“From 1999 to 2016, more than 200,000 people died in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids” (Dowell). Opioids, also called Analgesics, are used for the treatment of pain after surgery or other injuries. According to the CDC (Center of Disease Control), opioids are the most commonly abused prescription drug. More than 40% of all U.S. opioid overdose deaths in 2016 involved a prescription opioid, more than 46 people die everyday from an opioid overdose(Dowell). The battle with opioid abuse needs to end, it is ending many lives and affecting the wellbeing of many. The detrimental effects of over prescription and abuse of opioids out weight the benefits because of overdose and health damage, addiction, and effects on the economy.
For years, doctors have been prescribing highly addictive opioids such as Oxycontin (oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone), for minor issues such as headaches and lower back pains. Dr. Fugh-Berman stated that when he went through medical training the physicians were taught the opioids could be beneficial, but dangerous and should only be used in severe cases. As time went on, opioids became the go to treatment for pains when there are more sufficient methods such as physical therapy and life-style changes. “Opioids may be the worst drugs for chronic pain; they don’t work better than other drugs and actually increase pain sensitivity over time” (Fugh-Berman). Death due to prescription opioids is starting to become the leading cause of death for young adults in the United States. The CDC stated that the sales of prescription opioids has been increasing at a very fast rate; it has increased around 400% from 1999 to 2014. They also said that even though the prescription rate has increased so much, there has not been an increase of patient reports saying they no longer experience the pains that they were at the time of the prescription. Primary care providers are responsible for about half of the opioid prescriptions; it has been estimated that 1 out of 5 patients are prescribed opioids in a clinical setting for non-significant pains (Gray). Although prescription opioids can help treat some types of pain, there is not enough evidence that opioids improve chronic pain, function, and quality of life. Long-term use of opioids can lead to abuse and overdose. The effectiveness of these medications also wears off over time; meaning you are building a tolerance.
Prescription opioids continue to contribute to the opioid overdose epidemic in the United States (Hedgegaard); According to the CDC (Center of Disease Control), the overdose rate from opioids increased in Minnesota from 7.3% in 2010 to 12.5 in 2016%. Death from abuse of prescription opioids is on the rise at a crucial rate. If something is not done to halt the over prescription and even better yet, find proper alternatives that are less damaging, so we can lower the drug supply, deaths from overdose will continue to rise and affect a broader population base. There has been more deaths from prescription opioids in young adults than from firearms and car accidents (Gray). Opioid deaths totaled up to more than heroin and cocaine deaths combined (Ducharme). Due to the change in policy and methodology in prescribing opioids and the continued use, resultant deaths from abuse has reached an alarming rate and needs to be addressed. Deaths from opioid abuse is not the only negative effect in prescription based opioid use. Damages caused to the health and well being of people that have been prescribed opioids are another major factor. Using opioids for a long period of time, 6 months or longer, can cause a variety of side effects. This side effects can range from long term health conditions to addiction and dependency issues. Opioid abuse has been proven to cause constipated, sleep-disordered breathing (apnea), weakening of the bones (osteoporosis) , and many other health complications (Solomon). The most common side effects are constipation and nausea. Other common side effects include: dizziness, fatigue, and vomiting (Weber). Long term use can even lead to weakening of the immune system (Weber). As if long term health conditions were not enough reason to not use opioids for pain treatment, there are significant financial costs and detrimental effects on our economy due to the epidemic problem of opioid abuse. “The use of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain has increased in the last 2 decades; in turn, so has the misuse and abuse of these medications, which has resulted in increased healthcare costs”(Fudin).
The increased costs of healthcare and the financial burden to the workforce has led to a significant monetary loss to our economy. According to the CDC,there has been a “10-fold increase in the use of opioid analgesics during the last 20 years”. Rising opioid use has caused increased health care costs; patients who abuse opioids have health care costs 8 times more than those who do not abuse opioids (Fudin). The costs include: patients missing work, multiple emergency room visits and clinic visits, patients changing doctors to keep getting their prescription, prescription costs, and rehab/treatment facilities. A 2008 Drug Abuse Warning Network reported stated that around 1 million emergency room visits were due to non-medical use of prescription medications; opioids were responsible for a large portion of the visits, a total of 306,000. To compare, heroin was responsible for 201,000 ER visits and cocaine was responsible for 482,000 (Ducharme). In 2015, around 1 million people were not working because of an opioid addiction (Zezima). A study from the American Action Forum found 919,400 people between the ages of 25 to 54 were not working because they had an addiction to opioid drugs. The loss of employees between 1999 to 2015 cost the United States $702 billion, which calculates to $44 billion annually; “it’s a pretty big drag on the U.S economy” (Gitis).
In spite of the significant costs both direct and indirectly related to the over prescription of opioids and the abuse stemming from this, there are still people who believe the opioids are beneficial, and that the benefits outweigh the negative effects of opioid use for pain management. “
About 100 million Americans, or nearly one out of every three, suffers from chronic pain. For a good number of them, the pain is severe” (Leonhardt). Some haven’t found any way to eliminate the pain and it greatly impacts their lives. Some though, have found successful methods to manage the pain, such as, exercise, stretching, physical therapy and meditation.
In spite of people’s belief that opioids are beneficial and should be continued to be used, studies have shown that long term treatments of pain with opioids are not effective and alternatives need to be sought out and used.
Prescription of opioids should be discontinued for pain treatment as the negative effects are tremendous and far outweigh any palliative effects that they may have. Opioid abuse is a leading cause of death, and health effects, and economical losses that continues to spiral out of control at an alarming rate. Based on the significant evidence to the negative effects compared to the relatively few benefits of the medications, it is clear that the damage caused greatly exceeds any lesser benefit to their use.
Americans aren’t as concerned about opioid related deaths and damages as they should be. The public sees opioid addiction as an insignificant problem, and only a small amount of people think that they could become addicted to pain medication (Blendon). That being said, opioid overdose is the number one cause of accidental deaths in the United States (Benson). The dependence on prescription pain medications has expanded into a major problem; “Public health officials are calling it the worst drug crisis in American history” (Brooks). In 2014, more people died from drug overdoses than any other year, 6 out of 10 of those deaths were due to opioids (Brooks). Many experts who supported the use of opioids to manage chronic pain started to change their ideals and stopped supporting opioid use because of the shocking statistics of abuse and addiction (Brooks).