The Opioid Crisis in Red Hill - Essay Sample

Introduction

The use of opioid has gained unprecedented attention as a significant public health concern in the United States. According to Compton et al., in 2016, overdoses of prescription opioids claimed the lives of more than 100 Americans each day, and the number continues to increase due to opioid addiction (2). Mainly, opioid overdose presents a significant crisis in Pennsylvania, and as Mirigian et al. point out, in 2014, Pennsylvania was among the top three leading States with the highest number of opioid deaths (148). In 2016, at least 42,000 deaths were resulting from opioid overdose, and use synthetic opioids such as fentanyl was the primary cause of death followed by heroin that contributed more than 15,000 deaths (Manchikanti et al. 309). As such, opioid continues to be one of the major causes of death in the United States as well as in Red Hill, PA. Although opioids have a legitimate role in treating pain, its addiction continues costing the country billions of dollars making it an issue that must be addressed as a way of alleviating economic and social burden facing the nation.

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How did opioid addiction arise? In the 1990s, most pharmaceutical companies across the nation convinced regulatory agencies and the medical community that the use of opioid drugs to relieve pain would not result in addiction. Therefore, most healthcare providers offered opioid prescriptions to individuals to relieve pain. With an increase in the number of opioid prescriptions, both non-prescription and prescription of opioid were misused, and it became clear that such form of medication could indeed become highly addictive (Compton 2). For instance, Red Hill town residents fell victim of opioid prescription that led to widespread addiction. Based on a neurological perspective, prescription of opioids among the people was designed to ease any form of pain in the body, but the resulting psychological effects led to the development of abuse and later to addiction (Hall 987). Therefore, with all these effects, opioid dependence arose from prescriptions that elicited persistent alterations in the brain, thus compelling people to use the drug repeatedly.

Importantly, the rate of non-medical prescription, which leads to opioid addiction, has since remained relatively steady in the country, which shows that the issue must be addressed with urgency to prevent its escalation. Most of the residents of Pennsylvania have embraced the drugs because of their medical value, thus overlooking the dangers of addiction and abuse. Therefore, many of them take no notice of the risk of addiction in favor of the blissful high, and the majority of the people get themselves in a situation where they are a burden to the community due to opioid addiction (Mirigian et al. 148).

So, why is opioid addiction an issue in Red Hill, Pennsylvania? It is not difficult to imagine that the opioid crisis is an isolated issue in the United States. President Donald Trump recently labeled the opioid crisis as a public health emergency that needed immediate solutions. The move is a significant step to enable the hiring of necessary personnel to take on the issue, allow the expansion of telemedicine services and further permit flexibility when it comes to the use of the federal grant money (Hall et al. 987). In Red Hill, the population began to use opioid prescription strictly to experience their psychoactive effects because the drug plays a role in relieving pain. However, the use of the drug because an addiction as individuals followed a more prolonged course, which starts with the need to have a legitimate medical treatment that eventually led to a form of recreational fun. Consequently, the continued use of opioid becomes harmful among Red Hill residents.

The American population is experiencing the worst of the opioid epidemic due to the widespread use of the drug, which leads to overdependence, abuse, and addiction, thus creating the current crisis. Walking through the back streets of Red Hill town, one will encounter different communities struggling to cope with the consequences of opioid addiction. The effects often lead to deaths, family despair, and broken family set-ups (Griffin). Despite efforts from the town health care body to address the opioid addiction issue, it is still clear that strategies that are currently used to solve the problem are not effective and as Manchikanti argues, the prevention strategies must be reframed considering factors that had led to the current state (317). Therefore, efforts to solve the opioid addiction crisis in Red Hill should focus on analyzing the evolution of the epidemic before finding a solution to the crisis.

Opioid addiction is associated with many factors such as gender, the race, socioeconomic status, the clinical history, and the geographical, which supports the progression of the crisis. For instance, genetics can underlie an individual's characteristics such as impulsivity that often leads to the commencement of drug use and later leads to abuse. Moreover, emotional extremes as explained one of the opioid addicts can always trigger an individual's stress-response that often leads to the person developing dependency patterns of use (Griffin). Mirigian et al. point out that opioid addiction among the Pennsylvania population across all races and ages. The authors indicate that among the people who died of the drug overdose in 2016, the average profile of the individuals was white males aged between 25 and 34 years old. Therefore, with such statistics in the town, the community can create technical assistance centers that will help in combating the crisis.

