Research Paper on Opioid Abuse Epidemic: Tackling It Through Healthcare and Education

Introduction

Opioid abuse among college students and adolescents in general across the United States has reached epidemic levels. Since most abused opioids are prescribed medications such as pain killers which are sought for their ability to produce stimulating effects, efforts to counter their abuse must be specifically targeted at the healthcare service providers who preside over their administration. In addition, such efforts must also involve parents, educators, and the vulnerable adolescents to ensure awareness regarding the dangers they pose is both created and internalized. The following is an appraisal of the efforts that have been engaged by the concerned parties to rein in on this vice among adolescents in general and college students.

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Intervention Proposed by the Pediatrics' Academy of America

One solution to combating opioid abuse among college students is for the health sector to adopt the recommended best practices for screening, treating, and referring substance abuse victims. The best practices are routinely outlined and updated by the Committee on Prevention and Use of Substances that is presided over by the Pediatrics' Academy of America. The academy has long grappled with the impact on public health that the mortality, morbidity and the abuse of substances; all preventable, have had on the health care sector. As such, it set out to establish measures targeting health care providers, specifically family doctors and pediatrics, with capacity-building initiatives associated with intervention, assessment, detection, and prevention of substance abuse (Borsuk & Gerald, 2015). These efforts culminated in the publication of the first policy statement on substance abuse prevention by the academy in 2011. The policy statement was titled "Substance Use Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Pediatricians". It outlined the treatment referral options, brief intervention measures, screening terminology, and concepts intended to provide intervention measures, tools for screening, and clinical guidance for clinicians to help students, and adolescents in general, to combat substance abuse. It is periodically updated.

The Pediatrics' Academy of America recognizes the massive impact on public health that substances abuse among adolescents has. These include unplanned pregnancies and risky abortions, high levels of morbidity, death, disorders associated with substance abuse, and a myriad of health complications (Field, 2018). Therefore, the Academy has set out measures to make use of the unique position, as well as the crucial longitudinal role played by pediatricians in the lives of adolescents to combat substance abuse within this population segment.

The academy is of the opinion that pediatricians can influence the knowledge that this demographic has about their health in relation to abused substances, and therefore inspire change in their behavior, and ultimately secure their well-beingThe Academy's decision to target pediatricians with mitigation measures for substance abuse among teenagers is informed by the fact that 85% of this demographic have access to a physician at least once a year. Since pediatricians are not only an accommodative of discussions on substance abuse, but are also a reliable source of information on drugs and alcohol, the Academy recognizes the massive opportunity they present for addressing the prevalence of substance abuse among teenagers (Miech, Johnston, O'Malley, Keyes, & Heard, 2015).

The academy, therefore, has not outlined the necessity to inculcate universal screening for the abuse of substances, brief intervention measures, and recommendations to better treatment facilities for teenagers caught in the substance abuse cycle. Pediatricians are expected to adhere to these intervention measures as a part of their periodical health appraisal of teenagers. The academy's decision, in this regard, is informed by the fact that teenagers face the greatest risk of suffering from adverse effects of substance abuse, such as both chronic and acute health complications. Therefore, pediatricians occupy a unique position in effecting the necessary interventions to secure the welfare of teenagers when it comes to drug abuse, and this can be exploited to realize effective results.

Intervention Proposed by the National Institute of Health

Another solution to mitigating opioid abuse among college students, and teenagers in general is advocating for the cautious treatment of pain. Teenagers are in most cases exposed to opioids for the first time through prescriptions. For instances, 31% of teenagers' initial contact with opioids is attributed to dentist prescriptions (Kahn, 2015). Therefore, the National Health Institute (N.I.H.) has taken the onus to develop promising alternatives to managing pain other than prescribing opioids. Now, they have already come up with some effective approaches, while they are at the same time involved in the development of other potentially effective strategies. It is on this basis that they are imploring healthcare providers to resort to these alternative approaches rather than offering opioid prescriptions for chronic and acute pain as the first option.

The N.I.H. outlines that close to 600,000 people in the United States manifested disorders associated with the use of heroin in 2015 alone. In addition, in the course of the same year some 2 million people suffered from disorders associated with the use of prescribed opioids (McHugh, Nielsen, & Weiss, 2015). To bring to focus the scope of the opioid abuse crisis, the N.I.H. states that the nation has lost close to $80 billion to the abuse of prescription drugs to date. The loss is mostly sustained through loss of productivity, law enforcement efforts, and healthcare interventions targeting opioid abusers. As such, the scope of the opioid abuse crisis has simply been described by the N.I.H. as staggering, although there is still some hope that it can be reined in. Owing to its privileged position as the administrator of opioids, the N.I.H. understands addiction to opioids better than other disorders associated with drug use (McHugh, Nielsen, & Weiss, 2015). Therefore, it is at the frontline of developing useful strategies that can be immediately applied to treat and prevent opioid addiction, as well as save lives. The N.I.H. has as a result assumed the frontline position in bringing together private stakeholders, officials charged with law enforcement, healthcare sector representatives, and law makers from across the United States to make a firm commitment to ending the opioid abuse crisis.

