The opiate issue first emerged during the Neolithic era, when the local inhabitants cultivated papaver, which gave rise to poppy seeds. These individuals were the first to use opiates after learning that the poppy plant had narcotic properties. As more people became aware of the opium poppy's potential, demand for it rose. It was known as the "joy plant." Many nations began to cultivate the plant as demand rose in order to increase availability and reduce price. Opium drugs were widely available in American pharmacies and grocery stores during the eighteenth century. Young people started consuming opiates right away from their mothers’ breast milk. Parents used to give opium to their children so as to keep them happy and relaxed. Opium was also used to relax the minds of those people who had overworked. In this century people used opium as a medicine and not as a drug of abuse. People did not know the effects opium had to the body and therefore they could mix it with wine and believe that the drug was able to cure any sickness. Breastfeeding mothers also used to take opium due to lack of knowledge on the effects of the drug on their children. Opium balls were also eaten, and others took together with wine by those people who were in need of morphine. The petals for the poppy were also well known to prevent nose bleeding and spitting blood. They were also used to reduce chest pains and tonsillitis. (“Foundation for a Drug-Free World,” 2017).
Psychopharmacology of Opiates
Opiates are classified as narcotic analgesics. Narcotic analgesics can be defined as those medicines which reduce both acute and chronic pain by binding to opioid receptors. The opiate has an effect of influencing the opioid system whose work is to control pain and the addiction behaviors. The opioid receptors are mostly found in the brain but are also found in other parts of the body such as in the digestive system and the spinal cord. Opiates are used in treating moderate pains which cannot be treated by use of other pain medications. Opiates analgesics usually reduce the pain which is transmitted to the brain. However, this narcotic pain medication can have negative side effects to the body if used incorrectly. Opiates are known in giving the users excitements and relaxing sensations. These drugs can also affect the sleeping patterns of the users negatively. They can either cause lack of sleep to those addicted or can cause extreme sleepiness in the case of high doses. Opiates usually reduce the benefits of sleep in that it is known to reduce the efficiency of sleep and also its quality. Too much use of opiates drugs can lead to dependence and addiction and most individuals find themselves in a situation struggling to withdraw from their use. Excessive use of these drugs may lead to abnormalities of the brain which finally leads to dependence and addiction. (“Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov,” 2017).
Current Trends or Issues of Opiates
The abusive use of opiates which includes heroin, morphine and prescribed pain relievers has become a serious problem which has led to poor health and social welfare in the societies. Most youths are taking the opiates for their intended purposes other than the medical reasons. These youths tend to purchase the opiates analgesics from the pharmacies and use them for the wrong purposes other than the one prescribed. Some usually mix the opiates with alcohol and end up overdosing them, and this can really have negative effects on their bodies. Also, there is an increase in the number of written and dispensed prescriptions which help the youths to get these drugs more easily through the counters. The pharmaceutical companies also have led to the increased use of the opiates by the youths for the wrong purposes as they are only concerned with making money through selling these drugs without being concerned about the health of those using the drugs. These factors have increased the availability of opiate analgesics and, therefore, the youth tends to misuse them for their own reasons. The only reason young people are engaging in the use of this drugs is to get high, and most of the youths will rather injure themselves in order to be prescribed the pain relievers. This will eventually make them addicted and cause series of problems to their bodies. (“Drugabuse.gov,” 2017).
The synthetic opiates are defined as those narcotic analgesic medicines which are produced in the chemical laboratories having the same structure as the natural opiate drugs. These can be the type of drugs which are not accepted by law but the doctors can legally use them in treating patients with average to serious pains. However, the synthetic opiates usually have similar qualities with the natural ones. These drugs are usually used in the wrong ways by different people and they normally have serious negative effects on the users. Therefore the synthetic opiates should only be used following the doctors’ advice so as to decrease its effects to the users. When used in high doses the synthetic opiates can cause deaths resulting from respiratory depression. The synthetic opiates are very addictive when used for the wrong purpose as they are known to relieve stress and cause relaxation of the mind to the user. Therefore anyone using them for the wrong purpose will always be tempted to use them again. The availability of prescribed opiate medication has led to an increase in the negative effects to those people using them for the wrong reasons. For example, the number of people who have been admitted to hospitals due to use of the opiate drugs for nonmedical reasons has gone high from one hundred and forty-four thousand in the year 2004 to three hundred and five thousand in the year 2008. Also, the death caused by overdosing these drugs has increased by three times in the last twenty years in the United States. Most people also take these drugs in the wrong forms as they are supposed to be taken and this leads to many side effects to their bodies. (“Drugabuse.gov,” 2017).
