Opioids- Misuse and Addiction
Opioids, which include but are not limited to prescription painkillers, are administered by physicians in an attempt to relieve pain, despite the detrimental effects they have on the human body. These highly addictive drugs have quickly become a growing epidemic crisis and are behind the many deaths caused by drug overdose. Acquiring a firm understanding as to what opioids are can help the prevention of this progress trap. As someone who’s grandfather has passed away from opioid addiction, I have done plenty of research and talked to many doctors about this topic and would like to raise awareness about the dangers of opioids.
Opioids are a class of drugs that include both prescription painkillers as well as illicit narcotics such as heroin. By working throughout the body, they reduce or sometimes even diminish the perception of pain. According to the American Society of Anesthesiologists, “Opioids attach to proteins called opioid receptors on nerve cells in the brain, spinal cord, gut and other parts of the body. When this happens, opioids pain messages from the body through the spinal cord to the brain.” Opioids also influence the release of chemicals from the brain’s internal reward system that can calm the user’s emotions and give them a sense of pleasure and euphoria. For these reasons many see opioids as a solution for either medical or personal enjoyment purposes.
It’s important to trace this problem back to its origins. The United States first introduced opium in 1775. Fast forward to the 1860s, opioids were being commonly used to treat soldiers in the Civil War, resulting in many of them becoming addicted. By 1910, Americans were crushing opioid pills and inhaling them for pleasure. As the demand for opioids skyrocketed, many doctors began praising opioids for their pain-relieving properties. One physician, Dr. David Macht, on February 6, 1915, wrote, “If the entire medical material at our disposal was limited to the choice and use of only one drug, I am sure that a great many, if not the majority of us would choose opium; and I am convinced that if we were to select, say half a dozen of the most important drugs in the Pharmacopeia, we should all place opium in the first rank. “(The History of Opium and Some of its Preparations and Alkaloids). In the eyes of the public, since the drug was recommended by doctors, it couldn’t have been considered hazardous. With many people believing that opioids were a man’s best friend, thousands sought after the miracle drug.
Many pharmaceutical companies took advantage of this opium surge and began funding physician-led organizations to dishonestly advocate for the drug. According to an article published by STAT News, “In 1980, a five-sentence, 101 word letter in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded incorrectly that the development of opioid addiction is rare in medical patients with no history of addiction. That letter would be cited hundreds of times to make more false claims about opioids. While the senior physician who wrote the letter now regrets doing so, the damage has been done” (Warraich). Ironically, these same physicians who took an oath to do no harm were the ones fueling the fire for one of the country's largest epidemic crises, while stuffing their pockets with compensation money from pharmaceutical companies. They too would be the ones setting humanity up for a deadly progress trap that would rapidly sweep the country. Which would later be too late to prevent, leaving society in despair. By understanding the history of opioids and who was involved, one can see how it quickly became one of the deadliest progress traps of the nation.
With thousands of Americans blindly taking opioids for reasons both medically and recreationally related, the detrimental effects these drugs had on the human body finally started to appear on a large, national scale. Side effects such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, tolerance, physical dependence, and respiratory depression began to be recognized as a trend among opioid users. Researchers started realizing opium did not just slow down pain signals, they slowed down automatic functions, like breathing and heart rate too. The opioid crisis was finally beginning to make headlines. However, due to the history of opioid deaths being hidden under the table by pharmaceutical companies, the severity of the epidemic of opioid was cruelly underestimated. Here is a chart with the effects of opioids when depended on.
For example, Britton, a 19 year old who had sustained a severe shoulder injury, began taking opioids prescribed by his doctor at age 19 while serving in the U.S. Army. By age 22, Britton was addicted. Britton’s opioid use disorder was compounded by his wife’s substance use disorder and his relationships with fellow Veterans who misused prescription opioids. During the 11 years that Britton struggled with opioid use disorder, he separated from his wife, who ultimately passed away due to complications from her drug use, and lost custody of his children. In 2018, Britton was arrested, jailed, and referred to Veterans Treatment Court, a Veterans-only courtroom that provides an alternative to incarceration. He credits the structured therapy program with helping him get into and stay in recovery.
According to the Washington Post, “More than 400,000 people in the United States have died of opioid overdoses since the turn of the century, a quarter of them in just the past six years. But the University of Rochester researchers found that between 1999 and 2016, about 100,000 more people died from opioids who were not accounted for potentially obscuring the scope of the opioid epidemic and affecting funding for government programs intended to confront it” (Komfield). Others taking opioids weren’t dying from them, but many were certainly getting addicted. Users began resorting to popping pills for leisure, craving the euphoric feeling they were promised to attain. Many became physically dependent on them and suddenly heroin did not seem like such a bad idea. What once started as a solution to pain management, has now grown into one of the largest epidemic crises America has ever been faced with. By identifying the effects opioids had on users, it becomes apparent how these drugs developed into a trap.
Based on these findings, it is clear that America is in desperate need of a solution to solve this progress trap. According to Ginny Kerslake, a Democratic candidate for state representative who spoke on the subject of the opioid epidemic, “The two greatest obstacles to getting well for someone suffering from addiction are having the will and having treatment coverage. We need legislation to require health insurance to cover addiction and mental illness just as they do other medical conditions. “(Rettew). However, based on the dark history of the opioid crisis, it is difficult to know if these politicians truly have the health of the public’s best interests at heart or if they’ll just repeat history and turn it into a source of funding for other government projects . For these reasons, I have ascertained that the best solution for this progress trap America has deeply been woven into would be to avoid the risk of addiction in the first place. There are many ways to manage pain without the use of opioids, some of which being meditation, chiropractic care, and massage therapy. By understanding the history of the epidemic opioid, recognizing the impact it had on society, and recognizing patterns, an effective solution can be put in place to prevent this progress trap from intensifying.
To conclude, opioids are a prime example of one of the many progress traps humanity is faced with today. What was once introduced to treat pain rapidly became the source of a new strand of pain, which is addiction. By analyzing history and recognizing the key figures who were moving the strings, it becomes evident how society fell into this trap. Understanding the effects opioids have on society also plays a key role in forming a solution as it highlights the main obstacles that are needed to overcome. By referencing back to history, one can see which mistakes to avoid in an attempt to hinder history from repeating itself.
