Opioid Epidemic:What Went Wrong?

Opioids are powerful drugs that relieve pain. They do this by acting on the nervous system. Traditionally, these drugs were used by people who were recovering from surgery or coping with highly painful injuries or diseases. Your mood or behavior can be affected by opioids because they are narcotics. By attaching to receptors in the brain and other areas of the body, they inhibit the transmission of pain signals. Opioids can create a sense of euphoria and are highly addictive. Doctors over prescribed pain pills for years not realizing the impact. That is why people are calling this an epidemic. These prescribed pills were initially given for short-term bouts of pain. Doctors began to prescribe them more to treat chronic pain in the 1990's. Higher levels of addiction and overdoses were due to long-term use among wide areas of the population: The number of overdose deaths since 1999 that were attributed to opioid misuse has quadrupled.In 2015, about half of those deaths were from prescription opioid drugs. Deborah Dowall, senior advisor at the CDC says, "We overestimated the benefits of opioids and underestimated the risks". She goes on to say, "We assumed without adequate evidence that they would work as well as long as they did in the short term". After the Federal Drug Administration approved OxyContin in 1995, pharmaceutical companies have marketed opioids aggressively to physicians. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, held pain management conferences. These conferences were attended by more than 5,000 doctors, nurses and pharmacists. It did not help that the American Geriatric Society in 2009 encouraged physicians to use opioids to treat moderate to severe pain in older patients. Any older patient suffering from chronic conditions like arthritis or back issues asked for pain relief, their doctors innocently wrote prescriptions for Percocet, Vicodin, OxyContin and other opioid painkillers. The American Geriatric Society cited evidence that seniors were less susceptible to addiction. Even though they revised those guidelines, the myth persists. Many doctors still believe older patients can't get addicted. As people age, they become more at risk for dependence or overdoses. Memory loss makes managing opioid medication less effective. Also with age, our kidney and liver slow down. This will increase the time drugs stay in the system. Addiction rates and the number of overdose deaths by 2012 soared. 259 million opioid prescription were written that year. That is enough for every adult in the U.S. to have one. Even though the media has focused on younger people buying illegal opioids, this shows dependence can also start with a legitimate prescription. With the way opioids are often prescribed, experts say dependence can set in after just a few days. "Within one week you've made that person physiologically dependent on the drug, meaning they feel some discomfort or side effects when they stop using", explains Andrew Kolodny, executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. In medical school the teaching used to be as long as it is given to someone in legitimate pain, opioid medication is not addictive. We now know this is not true. Last year, the CDC issued guidelines recommending that doctors drug-test their patients before and during opioid therapy. This is to ensure medications are taken properly. Even with these recommendations, doctors still over prescribe. A nonprofit National Safety Council survey done in 2016 found that 99% of physicians prescribe opioids beyond the dosage limit of three days recommended by the CDC. With all the research and statistics, "some people still hold the mistaken belief that it's a moral failing instead of a chronic medical condition that requires treatment", says senior advisor for the federal Substance and Mental Health Services Administrator, Melinda Campopiano.