Every day, more than 90 Americans die after overdosing on opioids.
This week’s focus on drug substances will be Opiates. The misuse of and addiction to opioids—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total "economic burden" of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year. This includes the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement.
In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates. This led to widespread diversion and misuse of these medications before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive. Opioid overdose rates began to increase. In 2015, more than 33,000 Americans died as a result of an opioid overdose, including prescription opioids, heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.
That same year, an estimated 2 million people in the United States suffered from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers, and 591,000 suffered from a heroin use disorder. Here’s the description from the NIH (National Institute of Health), on what opioids are:
- Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone (OxyContin®), hydrocodone (Vicodin®), codeine, morphine, and many others. These drugs are chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the body and brain. Opioid pain relievers are generally safe when taken for a short time and as prescribed by a doctor, but because they produce euphoria in addition to pain relief, they can be misused (taken in a different way or in a larger quantity than prescribed or taken without a doctor’s prescription). Regular use—even as prescribed by a doctor—can lead to dependence and, when misused, opioid pain relievers can lead to overdose incidents and deaths.
- An opioid overdose can be reversed with the drug naloxone when given right away. Improvements have been seen in some regions of the country in the form of decreasing availability of prescription opioid pain relievers and decreasing misuse among the Nation’s teens. However, since 2007, overdose deaths related to heroin have been increasing. Fortunately, effective medications exist to treat opioid use disorders: methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone. these medications could help many people recover from opioid addiction. Follow this link to find more information on opioids from drugabuse.gov
Today’s video gives you an inside view on how opioids can become addictive and how opioids affect your brain. This may be a wakeup call for many of you who think that just taking a few pills or trying it once or twice is not a big deal. It is a big deal, and the more knowledge you have the better off you will be!
Things you Need to Know about Opiates and Heroin.
- Opioids affect the neurons and communication centers of our brain.
- Many hydrocodone and oxycontin pills are being cut with fentanyl, which is 10 times more potent than hydrocodone.
- If someone offers you a pill to take the edge off, or says: “Oh, it’s just a pain killer,” don’t trust them. You really don’t know the source of where that pill came from.
- Having just one pill could cause a life-threatening reaction in your body.
Understanding Tolerance and Withdrawal- and Drugs that can Help with Withdrawal.
- What is tolerance? Tolerance is when the body adapts to a certain amount of a drug, and no longer experiences the same effect from taking a certain amount. For the person to experience the same effects, they need to increase the amount consumed. This cycle can lead to addiction and be very harmful to the mind and body.
- What is withdrawal? When it comes to heroin and opiates, a person who has been taking them for a period of time needs a doctor’s supervision in getting off of the drug. The body can experience harmful reactions to suddenly stopping use of the drug.
- There are drugs that can help with heroin and opiate withdrawal like methadone, and Naltrexone. Naltrexone can counter-act the effects of a heroin overdose, and can be administered as a spray, or through an epi-pen.
Watch Video Now!
Director Francis Collins interview on Opioid use and treatment help.
National Institute of Health Director Francis Collins says that more treatment options are needed.
If you feel you have become addicted to pain medications or to heroin, or any other substance that has made your life unmanageable, contact one of the organizations in the helpful links section at the bottom of this page, or take one of the following steps immediately:
- Call 911
- Check into a local hospital
- Ask a friend or family member to help you
- Contact your local addiction and recovery clinic
- Find a local Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous Support Group.
Even if you have tried to stop acting on your addiction in the past and failed, never stop trying to quit! You are not alone, and there is help! Maybe someone you know is struggling with addiction. You can be a resource for them by recommending one of the above action steps or helpful links to them. It may just save their life!!
Question for Reflection: What is the most effective coping skill you have learned so far in your sobriety journey?
Helpful Links
A person addicted to any substance needs help and support. Here are some organizations that are now on the national level: