?). Drug use and abuse has become a widespread issue within the United States. One of its most troubling aspects being the abuse of pharmaceutical and prescription drugs, painkillers raising the most concern. Drugs such as Oxycontin, Ambien, and Xanax are being prescribed by doctors and given to the public and then being misused, causing more harm than good. ADD SOURCE THAT EXPLAINS THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS. Barbara Ehrenreich, an American author and sociologist explores this very problem in her book, Nickel and Dimed. When talking about a worker’s use of medication, Ehrenreich claims that, “Unfortunately, the commercial tells us, we workers can exert the same kind of authority over our painkillers that our bosses exert over us. If Tylenol doesn’t want to work for more than four hours, you just fire its ass and switch to Aleve”(25). In other words, Ehrenreich is stating how the media is pushing drugs onto the working class and through the use of personification she illustrates how workers identify themselves with the medications they are taking. Employees will opt for the most efficient medication in order to be efficient themselves, which reduces them to a less than human kind of being for their employer’s benefit. If any of the employees fail to meet the expectations set for them, a new recruit from the company’s “pool of cheap labor” can easily replace them. Pharmaceutical and prescription drug abuse is becoming a growing concern amongst low wageworkers because of their variety, easy access, and social acceptance. The varieties of pharmaceutical and prescription drugs that are available to the public provide many different consequences, which could lead to other health problems among users. Opioids, for example, are typical... ... middle of paper ... ...able to use them, without even wondering if they are being properly or overly used. The Journal of Drug Issues “found that access to prescription drugs often came from friends and peers, as well as family and doctors”(CITATION). When drug uses is so close to home, it is hard to call it abuse when it goes too far. Often, Family members or friends who are trying to help a loved one in pain suggest medications that only cause more trouble. With their encouragement, it is easy to go too far. a. Pressure to abuse. (Source coming). Prescription and pharmaceutical drug abuse is beginning to expand as a social issue within the United States because of the variety of drugs, their growing availability, and the social acceptance and peer pressure to uses them. Many in the workforce are suffering and failing at getting better due to the desperation driving their addiction.
On the typical day, over 90 people will die at the hand of opioid abuse in America alone (National). In fact, as of 2014, nearly 2 million Americans were dependent and abusing opioids. The Opioid Crisis has affected America and its citizens in various ways, including health policy, health care, and the life in populous areas. Due to the mass dependence and mortality, the crisis has become an issue that must be resolved in all aspects.
Barbara Ehrenreich employed the use of humor multiple times in Nickel and Dimed; it was perhaps her most frequently used rhetorical device. Ehrenreich was trying to portray the tragedy and heartbreak of the situation by using that sort of hopeless, sardonic humor. She also used her humor as a way to camouflage topics that would otherwise be off-limits. Although some of the humor included in the narrative may have seemed distasteful, it all had a purpose and was rarely used inappropriately.
In 2001, Barbara Ehrenreich published an analysis of her experience during a field reporting experiment she created and participated in between 1998 and 2000. This analysis was titled Nickel and Dimed (referred to as N&D). In this book she talks about her experiences in the three place she conducted her social experiment. Those places were Florida, Maine, and finally Minnesota.
Almost one hundred years ago, prescription drugs like morphine were available at almost any general store. Women carried bottles of very addictive potent opiate based pain killers in their purse. Many individuals like Edgar Allen Poe died from such addictions. Since that time through various federal, state and local laws, drugs like morphine are now prescription drugs; however, this has not stopped the addiction to opiate based pain killers. Today’s society combats an ever increasing number of very deadly addictive drugs from designer drugs to narcotics to the less potent but equally destructive alcohol and marijuana. With all of these new and old drugs going in and out of vogue with addicts, it appears that the increase of misuse and abuse is founded greater in the prescription opiate based painkillers.
The United States of America accounts for only 5% of the world’s population, yet as a nation, we devour over 50% of the world’s pharmaceutical medication and around 80% of the world’s prescription narcotics (American Addict). The increasing demand for prescription medication in America has evoked a national health crisis in which the government and big business benefit at the expense of the American public.
In the novel Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehnreich, there are many hurtles she must overcome to experience the life of a low income worker. She sets some ground rules for herself, such as always having a car, and starting out with a certain amount of money for her down payment on an apartment. Although the rules are doable, she admits that she broke all of the rules at least once. Even though Barbara didn't hold to her original plan, she was still able to reveal her appeals clearly.