Societal Concerns about Addiction to Opiates
The misuse of the opiate drugs usually starts at the adolescent stages in the life of an individual. This is because some of the adolescents are usually depressed and they suffer from physical pain. They will therefore tend to use these drugs so as to forget their problems and feel better. Also the pressures from the society where the youths are expected to perform better in their activities such as academics usually force them to drugs thinking that they will help them improve their performances. The society is so concerned about the addiction of adolescents because when they get involved in the drugs they can end up in other dangerous behaviors posing serious social and health risks to them. When the teens get addicted to the drugs they will not stop using them and the society may lack responsible youths, and also their families will be having many problems handling their situations. This is because some of them can start stealing resources from their parents in order to get money for buying the drugs. People without drug addiction history usually do not have any issues with the use of opiate drugs prescribed to them by doctors. However, there are those people who use these medicines without the doctor’s prescription normally with their own intentions of relaxing their minds. The continuous use of these drugs leads to addiction problems and one cannot stop their use as the drugs develop a desire of using them. The misuse of opiate drugs can even make individuals fake injuries in order to get these pills for their satisfactions. When a person is addicted to drugs his habit has effects to the other family members. The families of the individuals addicted to drugs are usually affected financially as they will have to spend money to take the person to a hospital. The parents or guardians of the person addicted to drugs usually undergoes a lot of stress because these people usually steal money to buy drugs and are also not able to work. (“Opiate Rehab Treatment,” 2017).
Significance or Relevance of Opiates to the Counseling Profession
The counseling professions are made up of different people such as social workers, bachelor’s level counselors, physicians and nurses. This people need to get information from the users of opiates so as to decide the most effective type of treatment to use on them. They should get the information about how long the person have been using the drugs and how they get them. By understanding the extent to which the person has been using opiate drugs will help in the right diagnosis, proper management, assessment process and giving the client the correct treatment. Withdrawal from opiates can really be difficult and the symptoms can be severe such that it is risky for a person to go through the process alone. Therefore, many people find it better joining rehabilitation institutions where they can be helped. In the rehabilitation institution the patients’ needs are completely monitored as this helps them withdraw from the drugs. The steps used in completing an opiate treatment program helps the patients recover from the use of the drugs completely and ends up changing their behaviors. This program brings back the senses of the patients and they change to people who can make their own decisions without any influence. (Rieckmann et al., 2017).
Future Implications of Opiates
There are efforts which have been undertaken in the United States to help in reduction of the use of the opiate drugs so as to reduce high dosages and the number of related deaths. These efforts are aimed at setting up initiatives in schools and communities to educate the people on the effects of these drugs. Also, the prescription drug monitoring programs should be put in place to ensure that prescriptions of opiates are not available to anyone. There should also be law enforcements controlling pharmaceutical companies selling the opiates drugs to people without doctor’s prescription. Narcan is a prescription medicine that stops the effects of opiates in an individual and may also reverse an overdose of the medicine. Therefore people who have overdosed the opiate drugs may be given Narcan so as to reverse the situation. Narcan can really help even if the drugs have been mixed with other substances such as alcohol. The use of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPS) helps in keeping track and preventing the availability of drug prescription to anyone in the society. These programs ensure that people only uses the opiates under the instructions of the doctor and not for their own purpose. These helps in reducing the misuse of the pain medication hence preventing any further addiction and overdosing. (Kosten, 2017).
References
Opiate Rehab Treatment. (2017). Cultural Issues Related to Opiate Addiction. Retrieved on May 10, 2017 from http://www.opiaterehabtreatment.com/cultural-issues-related-to-opiate-addiction
Drugabuse.gov. (2017). Emerging Trends and Alerts. Retrieved on May 10, 2017 from https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/emerging-trends-alerts
Rieckmann, T., Farentinos, C., Tillotson, C., Kocarnik, J., & McCarty, D. (2011). The substance abuse counseling workforce: Education, preparation, and certification. Retrieved on May 10, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3486694/
Kosten, T. R. (2017). The neurobiology of opioid dependence: Implications for treatment. Retrieved on May 10, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851054/
Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. (2017). Pharmacological and physical interventions in opioid detoxification. Retrieved May 10, 2017 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK50618
Foundation for a Drug-Free World. (2017). Watch truth about drugs documentary video & learn about substance addiction. Get the facts about painkillers, marijuana, cocaine, meth & other illegal drugs. Retrieved on May 10, 2017 from http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/painkillers/a-short-history.html