While research is a critical component to the attainment of this objective, the N.I.H. has identified three critical areas to be focused on by these stakeholders to reign in on the crisis. These are reversal of overdose, treatment of addiction, and management of pain.

First, there is a necessity to come up with improved formulations and interventions to reverse incidences of overdose (Kolodny, Courtwright, Hwang, Kreiner, Eadie, Clark, & Alexander, 2015). Now, the drug naloxone has been identified as an effective intervention to overdose reversal and reduction of mortality.

Since overdosing on opioids constitutes a medical emergency, availing naloxone to the first responders to the scene of a drug overdose incident increases the chances that the life of the affected victim will be saved. However, naloxone may not be long-lasting or powerful enough to counter overdosing on synthetic opioids of an extremely potent nature such as fentanyl, or the person may not be reached in time. Therefore, the N.I.H. has identified the necessity to come up with improved naxolone formulations, as well as the need to develop other interventions for overdose reversal. As such, the N.I.H. is pioneering research on different and new formulations of antagonists to the receptor mu-opioid. In addition, different ways of countering opioid overdose-associated depression of respiration are under research. Now, the serotonin receptor has been identified as a potentially effective target in attaining this objective, while other potential intervention measures are being similarly pursued.

Second, the N.I.H. has identified the necessity to come up with innovative and novel technologies as well as medications for the treatment of addiction to opioids. Now, naltrexone; an antagonist, buprenorphine; a partial agonist, and methadone; an agonist, are effective in mitigating the illicit use of opioids. However, their effectiveness requires strict adherence to the outlined treatment plan, as well as enough doses. Nonetheless, not every patient elicits the expected reaction to these medications (McNealy & Lombardero, 2019). Consequently, the N.I.H. is at the frontline in harnessing information attributed to the growing body of knowledge of addiction to opioids to isolated new molecular targets for medications. In addition, the N.I.H. is also pioneering research on the novel approaches to the modification of brain circuits to explore safer and more effective interventions for disorders associated with opioid abuse. At present, research is at an advanced stage in the quest to develop vaccines that boost the immune system to bar opioids from access to the brain. With animal studies of these potential vaccines showing great promise, it is hoped that human trials may commence soon.

Third, the N.I.H. has identified the necessity for the development of non-addictive, effective, and safe approaches to the management of pin of a chronic nature. The N.I.H. asserts that the opioid addiction trajectory usually commences with the misuse of prescribed opioids. In 2015 alone, as the N.I.H. outlines, there were almost 20,000 cases of overdose associated with fentanyl or heroin (McNealy & Lombardero, 2019). While most people begin abusing opioids prescribed to them, others begin the habit by taking prescriptions given to family members and friends.

Intervention Measures Bringing Together Parents and Educators

An effective approach to reining in opioid abuse that is specifically intended for college students is the effort to build strong relationships with students, on one hand, and parents and educators, on the other hand, as the preliminary step in establishing common ground with this demographic on the prevention of drug abuse. The Adolescent Health: Think, Act and Grow (T.A.G.) Initiative is one such approach (Jordan, et. al., 2017). It highlights evaluation reports, research, and publications that inform parents and educators on effective approaches to fostering the healthy development and fostering engagement of young people in substance abuse prevention. It also focuses on approaches to the reduction of risky behavior and fostering dissemination of useful information on the adverse effects of substance abuse.

The initiative's approach is informed by the fact that adolescents enter the social service and healthy system in diverse ways and at different stages, Therefore, the initiative is focused on improving the coordination and integration of health care services by all stakeholders involved in supporting the healthy development of adolescents in order to ensure the best health outcomes possible are attained. The initiative encourages parents and educators to adopt their recommended modalities for reaching college students, and adolescents in general, who are at risk of abusing opioids and other substances in general.

Conclusion

In conclusion, opioid abuse among college students, which has reached chronic levels of late, has necessitated the coming together of parents, educators, and the healthcare sector in mitigating this problem. Parents and educators are routinely being targeted by sensitization initiatives, such as T.A.G. to im...