Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay
Overview
Industrialized and developing nations are often brought together through the emergence of a serious pandemic or the eruption of a persistent problem in the society. The abuse of prescription drugs is one of the quagmires that has been known to plague developed states as well as third world nations. America is one of the countries that is currently grappling with the abuse of opioids, especially among the adult population. This pain reliving medication has been turned from being a source of treatment and has instead exploded to become a nightmare in the hands of medics and the government at large. The glaring statistics when it comes to the abuse of opioids indicates that adults in the United States are at a very high risk when it comes to health matters. This paper is an argumentative essay that evaluates the abuse of opioids among the adults living in the United States. Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay.
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Essay Task
Prepare an argument or analysis about the opioid abuse among adults in the United States by making reference to academic sources and articles.
Body
The dire need for an effective and monitored plan to treat individuals who are chemically dependent is necessitated in a case where the affected population is at a high health risk. The abuse of opioids in America is not a new phenomenon as it dates back to several decades and years. The passing of time has seen this problem escalate from being a manageable crisis to a full-blown catastrophe that has gotten out of hand. It is worth noting that these prescription drugs are actually recommended for patients as pain medication so that they can assist them to relieve various forms of aches and discomforts (Fischer et al, 62).
In fact, opioids have often been described as one of the valuable and innovative discoveries when it comes to palliative care since they led to a major breakthrough where patients who struggled with pain on a daily basis found comfort in the use of this drug. Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay. Hence, the right use of opioids is in the relieving of pain or managing it altogether so that the affected person is able to enjoy life like their healthy counterparts (Klein et al, 589). However, most people who are often prescribed this drug often end up becoming addicted to it because of its euphoric tendencies.
What’s more, some patients are also known to have psychological and physical dependency on this medication such that they are not able to stop taking it even after the pain has subsided Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay. This is the genesis and root cause of opioid abuse where the victims express a high reliance on the drug such that its intake becomes an everyday affair. In America, the situation is quite dire since most of the adult population is immersed into this wayward behavior (Modesto et al, 424). The American addiction society has managed to categorize the abuse and dependency of this drug in various criteria based on a number of elements. Some of them include the craving for the medication, impaired control over its intake, compulsive use and even the continued use of opioids despite of the harm it can cause (Spangler, 18).
The adult population in America has been shown to abuse this drug for a variety of reasons that include self-medication, curiosity, escapism as well as overreliance. A significant number of adults who abuse opioids in America have been shown to do so because of the current trends and behaviors around them. This means that such people end up abusing the drug in the same way as others rely on alcohol. Furthermore, opioid abuse is known to arise after a patient has been prescribed the medication when they were experiencing some form of pain in their body Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay.
The person ends up becoming hooked to it because of the relaxed and euphoric feeling they got once they ingested the drug (Walker, 23). Opioid abuse is a serious issue in the American society because the victims experience similar symptoms just like the other outlawed and prohibited drugs. Moreover, a person who exhibits physical dependency on this drug is prone to experiencing withdrawal symptoms whenever they fail to take it such that they are not in a capacity to become productive (Williamson, 25). This is one of the reasons that makes most adults in America to abuse and consume the drug in high amounts because it enables them to become energized for their daily tasks and duties.
Additionally, the abuser can also experience psychological dependence on the drug such that the person always feels that they need to consume it even when there is no medical or health reasons for it (Spangler, 19). There are also instances where some adults have found themselves addicted to the drug because it serves as their sole means of earning an income. Therefore, the person ends up becoming an opioid abuser because they handle the drug on a daily basis. The fact that there is a wide array of drugs categorized under the bracket of opioids only serves to aggravate this problem and turn into a nightmare for the American health system (Walker, 24). Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay.
This list includes drugs such as oxycodone, morphine, methadone and even codeine that all fall under the opioids drugs category. These drugs are also abused in different ways such as snorting, injection and simply ingesting it through the mouth. The reason why opioid abuse has become very rampant in America is because most of these drugs are readily available for purchase either in pharmacies or even in backstreet clinics (Fischer et al, 64). For instance, oxycodone and morphine are commonly abused since their supply is abundant and they are very easy to access.
This crisis is also worsened by the fact that most adults often fake and feign to have pain so that a particular opioid is prescribed to them for personal reasons (Walker, 26). The American health system has admitted that opioids are one of the sources of its major headaches since a significant proportion of financial resources is diverted towards the treatment of abuse cases. The extended and long-term abuse of this prescription drug has been known to have dangerous effects are harmful to the body Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay. To begin with, the dependency on opioids is known to result in breathing and respiratory complications, heart problems as well as depression (Klein et al, 592).
