county hard as well. The effects of the epidemic are already and have been seen for years and it’s terrifying how widespread the effects are among age groups, race groups, and economic statuses. I’ve tried to keep up with it, but it has been changing all the time, so it was nice to read your post and get some background info and updates on the situation. You specifically mentioned the pharmaceutical companies and their impact on the crisis, and I was informed of a really interesting moral dilemma. The prompt goes something like this:
“For the past few years, Purdue Pharma, producer of OxyContin, has been involved in lawsuits at the center of the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation. The Sackler Family is the current owner of Purdue Pharma and worth right around 14 billion dollars. The Sacklers have been extremely generous with their wealth, endowing several academic chairs at universities across the country. These chairs allow research and opportunity to swell in these universities but the recent controversy surrounding the Sacklers has presented the universities with an ethical decision. What should the universities do with the money they have received from the Sackler family?”
This moral dilemma is so incredibly fascinating because it reveals interesting facts about the opioid epidemic and the pharmaceutical companies themselves. They profit so much off of the opioid epidemic itself and essentially by willingly murdering people, but they also are some of the most philanthropic institutions in the country. So, it has to be said, are they entirely bad? Is all of their intent bad? And if it is, then what should we do with their donations? Reject them or simply look past their atrocities. It is an incredibly tough situation that many schools are facing and being forced to face, and I’d be interested to know your take on the problem.
Source: https://academy.psu.edu
I liked how your comment sparks a moral debate. I did not know how much good those companies do with their money, and what would we loose if they did not donate? Still so many people are dying and the companies profiting deserve to be punished harshly. I liked your additional information!
This is a very interesting issue to hear about. I am aware of the situation surrounding Purdue Pharma and their lawsuits regarding the opioid epidemic but I was unaware of the donations the owners have made to universities. There are two different standpoints that I have considered on this situation in regard to accepting their donations. The first point of view is that while the products of their pharmaceutical company may be contributing to the deaths or many, they run a business dedicated to producing these drugs. Not all jobs are morally correct, take for example a criminal defense attorney, I believe that running a pharmaceutical company that is contributing to the deaths of many is one of those jobs. On the other hand, I personally do not think it is morally acceptable from my point of view for universities to willingly accept donations from companies which are not willing to make changes to lessen the impact of the opioid crisis. This is just my point of view but I’m sure many others feel differently.
Really enjoyed this blog post! One of the things that I find most interesting about the entire opioid epidemic is that most of the deaths have not been caused by the illegal drugs like heroin that we tend to associate with negligent actions. Instead, much of the damage has been caused by prescription drugs that have either been misused or over-prescribed. The idea that orders for drugs that people do not necessarily require is pretty frightening. Rather than getting the absolute best care possible, opioids could be given when really unnecessary. I decided to read a bit more about the motivations behind this dilemma and what I found was startling. For at least the past decade, there have been financial incentives given by pharmaceutical companies for doctors to prescribe more opioid pain medication. In some instances, bonuses were in the six-figure range, with many others being paid over $25,000 per year. This is a massive flaw in the medical system. Doctors who are not being impartial to their patients and who have external pressures to act in a certain way are most definitely not the people we want to trust to protect us. With the over 10.3 million people showed in the chart who are misusing the drugs, some level of the system between the doctors and the patients is severely flawed. One of the things that may be needed for the future is some sort of screening for conflicts of interest among the medical community as well as a better understanding of medical treatments on the patient side whether that be through education or from information from the doctors themselves. The latter will be a difficult approach to take even though it appears to be the simplest because this epidemic has broken the trust that many people have with their doctors and they no longer trust the expert opinions whether they are proven beyond doubt to be right or not. Something that certainly has to change, and I am sure is slowly getting there, is better communication and understanding between pharmaceutical companies, doctors, and their patients. If everyone can be informed, the situation will be much better, and trust can begin to be restored.
Source: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/opioids-doctors-prescriptions-payments/
I liked how you discussed the differences with the relationship between Doctors in Patient. It definitely seems overtime that there is a broken of trust. This is definitely an intangible reason that causes problems. I agree that communication and transparency should be the number one concept.