Since the beginning of life, the world has been plagued with diseases, illnesses, and health complications. The black plague or the Black Death, for example, wreaked havoc on medieval Europe killing millions of people. This occurred during the 14th century. It is now the
21st century and we are faced with a new "black death" called prescription opioid drug abuse.
Prescription opioid drug abuse has been on the rise in the United States since 2001 and is now considered an epidemic. Prescription opioid drug abuse is an obvious issue in today's society, as a result, steps are being taken to reduce or eliminate the abuse of prescription opiates--but at what consequence? In order to delve deeper into this issue, one must first know the background …show more content…
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many Americans. The potency of these prescription opioids is so powerful that some become hooked on their affects. Amanda Gardner (2015), reports about an individual named Jason who has abused prescription opioids to help relieve his migraine headaches--Jason informs Amanda, “ ‘it took care of the migraine, but I found myself taking [the painkillers] even when I didn’t have the migraine, because I just enjoyed that euphoric numbness’”. Like Jason, many Americans are going through this same experience—more or less. Our brains are wired to accomplish tasks that are necessary for sustaining life and experiencing pleasures. Once people achieve the feeling of being “saved”, along with the feeling of euphoria from taking prescription opioids, their brains begin to deem prescription opioids as a necessity for sustaining life—making opioid abuse harder to get over. In addition to physical causes of opioid abuse, Gardner also adds that there is a genetic component determining who is at risk for opioid abuse—if you have a relative that has succumbed to opioid abuse, you’re more likely to abuse opioids because of inherited genes. It is apparent that prescription opiates are abundant among people in the United States, according to the data provided by the American Society of
21st century and we are faced with a new "black death" called prescription opioid drug abuse.
Prescription opioid drug abuse has been on the rise in the United States since 2001 and is now considered an epidemic. Prescription opioid drug abuse is an obvious issue in today's society, as a result, steps are being taken to reduce or eliminate the abuse of prescription opiates--but at what consequence? In order to delve deeper into this issue, one must first know the background …show more content…
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many Americans. The potency of these prescription opioids is so powerful that some become hooked on their affects. Amanda Gardner (2015), reports about an individual named Jason who has abused prescription opioids to help relieve his migraine headaches--Jason informs Amanda, “ ‘it took care of the migraine, but I found myself taking [the painkillers] even when I didn’t have the migraine, because I just enjoyed that euphoric numbness’”. Like Jason, many Americans are going through this same experience—more or less. Our brains are wired to accomplish tasks that are necessary for sustaining life and experiencing pleasures. Once people achieve the feeling of being “saved”, along with the feeling of euphoria from taking prescription opioids, their brains begin to deem prescription opioids as a necessity for sustaining life—making opioid abuse harder to get over. In addition to physical causes of opioid abuse, Gardner also adds that there is a genetic component determining who is at risk for opioid abuse—if you have a relative that has succumbed to opioid abuse, you’re more likely to abuse opioids because of inherited genes. It is apparent that prescription opiates are abundant among people in the United States, according to the data provided by the American Society of