The Opioid Crisis: Rehabilitation, not Incarceration

A blog dedicated to bringing awareness to the opioid epidemic, as well as recommending sources for help. Educate yourself on the danger of this addiction before you become a victim.

[rehabilitationnotincarceration]

I know the opioid crisis is a severe issue, but no one seems to be talking about how badly America handled the crack epidemic in contrast when it came to the suffering of our African American communities.

To anon–

Thank you for submitting a question. You’re absolutely correct! The crack epidemic of the 1980′s is a hugely important topic that we must remember and constantly reference when discussing today’s opioid crisis. In my research, I was shocked at how poorly our government handled the crack epidemic. I believe that if the same treatment, attention, and sympathy were given to sufferers of this epidemic as is given now to the opioid crisis, America as a whole would be more ready and prepared to handle such critical issues of drug addiction. 

This debate is extremely relative to the theme of this page–rehabilitation, not incarceration. I hope our country has learned (or is in the process of learning) from the horrible tragedy of the crack epidemic and the current opioid crisis that all addicts deserve to be treated with sympathy, not as criminals, and that it is our job to provide those who are suffering with proper sources of rehabilitation. 

[npr]

How do you fix a problem if you don’t know its size?

Many states — including some that have been hardest hit by the opioid crisis — don’t know how many of their youngest residents each year are born physically dependent on those drugs. They rely on estimates.

Pennsylvania is one of those states. Ted Dallas, head of Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services, calls the information he’s working with “reasonably good.”

“Data is never pristine when you’re dealing with 2.7 million people,” he says. “Do I think it gives you a good picture of the issues that are out there? Yes.”

Between 2013 and 2014 in Pennsylvania, Dallas says, about 3,700 of the babies on Medicaid, the government’s health insurance for the poor and disabled, were born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Statistics show that 31 died before their first birthday — and neonatal abstinence syndrome likely played a role in some of those deaths.

A Crisis With Scant Data: States Move To Count Drug-Dependent Babies

Illustration: Annette Elizabeth Allen for NPR

[jasonraish]

story about various opioid epidemic points like: how society needs to stop treating the addicted as criminals and treat it as an illness and stop blaming them.  The basic moral is that it’s our problem, not solely theirs.  For Emory Alumni magazine.

[youthincare]

[ image description is screenshot of plain black background with tiny white text at the top left and bottom left and centre. the top left says, “capuid” and the bottom left says, “#life wont wait”. The centre text says, “opioid overdose is now the leading cause of death for people aged 30-39 in Canada.” ] 

[liuinformatics-blog]

Why Are Opioids So Addictive?

The word opioid is derived from the word opium - opioids have been formulated to replicate the pain-educing properties of opium. 

When you take opioids they trigger the release of endorphins, these are brain neurotransmitters that cause a feel-good sensation. For those who are prescribed opioids for pain relief, perception of pain is altered and feelings of pleasure are increased. 

The problem starts with consistent use of these drugs, some may feel that they cannot go about their day without their daily dose. Users will ultimately realize that when you take opioids repeatedly over time, your body slows its production of endorphins. This means that the same dose os opioids stop producing those feel-good feelings the person was used to feeling. This is called tolerance. This is a reason that opioid addiction is so common amongst users- people who develop a tolerance  feel the need to up their doses in order to bring that flood of good feelings back. 

Doctors today understand the risk of addiction and the risks that opioids pose therefore they are not easily increasing doses, nor are they fast to renew prescriptions. Opioid users who think they need these drugs turn to illegally obtained opioids. This includes buying pills off street dealers, heroin, or fentanyl. 

It may seem a little backwards that the person who initially prescribed these medications is the same person that can help one facing addiction but, if you or anyone you know are having trouble talk to your doctor about treatment. It is not advised to stop opioid use abruptly, without the help of a doctor. 

-Melissa H.

[nbcnightlynews]

“It is our moms, our aunts, our grandparents, colleagues, the people we go to work out with.“

Dr. Jennifer Plumb of the University of Utah/Primary Children’s Hospital discusses the misconceptions around who is impacted by the opioid crisis, as the CDC finds drug overdose deaths have soared among women.

