The triangle of blame for the opioid epidemic

Prescription opioid abuse is one of the United States’ greatest public health challenges. Approximately 97.5 million Americans consume opioids annually, and around 90 people die every day from opioid overuse. The last time in recent history a health care crisis garnered this much public attention was following the release of the 1964 “Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health” correlating smoking to heart disease and cancer. Today, we hear stories like a coroner reporting — for the second time this year — that he has run out of storage space for bodies due to rising opioid overdose deaths. Such stories are shocking to American families and health care professionals. As students interested in medicine and health care issues, we want to delve into the factors that have influenced the opioid crisis and understand the trajectory of this epidemic. Opioids include a family of drugs that mimic our natural neurotransmitters and block pain perception in our central nervous system. Physicians commonly prescribe these drugs to patients experiencing postoperative pain, acute or chronic pain and cancer-related pain. But over the last decade, the clinical efficacy of these drugs have been challenged, and attitudes towards opioid therapy have shifted dramatically. Prolonged opioid administration has led to patients building physical dependency. When consumers chose to abruptly discontinue opioid usage, they experienced severe withdrawal syndrome, characterized by diar...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Policy Pain Management Primary Care Public Health & Source Type: blogs