While reading Brave New World, I noticed that in order to achieve a hedonistic society like the one apparent in Brave New World, drug use has to play a big part in society. While drug use is embraced by Brave New World, it is a growing problem in today’s world. It is something that affects millions of lives daily and degrades mental health. Opioids, especially are a huge problem in today’s world. About 116 people die a day from opioid-related drug overdoses. Personally, I haven’t been affected by this issue and my family hasn’t either, I wanted to research why opioid abuse is such a huge problem and what efforts are being put in place to combat this. Lately, on the news, many stories of how the opioid crisis is draining America’s workforce
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Addiction is a cause of misuse and abuse. When hooked on opioids, the “addiction causes the brain to produce a below-normal level of dopamine; thus, opioids are needed by addicts not to attain a state of euphoria, but rather to achieve a normal level of dopamine” (Adamec). This means that when someone is addicted to opioids, they don’t feel as happy as they did when they weren’t addicted, and they need opioids to reach that normal level of dopamine. This leads to people with addictions misusing the drugs and constantly trying to get more of the opioids, whether its from their doctor or from an illegal source. Another cause of abuse is the overprescription of the drug. According to prescription data from the IMS Health, “at the beginning of 2006, there were 47 million prescriptions dispensed per quarter in the United States for the opioid analgesics included in this study. Prescription volume peaked in the fourth quarter of 2012 at 62 million prescriptions dispensed.” (Dart). This increase in prescription directly relates to the substance’s abuse as “the rate of prescription opioid abuse increased from 1.6 per 100,000 population in 2005 to 7.3 in 2010” (Dart). When doctors prescribe these drugs, usually the opioids hurt more than help. More fatalities occur when more opioids are prescribed. These excessive opioid prescriptions are making it less difficult for someone to abuse the drug. The amount of prescriptions given for opioids is absurd and in 2015 alone, “249 million opioid prescriptions [were] filled…, almost one for every American adult” (Stop). Another view comes from Charles Lane who blames the companies producing opioids, specifically Purdue Pharma and Dr. Richard Sackler. Purdue Pharma created OxyContin and it “has earned an estimated $34 billion in revenue since it came on the market in 1995, an event many consider the trigger of the opioid epidemic”
Addiction is a cause of misuse and abuse. When hooked on opioids, the “addiction causes the brain to produce a below-normal level of dopamine; thus, opioids are needed by addicts not to attain a state of euphoria, but rather to achieve a normal level of dopamine” (Adamec). This means that when someone is addicted to opioids, they don’t feel as happy as they did when they weren’t addicted, and they need opioids to reach that normal level of dopamine. This leads to people with addictions misusing the drugs and constantly trying to get more of the opioids, whether its from their doctor or from an illegal source. Another cause of abuse is the overprescription of the drug. According to prescription data from the IMS Health, “at the beginning of 2006, there were 47 million prescriptions dispensed per quarter in the United States for the opioid analgesics included in this study. Prescription volume peaked in the fourth quarter of 2012 at 62 million prescriptions dispensed.” (Dart). This increase in prescription directly relates to the substance’s abuse as “the rate of prescription opioid abuse increased from 1.6 per 100,000 population in 2005 to 7.3 in 2010” (Dart). When doctors prescribe these drugs, usually the opioids hurt more than help. More fatalities occur when more opioids are prescribed. These excessive opioid prescriptions are making it less difficult for someone to abuse the drug. The amount of prescriptions given for opioids is absurd and in 2015 alone, “249 million opioid prescriptions [were] filled…, almost one for every American adult” (Stop). Another view comes from Charles Lane who blames the companies producing opioids, specifically Purdue Pharma and Dr. Richard Sackler. Purdue Pharma created OxyContin and it “has earned an estimated $34 billion in revenue since it came on the market in 1995, an event many consider the trigger of the opioid epidemic”