One of the rising problems regarding drug abuse is the misuse of opioids. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states in its 2015 report that death rates for synthetic opioids from 2014-2015 increased 72.2 percent. The noticeable increase in adverse effects raises several questions: What are opioids? Why are they problematic? And most importantly, what can we do to help people cope with the problem?
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, opioids belong in a class of drugs that includes heroin, fentanyl and many legal pain relievers available by prescription, like oxycodone and morphine. They are used mostly for relieving patients suffering from intense pain related to cancer, injury and trauma. They relieve pain by chemically interacting with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the body and brain.
However, there is a powerful side effect in these drugs that causes people to become extremely happy due to the release of a neurotransmitter that offers a sense of pleasure. Even taking regular doses prescribed by doctors can often lead to increased reliance on the drug.
What is so dangerous about opioids besides death rates and disorders? It damages people’s health quite easily. According to the 2014 NIDA article written by Nora D. Volkow, MD., because it is available in many legal prescriptions, people become dependent on its use due to its strong rewiring of the reward region of pleasure in the brain, and its tendency to build up people’s tolerance.
Thus, people will need to use a higher dosage or combine with other drugs to manifest similar effects they have experienced before, which may cause more severe side effects.
What can be done to help people suffering with addiction? There are many options available, such as rehabilitation centers, therapies and counseling. But I think the most important thing is informing patients about the use of opioids before they take them, making facts more readily available to public in a less technical way, and individualizing the treatment care.
Not everyone will be able to understand the bulk of technical terms or knowledge, therefore it is critical that we allow people to process the information regarding treatments in a more comprehensible manner and give alternative options to individual preference. Each person has different backgrounds and conditions so more individualized options would work better for most people.
As much as efforts in prevention could be made, I think equal or more attention should be demanded in creating solutions for those already suffering from addiction. I believe making the issue more public and less of a social stigma should help to increase the discussion about the topic and produce a diverse set of solutions. Just like how being more open about mental illnesses like depression has made it easier for people to seek help and get treated, I believe the same could be done for addiction.
If this topic is considered a great stigma, then more people will suffer behind the scenes and receive less help. One example of breaking the stigma and adopting gradual progression could be opening safe injection sites where people can inject themselves with opioid substances or medications that help to slowly recover from addiction under supervision.
It has proven to be quite successful in other parts of the world. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction stated that supervised drug consumption facilities found self-reported reductions in injecting risk behaviour, such as syringe sharing and risk of HIV transmission or drug overdose.
Most importantly, people were given more hygienic, safe guidelines in using drugs, which not only reduce the risk of becoming more ill but would also provide them an opportunity to seek medical help with readily available sources regarding their drug reliance. Overall, this should help people to recover from the adversary of addiction if not completely free them from it.
Gradual progression should be the key in this crisis because it is like learning to run a long distance. I wouldn’t be able to run three miles without learning to find my pace running slowly in a shorter distance, with gradual increases in speed and distance.
To solve a problem, I think it’s better to accept the existence of the problem, acknowledging it, and making a more public and steady recovery. The opioid epidemic is a difficult hardship for many, but with sufficient public attention and efforts, it could be made more manageable and less severe. Whatever solutions there may be, I think we can all agree that it should be a combination of everyone’s efforts to solve this issue.
Hae Rin is a senior majoring in history. What are your thoughts on the opioid epidemic? Do you know someone who has struggled with addiction? Please send all questions to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
