Opioid Crisis in America
Opioids are medications that are often used as analgesia and anesthesia to cause central sensitization of the nervous system. Opioid misuse is a problem that exists in 50-state America in the form of flow-out drug mill facilities where pain relief treatment is dished out like sugar and cheap smuggled heroin.
The Current Opioid Crisis
For example, with addicts calling the strictly approved doctor to administer the drug, opioid has wasted coal state and has shredded the residents of New England city who overdose in cash stores' walkways. "The current opioid crisis is the worst drug crisis" as it has been termed by the public health officials in American history so far killing 33,000 people or more in 2015(Seelye et al., 2017). The deaths from the overdose of opioids nearly equal to the number of car crash deaths.
Increasing Rates of Opioid Abuse
For the first time, in the year 2015, the deaths from heroin alone exceeded the deaths from gun homicides with no sign of relief from the trend. Opioid deaths in the U.S increased from 4030 to 16,917 between the year 1999 and 2011(Webster, 2015). The rise of opioid abuse rates are attributed to lack of knowledge of physicians, inadequate policies concerning first-line treatments, non-adherence of patients, and unanticipated mental and medical health issues among others. Societies are inspecting the escape route from the problem that seems unavoidable "from New England to Safe Injection locations in the Pacific Northwest."
Opioid Crisis Globally
The U.S. is the most significant consumer of opioids globally with 81% for oxycodone and 100% for Hydrocodone of the entire world (McLaughlin, 2016). The opioid global crisis came about the physicians' intention to relieve pain in the 1970s. According to Barry, Kennedy-Hendricks, Gollust, Niederdeppe, Bachhuber, Webster and McGint (2016), "28.2% of the Americans have used opioid pain reliever within the previous 12 months, with 69.5% using it in a lifetime and 17.3% using opioids for medication when not prescribed to them".
Opioid Use in Punjab, India
In the North of India state of Punjab, the use of the opioid is endemic but frequently contributes to bipolar existence posing a challenge towards the management of acute bipolar episodes. Depression episodes are also added by the regular consumption of opioids (Poster Session II., 2013). Opioids common adverse side effects include nausea, vomiting, constipation, sleep disturbances, sedation and pruritus and the potentially lethal outcomes such as depression of the respiratory. Endocrinopathy induced from opioid involves hypogonadism, infertility, sexual dysfunctions and increased risk of fractures dizziness, and risk of heart failure, pneumonia and myocardial infarctions (Section 1, 2014).
Opioid Prescription Trends in Canada
The prescriptions of Opioids as analgesics have steeply increased globally with Canada featuring as the second highest in opioid consumption. The examined trends in the prescription of Opioid analgesic (POA) in Canada between 2005- 2012 demonstrated that strong opioids across Canada drive its dispensing till 2011(Fischer, Jones, & Rehm, 2014). "In Ontario alone, 6% adults and 15% high school students were reported to consume non-medical opioids in the year 2010/2011". The reduction of strong Opioids in Canada requires the substitution of Oxycodone to actualize and reverse the current trend of consumption of opiates.
Conclusion
In conclusion, opioids the abuse rates of opioids (pain reliever drug) have sharply increased globally with the United States leading followed by Canada among others. Americans should view the problem of the opioid global crisis seriously resulting from an abuse of pain reliever and establish the robust support system and enact policies recommended by law enforcers, medicals and disease control units together with public health experts to control the rampant crisis.
References
Barry, C. L., Kennedy-Hendricks, A., Gollust, S. E., Niederdeppe, J., Bachhuber, M. A., Webster, D. W., & McGinty, E. E. (2016). Understanding Americans' views on opioid pain reliever abuse. Addiction, 111(1), 85-93. doi:10.1111/add.13077
Fischer, B., Jones, W., & Rehm, J. (2014). Trends and changes in prescription opioid analgesic dispensing in Canada 2005-2012: an update with a focus on recent interventions. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 1-15. doi:10.1186/1472-6963-14-90
McLaughlin, D. B. (2016). Battling Opioid Addiction. Healthcare Executive, 31(4), 52-55.
Section 1: Main Scientific Program: Invited Speakers. (2014). Pain Practice, 141-133. doi:10.1111/papr.12201
Seelye, K. Q., Goodnough, A., Medina, J., Johnson, K., Santos, F., Healy, J., & Bosman, J. (2017). Inside a Killer Drug Epidemic: A Look at America's Opiod Crisis. New York Times, A11. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/opioid-crisis-epidemic.html
Webster, L. R. (2015). The health insurance industry: Perpetuating the opioid crisis through policies of cost-containment and profitability. Journal of Pain Research. https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S83368
