Essay Sample on Preventing the Next Opioid Crisis: Solutions & Opposing Arguments

Introduction

The opioid crisis is the deadliest drug crisis in the history of America. It is currently killing about 130 people daily in America (CNN Library, 2019). Annually, opioid overdose accounts for over 47,000 deaths and keeps on increasing with each passing year (CNN Library, 2019). Addiction and misuse of opioid include prescription painkillers, heroin as well as synthetic opioid such as fentanyl. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is manufactured illicitly.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Today, approximately 40% of opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid (CNN Library, 2019). The opioid epidemic started in the late 90s when healthcare providers started to prescribe opioid painkillers at great rates (CNN Library, 2019). Pharmaceutical companies had assured the medical community in the US that patients would not be addicted to opioid painkillers. However, this was not the case and a lot of patients became heavily addicted. As observed, up to 12% of patients on prescribed opioid for chronic pain management develop opioid use disorder and then transition to the use of heroin.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the burden to the economy caused by misuse of opioids in the US is 78.5 billion dollars a year including the cost of criminal justice involvement, lost productivity, healthcare, and addiction treatment (Rothfels, 2018). Opioid overdose increase has especially been greatest in the Midwestern region at a rate of 70% annually (Brown & Sloan, 2017). Also, an increase in the use of drug injection has contributed significantly to the spread of infectious deadly diseases such as hepatitis C and HIV. This proposal will address what needs to be done to arrest the opioid crisis in the United States.

Proposal

• Promotion of drugs to reverse the effects of opioids
• Empowering the consumers to make safe choices
• Government support for research on addiction and pain
• Better practices for managing chronic pain

Plan of Action

This research recommends the promotion of naloxone, a medication specifically designed to reverse opioid overdose rapidly. As an opioid antagonist, naloxone binds to opioid receptors, thereby stopping ultimately reversing the effects of opioids. Besides, this drug can quickly restore normal respiration of an individual who has stopped breathing or is experiencing slowed breathing following an overdose of prescription opioid pain medication or heroin. Naloxone can be injected, nasally sprayed, or administered as an auto-injectable (Radigan & Culbertson, 2018).

This medication is extremely safe. However, it can result in mild withdrawal symptoms such as nausea, tremors, vomiting, sweating, rapid heart rate, changes in blood pressure and headache. However, as Radigan & Culberton (2018) explain, "these symptoms are not life-threatening, unlike opioid overdose." Naloxone is fairly cheap especially among patients with insurance packages as many companies offer co-pay terms. Since some pharmacies offer it on outpatient terms, patients can buy it without requiring a physician prescription, thereby increasing its access. Emergency room doctors, paramedics, and trained first responders should be required to have this medication in stock at all times.

Secondly, the government, through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) should raise more awareness regarding the risks of prescription opioid misuse among consumers. This can be done through TV and radio announcements as well as the launch of an awareness communication campaign. In these announcements and communication campaigns, the CDC should feature testimonials from former addicts who are recovering from the use of opioids.

As Rothfels (2018) urges, these campaign "should also include testimonies of individuals who have lost family or friends to opioid overdose." These campaigns should especially focus on the Midwest region that has been heavily devastated by the epidemic. The objective of the campaign should be to appeal to the emotions of the American public. Also, the government should build state, local and tribal capacity to prevent opioid overdose. Through funding, the communities would run better prescription drug monitoring programs, respond to cases of a drug overdose, and regulate controlled substances.

One of the important things that each healthcare organization should make, according to Brown & Sloan (2017) is an "easy-to-understand opioid safety material" such as large charts and waiting room brochures. These should be printed in English, Spanish and accompanied by links to educational videos. At discharge, clinicians should review the materials with the patients and their families. To ensure that this is done, the Electronic Health Records should have a section for education where nurses can make a note in the patient's record.

The society needs better practices for the management of chronic noncancer pain. Strong evidence has come out in support of nonpharmacological options as a treatment for first-line patients that can be combined with pharmacological options on a need basis. These can be divided into four categories:

• Manual therapy among other physical therapies.
• Physical exercise and activity programs including walking, yoga and aquatic therapy among other low-impact activities
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy among other psychological therapies
• Introduction of self-management therapies among insurance packages to encourage consumers to be proactive in self-care through behavioral and lifestyle changes

While Mattick and Hall (1996) are skeptical about the effectiveness of physical and psychological therapies, it has been proven that the combination of these therapies with some medication raises the success of programs considerably. These nonpharmacological options can be effectively combined with non-opioid pharmacological treatments after a careful period of monitoring, trial, and adjustments by physicians to ensure improvement in function and pain are achieved (Rothfels, 2018). This is a time-consuming strategy that does not, however, threaten to start another opioid epidemic. This strategy has been effective in Canada after it was launched by the Center for Effective Practice in Toronto, Canada.

Lastly, the government should put more money into cutting edge research on pain and addiction through various agencies and departments such as the Department of Health and Human Services. This kind of research would help in ensuring evidence-based policies. For example, initiatives such as Helping to End Addiction Long-Term (HEAL) should get more funding on top of the 1.1 billion dollars allocated in the 2018 fiscal year (National Institute of Health, 2018). These additional funds will go to public-private partnerships research.

Desired Outcomes

The desired outcomes of this proposal are first, to stop and reverse the effects of the opioid crisis in the US by halting addiction. The second objective is to stop the crisis from ever happening again by exploring other nonpharmacological chronic pain management methods apart from opioid prescriptions.

Conclusion

The opioid epidemic that is devastating to the United State's economic and social welfare can be tackled. For the epidemic to be eradicated, the government will have to invest more in research and awareness. Health care organizations and insurers should also invest in opioid-reversal medical equipment and supplies especially to their EMT groups as well as easy-to-understand opioid safety material in their waiting rooms. Lastly, the community as a whole should invest heavily in nonpharmacological projects through public-private partnerships. For example, the government through banks can provide financial incentives for investors of such establishments as yoga studios among other physical and psychological therapies.

References

Brown, R. E., & Sloan, P. A. (2017). The Opioid Crisis in the United States: Chronic Pain Physicians Are the Answer, Not the Cause. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 125(5), 1432-1434. Retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/anesthesia-analgesia/FullText/2017/11000/The_Opioid_Crisis_in_the_United_States__Chronic.4.aspx.

CNN Library. (2019, Aug 28). Opioid Crisis Fast Facts. CNN Health. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/18/health/opioid-crisis-fast-facts/index.html#targetText=Experts%20say%20the%20United%20States,from%20a%20heroin%20use%20disorder.

Mattick, R. P., & Hall, W. (1996). Are detoxification programmes effective? Lancet, 347(8994), 97. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(96)90215-9.

National Institute of Health. (2018, Apr 4). NIH launches HEAL Initiative, doubles funding to accelerate scientific solutions to stem the national opioid epidemic. National Institute of Health. Retrieved from https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-launches-heal-initiative-doubles-funding-accelerate-scientific-solutions-stem-national-opioid-epidemic.

Radigan, D., & Culbertson, M. (2018, Mar 11). Best Practices in Transforming Chronic Pain Care. Pharmacy Times. Retrieved from https://www.pharmacytimes.com/resource-centers/pain/best-practices-in-transforming-chronic-pain-care.

Rothfels, P. (2018). Best Practices In Treating Chronic Noncancer Pain. BCMJ, 60(5), 244-269. Retrieved from https://www.bcmj.org/worksafebc/best-practices-treating-chronic-noncancer-pain.