Noteworthy, opioid addiction has become an issue in Red Hill town because of the harmful consequences it poses to the government, addicts and non-addict town residents. Among the addicts, it is often difficult to cope up without drugs, which often leads to crime in search of money to purchase opioids (Deaton 2). On the other hand, non-addicts often live in despair while others die as a result of drug overdose. The community, in particular, families of the addicts, is trapped in a situation where they have to provide for the addicts' necessities and pay for medical expenses whenever they fall ill. The Red Hill town is experiencing inadequacy in funds, which becomes a major hindrance against the efforts made in combating the opioid addiction crisis (Mirigian et al. 149). Although President Trump has allocated over $3.3 billion to deal with the crisis, it is still inadequate to fight the epidemic in every town experiencing the problem, including the Red Hill. The resources provided by the government seek to facilitate programs that will prevent the issue from escalating further than it is currently, and it will cover administering treatment, research, and surveillance among other activities.

How can the opioid crisis be solved? Indeed, people are dying of opioid addiction as a result of an overdose, and the leadership of Red Hill, PA should continue the work of addressing the issue. For instance, suboxone or naloxones have been highly recommended and useful, but it is crucial for people to realize that addiction would not end with opioids. Some of the strategies that have been used include involving the community in coordinated efforts to combat opioid overdose crisis. For instance, the state administration in Pennsylvania is implementing interventions that seek to reduce the supply and demand of the drug through approaches such as prescriber education (Mirigian et al. 154). Therefore, efforts to address the crisis should bring all stakeholders involved to broaden their scope and use both medications and psychosocial treatment.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has also been involved in providing a solution to the problem. However, despite the efforts of various stakeholders, it is still difficult to address the social and economic issues associated with the opioid crisis. According to Dasgupta, Beletsky, and Ciccarone, promoters of the crisis are pharmaceutical companies (182). It is essential for pharmaceutical companies to be on the frontline in ending this crisis. Compton et al. argue that pharmacists should prevent the diversion of prescribed opioids to the community and educate consumers about proper storage, use, and disposal of medication (3). Also, the federal, state and local governments should promote the use of overdose-reversing drugs and further to strengthen the citizen understands the problem by conducting a broad public health campaign and surveillance. Therefore, relevant bodies need to provide support for extensive research on how to control pain and addiction by advocating for better pain management practices.

Conclusion

In conclusion, opioid addiction is not only a problem to Red Hill, PA but an American problem. It is essential first to understand how opioid addiction became an issue in Red Hill town and its environs. The main reason for opioid dependence was as a result of reassurances from pharmaceutical companies to the medical practitioners that patients would not become addicts of opioid whenever if the drugs are used drugs as pain relievers. As a result, most of the health care providers embarked on prescribing them at higher rates, and soon it became a crisis. It is therefore essential for all the stakeholders involved to come up with an immediate solution to help in designing effective ways of addressing the crisis across the country. Besides, pharmaceuticals should play a role in creating awareness about the harmful effects of opioids and also coming up with alternative drugs for relieving pain.

Works Cited

Compton, Wilson M., et al. "Promising roles for pharmacists in addressing the US opioid crisis." Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy (2017).

Deaton, Angus. "Economic Aspects of the Opioid Crisis: Testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress."." (2017).

Dasgupta, Nabarun, Leo Beletsky, and Daniel Ciccarone. "Opioid crisis: No easy fix to its social and economic determinants." American journal of public health 108.2 (2018): 182-186.

Griffin, Billy. Personal Interview. 28 November, 2018.

Hall, Wayne, et al. "It is premature to expand access to medicinal cannabis in hopes of solving the US opioid crisis." Addiction 113.6 (2018): 987-988..

Manchikanti, Laxmaiah, et al. "Reframing the prevention strategies of the opioid crisis: focusing on prescription opioids, fentanyl, and heroin epidemic." Pain physician 21.4 (2018): 309-326.

Mirigian, Lynn S., et al. "The Role of Community Coordinated Efforts in Combating the Opioid Overdose Crisis: The Pennsylvania Opioid Overdose Reduction Technical Assistance Center." Commonwealth 20.2-3 (2018).