Reference no: EM131785913

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The Opioid Epidemic "Who's Responsible?"

Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illicit drug heroin as well as the licit

prescription pain relievers oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl and

others. The Nation has become plagued by Opiates. Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999. The opioid epidemic has claimed more lives than crack cocaine, Meth, suicide, gun homicide and car crashes combined. According to the national firearms and tobacco bureau it is estimated that more people are addicted to opioids than cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and cigars combine. The Opioid epidemic is so bad that in July 2016 President Barak Obama signed a bill encouraging the expansion of treatment programs and the development of alternatives to opioid pain killers. Research shows that both Medical Doctors and Pharmaceutical companies are partially responsible for the Opioid epidemic

I have a 38 year old daughter that is victimized by the Opioid Epidemic. She earned a college degree and worked in corporate America for several years. She was raised in a stable home and became a devoted Christian at age 9.

Physicians have an obligation to treat pain, and opioids remain one of the most broadly effective medications for many types of pain .Prescription opioids are an important tool for physicians in treating pain but also carry significant risks of harm when prescribed inappropriately or misused by patients or others. Due to their effect on the part of the brain which regulates breathing, opioids in high doses can cause respiratory depression and death. An opioid overdose can be identified by a combination of three signs and symptoms referred to as the "opioid overdose triad".

 Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 52,404 lethal drug. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths. Worldwide, an estimated 69 000 people die from opioid overdose each year. There are an estimated 15 million people who suffer from opioid dependence (i.e. an addiction to opioids). The majority of people dependent on opioids use illicitly cultivated and manufactured heroin, but an increasing proportion use prescription opioids.

The most commonly used opiates are Opium-hydromorphone , methadone, morphine oxycodone, oxymorphone, paregoric, sufentanil, tramadol, codeine ,fentanyl and hydrocodone, in which are all legal drugs prescribed by Medical Doctors.  According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2016 more than 650,000 opioid prescriptions were dispensed.

Opioid abuse is rampant in states like Ohio, where paramedics are increasingly spending time responding to overdoses and where coroners' offices are running out of room to store bodies. In 2015 U.S. sales of Opioids reported by Pharmaceutical companies was $9.57 billion. In 2012, there were 793 million doses of opioids prescribed in the state, enough to supply every man, woman, and child, with 68 pills each. Roughly 20 percent of the state's population was prescribed an opioid in 2016. And Ohio leads the nation in overdose deaths. Some attorneys general and advocates are now asking in court whether the pharmaceutical companies who marketed the drugs and downplayed their addictive nature can be held legally responsible for-and made to pay for the consequences of-the crisis.

In January, the city of Everett, Washington, filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, alleging that the company knew the drug was being funneled into the black market but did nothing to stop it. A Los Angeles Times investigation into Purdue Pharma, for instance, found that the drug maker, which marketed OxyContin as relieving pain for 12 hours, knew that the drug wore off before that time period. Since the drug didn't last as long as promised, some patients suffered withdrawal, which led them to become addicted. Purdue, which was allegedly the most aggressive marketer of opioids, admitted wrongdoing and entered into a multi-million-dollar settlement with the federal government in 2007 (Three executives also pled guilty to criminal charges.).