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Cassie Daniella

Professor Stuewe

English 1301

4 August 2017

Commentary: Opioid Epidemic

The opioid epidemic is the worst drug crisis in American history. This epidemic

has been occurring over a decade and many Americans are abusing opioid drugs. Today, opioids

are nearly the number one killer of citizens in the U.S. They have killed more people than car

crashes, guns, cocaine, and heroine. Statistics show that opioid deaths are up by 369%. (How

Bad is The Opioid Epidemic? Dan Nolan, Chris Amico, February 23, 2016)

Prescription painkillers are much too easy to access nowadays and this is why America

has a huge crisis on their hands. People are getting opioids not only from Doctors but they also

get them from friends and relatives. Working in the healthcare industry, I have seen some of the

opioid abuse that occurs on a daily basis. Most patients that get admitted into the hospital ask for

pain medications throughout their time there. Patients will ask the doctor for the medications and

the doctor will prescribe what they want for the most part.

Even though painkillers temporarily relieve pain, they may not be the best for a persons

health or better their outcomes. Patients are receiving multiple doses of prescriptions within a

short period of time. 1991 to 2009 opioid prescriptions increased to 200 million. (NIDA, April 5,

2011) A high number of patients that are prescribed opioids are abusing them and either giving

out or selling them to people that they know, then turning right around and refilling their

prescriptions.
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In 2015, there were 52,404 deaths in the U.S and in 2012, 259,000,000 prescriptions were

given to Americans in which is enough for every adult to have their own prescription filled

bottle. (National Center for Health Statistics, 2015) There is an opioid reversing medication in

Maryland that people can take to save their life, and these can be given or taken without a

prescription. The drug that reverses opioid drugs is called Naloxone. Not all insurance plans will

cover the drug, but it is very inexpensive at about $140 to $190. (Opioid reversal drug available

without Prescription, August 4, 2047)

The FDA has come up with an action plan to reduce opioid abuse in the United States.

These plans include expanding use of advisory committees, develop warnings and safety

information for immediate release on opioid labeling, strengthen post market requirements,

update risk evaluation and mitigation strategy program, expand access to abuse-deterrent

formulations to discourage abuse, support better treatment, and reassess the risk-benefit approval

framework for opioid use. (FDA, July 11, 2017)

Pharmaceutical companies play a major part in the opioid epidemic. These companies are

using unethical practices when getting these drugs out into the public. By using bad labeling

practices and marketing strategies, the companies use these tactics so the healthcare industry will

use their products. Opioid drugs are okay when used as prescribed, but when people start abusing

them, their body becomes more tolerant of the drugs and may require a higher dosage to work as

wanted and or needed. This causes people to become addicted which can lead to overdosing.

Purdue Pharma, which is a big pharmaceutical company misled the public with their

advertising and was found guilty in 2010 and faced fines of around $635 million dollars. The

misleading tactics that these big companies use are things such as their commercials appearing to

have physicians that are highly trained on the opioid drugs and had continuing education for the
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safety of the drugs. (addictions.com, August 4, 2017) They also got lobbyist groups involved in

making people to believe the good of opioids.

There are multiple options to prevent over using opioids. One way that can make a big

impact is not over prescribing. If doctors would be more cautious when prescribing opioids and

to whom they are prescribing them too, there would be a huge decrease in opioid drug abuse.

There is a program that educates students about opioid abuse and the effects it can have

on a person when abused. This program is called operation prevention. The program educates

students all the way from elementary school to college. It is designed to go in much depth about

these deadly drugs and the resources that they have to stay away from the opioids. (Operation

Prevention, 2016)

Opioid abuse and overdose can be prevented and used safely. There are many resources

and options to help people. Doctors have the ability to fix this horrible epidemic by not over

prescribing medications to patients and be extremely cautious to whom they prescribe the drugs.

If they can do that and educate their patients on the critical use of opioids safely, there will be a

major decrease in the number of accidental deaths from opioids.

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Works Cited

Abuse, National Institute on Drug. "Analysis of opioid prescription practices finds areas of
concern." NIDA. N.p., 05 Apr. 2011. Web. 04 Aug. 2017.

Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Information by Drug Class - FDA Opioids Action
Plan." U S Food and Drug Administration Home Page. Center for Drug Evaluation and
Research, n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2017.

"How Bad is the Opioid Epidemic?" PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 2017. Web. 04 Aug.
2017.

"Opioid-Reversal Drug Available Without Prescription in Md." NBC4 Washington. NBC4

Washington, 04 Aug. 2017. Web. 04 Aug. 2017.

"The Role of Pharmaceutical Companies in the Opioid Epidemic." Addictions. N.p., 2017. Web.
04 Aug. 2017.