Opioid Problem in the United States Essay

Introdution

Each day, approximately 100 U.S. Citizens die from an overdose of opioids, making the country the world's leading in such fatalities (Dart et al., 2015). Further, for every one million Americans, 50,000 doses of Opioid are taken on a daily basis (Madras, 2017). While the drugs are essential, and indeed have a good use for pain relief for cancer and patients recovering from surgery among other conditions that the healthcare sector allows, their misuse is a significant cause for worry in the country. Despite the recognition of the challenge and addiction to opioids in the nation, there are few restrictions on their access to the general population. The economic and social burden caused by opioids is very high from lost working hours, healthcare expenses, and so on. As such, it is essential for the United States to come up with approaches that will help address the significant health issue by targeting the healthcare sector, which is the major avenue through which the population accesses the drugs.

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The Need for the Policy

In the United States, the problem of opioids begun in the late 1990s when pharmaceutical companies, fueled by their desire for high profits reassured that medical fraternity that prescriptions were safe and did not pose a risk of addiction among users (Brady, McCauley, & Back, 2015). The outcome of this was an increase in the dispersion and misuse of the drugs and by the time addictions become a national menace, much damage had already been done. The issue came to limelight in 2015 when more than 33,000 U.S. citizens died from opioid overdoses, especially from prescription opioids, heroin, and a synthetic opioid known as the fentanyl (Madras, 2017). Further, during the time, more than two million people had opioid-related substance abuse disorders (Krans & Patrick, 2016). All these factors support the need for a policy to address the problem.

Another major problem that fuels the misuse of the opioids is the lack of regulations that can control the advertising and marketing of prescription drugs. Indeed, according to Madras, (2017), across the whole world, the United States and New Zealand are the only countries that allow the advertising of prescription drugs and thus increasing awareness on the potential medicines. Further, there are weak guidelines regarding the monitoring of the distribution of the prescription drugs, and this increases the likelihood of the medication being access by the general public that may not necessarily need them is high (Nargiso, Ballard, & Skeer, 2015). The more than $78.5 billion lost because of wasted working hours, deaths, hospital admissions, and medical expenses among other areas of expenditure in addressing opioid addiction and overdoses presents an economic problem that demands actions by both state and federal governments (Krans & Patrick, 2016). The issue can only be addressed through a policy that will reduce the access of opioids to the public, and thus help reduce additions and substance abuse and save the country billions of dollars.

Alternative Solutions to the Problem

One of the solutions that can be applied to address the opioid problem in the United States is through the introduction of policies that will require increased accountability on the prescription of the drugs as well as reduce the ease of access in public. Such an approach will ensure that access to the drugs is not as easy as it is today and that any prescriptions are offered to individuals who deserve it. An alternative to the problem is introducing policies that will add penalties to physicians as well as individuals who are found prescribing or using the drugs without necessary justifications such as health conditions that deserve the drugs. Lastly, restricting the advertising of prescription drugs presents an alternative solution that can reduce public awareness regarding the drugs and thus gradually reduce their usage. All the above possible solution have differing levels of their likelihood of effectiveness in address the healthcare problem relating to opioid use and distribution.

Criteria for Selecting the Best Solution

The criteria for selecting the best solution will be first, driven by its perceived effectiveness in address the issue. In this case, it is essential to ensure that the policy that is put in place provides different stakeholders come together and work towards ensuring that the rate of opioid substance abuse and related deaths are reduced in the U.S. The second criteria will be the financial implications of the policy on the economy. Implementing a nationwide plan is a costly process and as such, ensuring that a program gives value for the money and is affordable for the government is an essential step to choosing the best solution to a problem. The last policy consideration for the best alternative will be acceptance by the stakeholders in the country. While introducing restrictions on advertising may attract opposition from pharmaceutical companies, it will be essential also to get the views of other stakeholders, and thus ensure that the best-fit-solution is identified, even if it means that some people will be offended.

Possible Outcomes of the Policy

Any policy may have both positive and negative impacts that must be identified. For instance, implementing a strategy that seeks to address the opioid menace presents a risk of the government losing income that it obtains from the widespread manufacture and use of the drugs. With the reduced access to the drugs, pharmaceutical companies will likely scale down their production, and this will lead to not only lost tax income, but also possible job losses. However, a significant positive outcome helping reduce the number of people with opioid addiction as well as deaths will have both social and economic advantages. For instance, reducing lost time, and financial costs of dealing with addiction will compensate for the lost tax income at the production level.

Trade-offs

The implementation of a policy involves trade-offs between not having the framework or address the problem. In the current case of the dangers of opioid in the United States, solve the issue will lead to a healthier population that is more productive and hence reducing the burden on the economy of fighting addiction and substance abuse of the drugs. The outcomes of the policy will thus lead to better economic results as money that would be used to curb the vice may be used to improve the welfare of the population. However, implementing the policy presents the potential for lost income and jobs as pharmaceutical companies will have to scale down the production of such drugs. All these problems may have adverse consequences to the economy.

Recommendations

It is evident that the opioid-related substance abuse and deaths present a wakeup call for the United States to pass a policy that will address the problem. Based on the policy analysis above, it is highly recommendable for the country to put in place a framework that will focus on reducing the access of the drugs through increased restrictions on their access. Such a measure can be done by putting in place measures that will ensure that the drugs are only prescribed for conditions that deserve it such as surgeries and cancer among other painful ailments. The implementation of the policy will require extensive consultations between the federal, state, and the healthcare sector to ensure that there is support for the policies, and thus smooth implementation.

References

Brady, K. T., McCauley, J. L., & Back, S. E. (2015). Prescription opioid misuse, abuse, and treatment in the United States: an update. American Journal of Psychiatry, 173(1), 18-26.

Dart, R. C., Surratt, H. L., Cicero, T. J., Parrino, M. W., Severtson, S. G., Bucher-Bartelson, B., & Green, J. L. (2015). Trends in opioid analgesic abuse and mortality in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 372(3), 241-248.

Krans, E. E., & Patrick, S. W. (2016). Opioid use disorder in pregnancy: health policy and practice in the midst of an epidemic. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 128(1), 4-11.

Madras, B. K. (2017). The surge of opioid use, addiction, and overdoses: responsibility and response of the US healthcare system. JAMA Psychiatry, 74(5), 441-442.

Nargiso, J. E., Ballard, E. L., & Skeer, M. R. (2015). A systematic review of risk and protective factors associated with nonmedical use of prescription drugs among youth in the United States: a social-ecological perspective. Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 76(1), 5-20.