Further, these drugs can also lead to fertility issues in both men and women, kidney complications and even frequent seizures.
It should also be noted that abuse of opioids has been linked to mental and cognitive impairment where people who rely on this drug stand the risk of suffering from deteriorated brain function. This is because they are known to affect a person’s emotional and reasoning ability because the synapses and nerve cells are affected (Modesto et al, 427). Additionally, opioids are known to cause changes in the appearance and shape of neurons in people who are categorized as chronic users Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay. The changing trends in society have also resulted in the escalation of this problem because people have become more receptive to the idea of using medication for a diverse range of purposes. Hence, it is not seen as extraordinary when a person is seen taking medication even when they do not have any obvious illness or symptoms.
It is also worth noting that the American society has become more liberal from an economic perspective such that there are more people who have been licensed to dispense and sell these prescription drugs (Klein et al, 592). Consequently, most of them end up selling these drugs to the public even when some of their customers do not have legitimate health reasons. This explains why the mortality rates that arise out of opioid consumption have escalated out of proportion. Actually, the number of deaths that have been reported in America when it comes to the abuse of this prescription drug are quite high because they often manifest in the form of an intrinsic pattern (Williamson, 26).
The severity of opioid abuse is also worsened by the fact that the addiction process sets in very slowly where at times the person may not be aware that they are hooked to it. There are people who have ended up discovering that they are chronic users of the drug because they cannot face the day without popping a pill or two. The center of disease control or the CDC has expressed its concern over the high number of deaths that are registered and reported out of the abuse of this drug. In fact, the CDC makes it clear that at least one hundred Americans die on a daily basis out of overdosing on this drug (Klein et al, 593). Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay.
The American healthcare system has tried to solve this predicament by trying to change the legislations that rule over prescription drugs. For instance, the improvement of opioid prescription is a move that can be able to reduce the exposure to this drug and minimize its addiction altogether. This directive has been adopted countless times by the United States government but it has not yielded the fruits that were anticipated (Klein et al, 593). Hence, the medical system of this country should consider medication-assisted treatment for the millions of adults in America who are struggling with addiction to opioids.
This can enable them to get the assistance that they need because they can be able to access treatment at a facility close to them. The grimness and direness of the opioid addiction plight among adults in America warrants the need for an immediate remedy strategy where the issue can be accorded the serious attention that it deserves. It is in so doing that the plague of opioid addiction and abuse can be mitigated and the lives of innocent Americans saved from sheer destruction.
In a recap, drug and substance addiction is a challenge that has rocked numerous societies over the years where millions of people have succumbed to the habit. Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay The American society is among the many countries that have constantly struggled and grappled with this issue, especially among the adult population. The availability of numerous opioid drugs such as oxycodone, morphine and even codeine is a strong influential factor that aggravates the problem even further. It is the duty of the American healthcare system as well as the ruling government to implement stringent legislations that can aid in fighting the opioid drug addiction menace.
Works Cited
Fischer, Benedikt, et al. “Considerations Towards a Population Health Approach to Reduce Prescription Opioid-Related Harms (With a Primary Focus on Canada).” Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy, vol. 22, no. 1, Feb. 2015, pp. 60-65. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3109/09687637.2014.936827.
Klein, Susan J., et al. “Public Health Approach to Opioid Overdose.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 97, no. 4, Apr. 2007, pp. 587-588. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.106120.
Modesto-Lowe, Vania, et al. “Pain Management in Patients with Substance Abuse: Treatment Challenges for Pain and Addiction Specialists.” American Journal on Addictions, vol. 16, no. 5, Sep/Oct2007, pp. 424-425. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/10550490701525566. Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay.
Spangler, Holly. “Sec. Vilsack: Opiod Addiction in Rural America — What Can Be Done.” Southwest Farm Press, vol. 43, no. 20, 03 Nov. 2016, pp. 18-19. EBSCOhost,
Walker, Melissa A. “Program Characteristics and the Length of Time Clients Are in Substance Abuse Treatment.” Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, vol. 36, no. 3, July 2009, pp. 330-343. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11414-008-9128-0.
Williamson, Kevin D. “From Oxy To Overdose. (Cover Story).” National Review, Vol. 68, no. 3, 29 Feb. 2016, pp. 25-29. EBSCOhost, Opioid Abuse among Adults in the United States Essay.