Opioid Misuse: America's Not So Silent Killer

As America and the world mourns the death of music icon Prince, there has been speculation that his death was the result an opioid overdose. Yet, the music icon was known for his healthy lifestyle and his rejection of the drug culture that has become a cliché when talking about rock stars. The death of Prince underscores the opioid abuse epidemic in America that is created by the over-prescribing of opioids to treat pain known by names like Percocet, OxyContin, Fentanyl and Vicodin. Last year, American doctors prescribed enough opioids to give every American adult a one-month supply. 30 tablets that could lead to a dependence on a drug that is a stone's throw away from heroin, which is where some who become addicted to prescription opioids end their journey. Since 1999, the number of opioid prescriptions in the United States has quadrupled; in 2014, 18,893 people died from prescription opioid overdoses in the United States, another 10,574 from heroin overdoses, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. How do you die from opioids? Generally, the opioid simply stops you from breathing. The drug depresses your central nervous system which controls involuntary actions like your heart beating or simply taking a breath. There are so many Americans on prescription opioids that it has generated a new class of drugs; pills to deal with opioid induced constipation and drugs to bring people back from opioid overdoses. The pharmaceutical gets paid three times; once for th...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news