Watch more.

[rehabilitationnotincarceration]

This blog’s ask box is open!

If you have any questions about drug addiction, resources for help, or anything else, feel free to submit a question anonymously.

[rehabilitationnotincarceration]

We must learn about how the opioid crisis affects young people in America.

Marlena by Julie Buntin is a novel that displays the dangers of opioids and other addictive drugs through the story of two young girls. Buntin also displays how easily those suffering from addiction can hide the severity of their illness, and how it affects those who care for them. I highly recommend this book if you are looking to gain insight of how drug addiction affects young people and how this tragedy can be prevented. 

WE ALL HAVE THE POWER TO CREATE CHANGE.

[rehabilitationnotincarceration]

The film "A Beautiful Boy” addresses drug addiction and the struggle of feeling helpless.

If you are an addict, you are not alone.

[action]

What will declaring a the opioid epidemic a "public health crisis" do to address the problem?

Declaring the opioid epidemic a public health crisis helps to raise the visibility on the seriousness of the issue and charges the federal government with redoubling their efforts to combat the opioid crisis. It also enables HHS to use additional emergency authorities that can enhance our comprehensive five-point HHS Opioid Strategy that aims to:

Improve access to prevention, treatment, and recovery support services to prevent the health, social, and economic consequences associated with opioid addiction and to enable individuals to achieve long-term recovery;

Target the availability and distribution of overdose-reversing drugs to ensure the broad provision of these drugs to people likely to experience or respond to an overdose, with a particular focus on targeting high-risk populations;

Strengthen public health data reporting and collection to improve the timeliness and specificity of data and to inform a real-time public health response as the epidemic evolves;

Support cutting-edge research that advances our understanding of pain and addiction, leads to the development of new treatments, and identifies effective public health interventions to reduce opioid-related health harms; and

Advance the practice of pain management to enable access to high-quality, evidence-based pain care that reduces the burden of pain for individuals, families, and society while also reducing the inappropriate use of opioids and opioid-related harms.

[action]

MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION How did we let this happen as a country?!! Shouldn't we have seen this is coming!? I mean didn't doctors know what they were doing when they were prescribing these drugs? And to that end didn't pharmaceutical companies?

The opioid epidemic in the U.S. is fundamentally tied to two primary issues. The first issue is the significant rise in opioid analgesic prescriptions that began in the mid-to-late 1990s. Not only did the volume of opioids prescribed increase, but well-intentioned healthcare providers began to prescribe opioids to treat pain in ways that we now know are high-risk and have been associated with opioid abuse, addiction, and overdose, such as prescribing at high doses and for longer durations or prescribing opioids in combination with medications like benzodiazepines which can substantially increase the risk for overdose. Providers also began to prescribe opioids for many different types of chronic pain such as low back pain, headache, and fibromyalgia – conditions we now know do not respond well to opioids. The second issue is a lack of health system and healthcare provider capacity to identify and engage individuals, and provide them with high-quality, evidence-based opioid addiction treatment, in particular the full spectrum of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with naltrexone, buprenorphine, or methadone. It is well-documented that the majority of people with opioid addiction in the U.S. do not receive treatment, and even among those who do, many do not receive evidence-based care.  This lack of access to treatment is a significant contributor to rising rates of heroin and illicit fentanyl use, injection drug use, and overdose death. Accounting for these fundamental factors is paramount to the development of a successful strategy to combat the opioid crisis.

There was definitely an element of misinformation and deceit that was the tipping point for all of this. In 1996 the American Pain Society coined the phrase “pain as a 5th vital sign,” which eventually brought the pain scale into every acute care setting in America. Coincidentally (perhaps,) 1996 was the same year Perdue Pharma introduced OxyContin with an aggressive marketing campaign that touted it was “non-addictive” and “safe for long-term pain management.” A large portion of their profit was invested back into lobbying against regulations that allowed the problem to perpetuate. Here’s a source for additional information: 

Dreamland: The True Story of America’s Opiate Epidemic

[rehabilitationnotincarceration]

Some alarming statistics. Educate yourself and never become a victim.