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Over prescription of opioids essay
Prescription Opioid Addiction: What is causing the epidemic
Opioid misuse and abuse argumentative essay
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Opioids are usually prescribed to individuals as a painkiller medication. Although it is effective in reducing pain, this medication is overprescribed by many doctors. There are many individuals who abuse prescribed opioids. Addicts may tell their doctors that they are experiencing pain, however, this is far from the truth, They have to lie about their health to get the medication and end up abusing it. After the pain is gone from their bodies, they use opioids as a way of feeling pleasure as addicts do with other drugs. Although prescribed opioids are intended to reduce and treat pain, it is very much a dangerous drug that is over prescribed and abused.
According to research, 99 percent of doctors exceed the recommended amount of prescribed opioids (Mozes, n.d.). The federal recommendation of prescription opioid for doctors to prescribe is a three-day dosage limit (Mozes, n.d.). But as patients continue to complain about their pain, doctors begin to
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Researchers found that 63 percent of respondents reported using cannabis instead of their prescription opioids (Given The Choice, Patients Will Reach for Cannabis Over Prescribed Opioids, 2017). The reason for this was that the patients wanted to reduce side effects of the opioid medication. A majority of the patients believed that cannabis was safer than prescription drugs. Not all doctors county to prescribe opioids if the patient expresses their preference for a less aversive drug. Although there have been increases in abuse of prescribed opioids, it is not overprescribed because it is effective in the treating patient with pain issues. Some would rather use cannabis than prescription opioids. Opioids are effective in the primary use of reducing and eliminating pain in patients. Not all users will end up abusing the prescription
Opioid addiction is a tragedy that affects countless of Americans on a daily basis. Almost everyone is acquainted to someone, who suffers from opioid addiction. Everyone, but specifically family and friends of the victims to opioid addiction need to understand why their loved ones are so susceptible to becoming addicted to opioids. The word opioid in itself is complex to define, but it entails a variety of prescription medications. Most opioids are used as pain management medications and qualify as CII medications also known as narcotics. They are supposed to be used on an “as needed” basis, but that is not the case for many users of opioids. Opioids cause great fear in the health community because they are easily addictive and
By the year 2000 opioid medicine containing oxycodone etc., are being abused and misused and more than doubled in 10 years’ time.
Opioids are used as pain relievers and although it does the job, there are adverse side effects. Opioids are frequently used in the medical field, allowing doctors to overprescribe their patients. The substance can be very addicting to the dosage being prescribed to the patient. Doctors are commonly prescribing opioids for patients who have mild, moderate, and severe pain. As the pain becomes more severe for the patient, the doctor is more likely to increase the dosage. The increasing dosages of the narcotics become highly addicting. Opioids should not be prescribed as pain killers, due to their highly addictive chemical composition, the detrimental effects on opioid dependent patients, the body, and on future adolescents. Frequently doctors have become carless which causes an upsurge of opioids being overprescribed.
Medical cannabis is far less harmful than prescription opioids in terms of risk of dependence and overdose.
According to CDC in the year 2015 opioids played a part in 33,091 deaths. Now you may ask what an opioid is. An Opioid is a compound that binds to opioid receptors in the body to reduce the amount of pain. There are four main categories of opioids, one being natural opioid analgesics including morphine and codeine, and semi synthetic opioid analgesics, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, and oxymorphone. The second category being methadone, a synthetic opioid, the third category being synthetic opioid analgesics other than methadone includes tramadol and fentanyl. The last category is an illicit opioid that is synthesized from morphine called heroin.
Opiates are a class of drugs that are used for chronic pain. Opioids are substances that are used to relieve pain by binding opiate receptors throughout the body, and in the brain. These areas in the brain control pain and also emotions, producing a feeling of excitement or happiness. As the brain gets used to these feelings, and the body builds a tolerance to the opioids, there is a need for more opioids and then the possibility of addiction.
In medical school/pharmacology school, medical professionals are taught to treat severe pain with opioids. However, opioids should be prescribed with the possibility of future dependency in mind. Physicians often struggle with whether they should prescribe opioids or seek alternative methodologies. This ethical impasse has led may medical professionals to prescribe opioids out of sympathy, without regard for the possibility of addiction (Clarke). As previously stated, a way to address this is use alternative methods so that physicians will become more acquainted to not not treating pain by means of opioid
Every year, 2.6 million people in the United States suffer from opioid abuse and of that 2.6 million, 276,000 are adolescents, and this problem is only escalating. An individual’s physical and emotional health suffer as well as their personal lives as they lose employment, friends, family, and hope. Opioid addiction begins with the addictive aspects of the drug. People easily become hooked on the relieving effects of the opioids and suffer withdrawal symptoms if they stop using the drug completely because their nerve cells become accustomed to the drug and have difficulty functioning without it; yet the addiction to the drug is only one aspect to the complex problem. The stigma about opioid addiction has wide-reaching negative effects as it
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
Many drugs that are prescribed by doctors have large warning labels on their bottle that list the various negative effects. When my brother would take the medications for his migraines, it would often leave him feeling spacey and disorganized. He would often refer to this spacey state as being in zombie mode. In this instance, the side effects caused by the medications were worse than the ailment they were curing. Christopher tried numerous medications in an attempt to find one that worked for his body. In his article The Woman with Knives in Her Neck, David Casarett explains, “of course, marijuana has side effects of its own, ranging from a dry mouth and rapid heart rate to confusion and paranoia. But one patient figured out a way to avoid those, through small frequent doses” (Casarett). When using smaller dosages of marijuana patients can avoid the side effects of being high that occur when overdosing on marijuana. Another way to avoid the unwanted feelings that can be caused by marijuana is to seek out stains of the plant with lower HTC levels. Once again, when compared to opioids, marijuana is the best choice. By legalizing marijuana for medical uses, patients would no longer experience the unfavorable side effects that are caused by the medications that doctors currently
The main reason marijuana should be legalized, is because it’s been proven to be a better pain reliever than most other pain killers on the market today. Based on Health Day’s Reporter Brenda Goodman should marijuana get clinically legalized in all states it will put most of other pain killers out...
If the users do not seek help, they can possibly lead to overdose and death. I feel that marijuana should only be used medically for people that truly and desperately need it in order to manage their pain. If weed truly is a better option than opioids, then these people need to be careful to not become yet another victim of drug abuse. Whether drugs are legal or not, people will continue to use them and we are capable of educating the next generation about the problems surrounding addictive drugs in an effort to lower the number of drug related deaths. Overall, marijuana should stay an illegal drug since the effects of it are deadly and we should make a better effort to decrease its popularity within our
Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the dangers of prescription drugs when not taken as prescribed by your physician or pharmacist.
While opioid prescription medications mask pain right away, they do nothing to manage pain long term, and the risk of addiction is a very real problem with serious long-term consequences. When you take prescription opioids, your brain becomes conditioned to associate the medication with feeling better, making your body crave that response. This is the primary danger that can lead to an unhealthy dependence on
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.