We are introduced to the story of Matt Schoonover, a young man who had recently obtained his masters degree from Yale. He had grown up “attending a Christian private school, and a prominent church” (2). Matt had begun abusing pills, though he was originally prescribed them by a doctor. Even after undergoing detoxification and then rehab, Matt could not curb his addiction. “Unable to afford street Oxycontin, Matt switched to black tar heroin, brought in from Mexico” (3). We are told how this is unfortunately quite common. People who are prescribed pills often end up abusing them; and once they can no longer afford the high prices of OxyContin they switch to black tar heroin. This transition is often what leads to overdoses, as black tar heroin is extremely deadly and overdoses like Matt’s are common. This is just one story out of tens of thousands of similar stories that all have the same ending. The opiate crisis is a problem that few recognize because it crept up on a majority of Americans. Young people throughout the nation were not using drugs in public, but privately in their own
Opioid’s chemical composition consist of many highly addictive substances which cause the human body to become quickly tolerant. Many opioid users become addictive to the substance because the doctors have been over prescribing. “In the United States, there were 14,800 annual prescribed opioid (PO) deaths in 2008” with the US having less restrictions (Fischer, Benedikt, et al 178). The United States have implemented more regulations so that “high levels of PO-related harms been associated with highly potent oxycodone formulas” will decrease (Fischer, Benedikt, et al 178). With the regulations, it does not change the fact that opioids are is destructive. The regulations assistance by lessening the probability of patients becoming addictive to opioid. There are numerous generations that are effected and harmed by the detrimental effects of opioids on opioid-dependent patients.
Addiction is one of the hardest difficulties to overcome, yet people often find themselves caught in the world wind of addiction. We all ask the question to what makes a person an addict, or why is it so hard for drug addicts to overcome this problem. However, can we say that getting a hold of drugs is much easier in today’s society, or is it made available to easily. In this day and age, heroine seems to be a major epidemic; furthermore, opiates have been around for centuries. Therefore, people have been battling addiction for as long as opiates have been around. In Drugstore Cowboy, the film takes a look into the life of four people who rob drugstores in order to support
If medical providers are not able to prescribe medications based on an individual's needs, an individual will go into his or her community to locate and purchase medications. This practice can be dangerous, as it is an unregulated amount of medication which can lead to an opioid overdose. Depending on the need of medication from individuals in the community, members will be prescribed medication and then sell their medication at an increased price.Many individuals will have multiple providers for opioid pain relievers and will even fake the need to visit an emergency room.
Almost everybody on Long Island, and probably all around the world, has been prescribed a drug by a doctor before— whether it was to knock out a nasty virus, or relieve pain post injury or surgery. However, what many people don’t realize is that these drugs can have highly addictive qualities, and more and more people are becoming hooked, specifically teenagers. But when does harmlessly taking a prescription drug to alleviate pain take the turn into the downward spiral of abuse? The answer to that question would be when the user begins taking the drug for the “high” or good feelings brought along with it—certainly not what it was prescribed for (1). The amount of teens that abuse prescription medications has been rapidly increasing in recent
Most adolescents who misuse prescription pain relievers are given the medication by an unknown friend or relative. This is a situation that can easily be avoided with an education on the risks of opioids. Patricia Schram, MD, an adolescent substance abuse specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston, stresses the importance of parent involvement in preventing young adults from abusing opioids and in the recovery process, citing a study that claimed, “teens were less likely to abuse opioids if their parents often checked their homework, if they had been frequently praised by their parents and if they perceived strong disapproval of marijuana from their parents” (Viamont 1). Besides parent and family involvement, physicians have a role to play in preventing the spread of the opioid epidemic.
Drug in the American Society is a book written by Eric Goode. This book, as the title indicates, is about drugs in the American Society. It is especially about the misuse of most drugs, licit or illicit, such us alcohol, marijuana and more. The author wrote this book to give an explanation of the use of different drugs. He wrote a first edition and decided to write this second edition due to critic and also as he mentioned in the preface “there are several reason for these changes. First, the reality of the drug scene has changed substantially in the past dozen or so years. Second much more information has been accumulated about drug use. And third, I’m not the same person I was in 1972.”(vii). The main idea of this book is to inform readers about drugs and their reality. In the book, Goode argued that the effect of a drug is dependent on the societal context in which it is taken. Thus, in one society a particular drug may be a depressant, and in another it may be a stimulant.
Doctors can prescribe drugs that can be as addicting as street drugs. When a patient is at the hospital, doctors will prescribe many drugs to help the patient get better, like ...
Drug abuse has been a hot topic for our society due to how stimulants interfere with health, prosperity, and the lives of others in all nations. All drugs have the potential to be misapplied, whether obtained by prescription, over the counter, or illegally. Drug abuse is a despicable disease that affects many helpless people. Majority of those who are beset with this disease go untreated due to health insurance companies who neglect and discriminate this issue. As an outcome of missed opportunities of treatments, abusers become homeless, very ill, or even worst, death.