The Pros And Cons Of Opiate Addiction

I cannot stand the idea of someone getting so caught up in medications that they risk losing relationships, opportunities, and even their health. After watching someone’s entire life fall apart from opiate addiction, I think it’s important to let the facts speak for themselves. Opiates are highly addictive substances that come from the chemicals found in sap of the flowering plant known as opium poppy. Although some doctors and opiate users feel that they are beneficial in managing pain and treating disorders such as depression, I disagree because long-term opiate use has been proven to cause harmful effects to the brain and body.
Opiate drugs such as codeine, hydrocodone, and fentanyl are some of the more commonly used, because they are cheap,

Nora D. Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse noted “that in 2012, over two million people in the U.S. suffered from a substance use disorder related to prescription opiate pain relievers...” (Rebos). When the body and the brain are denied opiates, the user not only experiences pain from withdrawal but also increased anxiety and restlessness. Additionally, other areas of the human brain can also be affected in a way that causes activities and other things once found enjoyable to no longer be enjoyable. I think that users get so emotionally and physically attached that their outlook on life completely changes. Delirium and suicidal thoughts are also commonly thought to be a side effect caused by withdrawal from opioids. People probably get so dependent on these drugs that they start to feel lonely or as if a piece of them is missing. Opioids have such a strong effect on the lives of those addicted to them yet almost none run and even try to get

A survey found that “nearly 92 million U.S. adults, or about 38 percent of the population, took a legitimately prescribed opioid like OxyContin or Percocet in 2015, according to results from the National survey on Drug Use and Health” (Thompson). Some doctors full-heartedly believe that opioids are not a bad thing when the patient claims to be in pain. Dr. Forest Tennant says that his “job is to relieve pain and suffering” (Weissmueller). He refuses to deny his pain patients of opioid and to stop prescribing them. This to me seems dangerous to only have the concern of treating pain, because what if a patient claims they are experiencing pain when they are not? A grave percentage of patients are misusing opioid medications instead of only using them for their medical purposes. These dangerous pills are extremely addictive and even deadly, yet they are still being prescribed today. It is even thought that there is a lot of medicine leftover from a prescription. “Of those who misused prescription opioids, more than 50 percent got the medications as hand-me-downs from family or friends” (Thompson). This means that physicians could be writing smaller prescriptions or could even be writing other, less addictive medicines. I completely disagree with how some doctors are prescribing opioids. Some doctors and physicians are basically just handing addictive pain killers out as if they were a piece of candy. This carelessness makes it out to seem as