The opioid epidemic has become a prominent issue across America. Fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers have been ripped from family members arms to pay the neverending debt that comes with addiction. According to the CDC, “From 2000 to 2015, more than half a million people have died from drug overdoses,” and many more in the few years since (Understanding the Epidemic).Unless the United States Government places stringent regulations on the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, the opioid crisis, a significant health threat to Americans, will continue unabated. (Body One) The pharmaceutical companies lobbying of congressmen is one leading contributor of the opioid crisis that is currently plaguing the United States. Congressmen are …show more content…
For example, according to Nora Volkow, director of the National Institution on Drug Abuse, “Even for acute pain, like that of a broken bone, opioids are overprescribed”(qtd.Taking Pains ). This over prescribing leads patients to become dependent on opioids for smaller amounts of pain that could be relieved with less addictive drugs. Furthermore, the doctors that prescribe them are not held accountable and are abusing their power. For instance, despite the government's statement that there is a “prescription drug abuse crisis” in the United States, doctors still “prescribed powerful narcotics for everything from migraines to sunburns,according to the state medical board documents. . .” (Lord Rich).In addition to disregarding the government’s warning, doctors have continued to receive opioids from pharmaceutical companies and distributing them even though Americans are not experiencing an less pain. Specifically, according to the Center for DIsease COntrol and Prevention, “The amount of prescription opioids sold to pharmacies, hospitals, and doctors’ offices nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2010, yet there had not been an overall change in the amount of pain that Americans reported” (Understanding the Epidemic). Doctors are ignoring the warnings and putting patients at risk through continuing to …show more content…
Patients continue to go back to the doctors for miniscule amounts of pain or doctor hop until the desire for something more rises to the surface. One reason for this is that opioids are very expensive. For example, “many addicts, finding prescription painkillers too expensive or difficult to obtain have turned to heroin” (Keefe Radden) In addition this need for less expensive drugs can lead to the use of illegal substances. In addition,“According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, four out of five people who try heroin today started with prescription painkillers” (Keefe Radden). They are a gateway to a more dangerous path consisting of sketchy street drugs and illegal activity. Furthermore, according to a test done by the Pittsburg Gazette,in 6 of the 7 states they studied, “fatal overdoses have climbed as heroin moved into areas that developed a taste for narcotics at the hands of healers”(Post Gazette). This is because Finally, “the emergence of chemical tolerance toward prescribed opioids perhaps combined in a smaller number of cases with an increasing difficulty in obtaining these medications illegally [28], may in some instances explain the transition to abuse of heroin. . .” (Volkow Nora D.) After prolonged abuse of opioids they do not have the same effect, for the body builds up a type of tolerance; leading the user to search out a new drug