The first wave of the opioid crisis took place in the 1990's when doctors began prescribing more opioids. This led to numbers of overdose deaths from prescription opioids to sky rocket. The reason why doctors began to prescribe opioids to the common people more often, is because when opioids were first created they were said that they wouldn't be addictive. So doctors believed that and would give patients opioids if they were dealing with pain and wanted to get rid of it. The majority of people who have overdosed from prescription opioids were usually between the age of 30-39 years old. The highest prescription overdose rates came from white males that were between 30-34 years old, and 131.45 deaths per 100,000 people. They would fix that problem by prescribing you painkillers or opioids. States with the most deaths caused by opiods came from West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Hampshire.
During the opioid crisis about twenty-one to twenty-nine percent of people who were prescribed opioids for chronic pain would misuse them. There have been 841,000 deaths that have been caused by drug overdoses since 1999. Most of those deaths were caused by opioids or synthetic opioids prescribed by doctors. In 2019 70% of people who died from a drug overdose involved opioids. Overdose deaths involving opioids have increased over six times since 1999. There have been three big waves of opioid overdose deaths since the 90's. The first wave was started in the 1990's involving prescription opioids, because of the belief that they weren't addictive. The second wave began in 2010 with a big uprise in deaths from heroin. The final wave was during 2013-2019 with the main cause of opioid overdoses from a synthetic opioid with the main ingredient being fentanyl.
There have been multiple solutions to try and help fix this opioid epidemic by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For example, making treatment and recovery centers more accessible. Or, promoting the use of overdose reversal drugs such as naloxone which can save a person's life from an overdose. Finally, making information of what opioids can do to you and how you can get addicted more widespread. Overall I feel like not enough people know how bad the opioid epidemic really was, and I think more people should know so history doesn't repeat itself.
Did you know how bad the opioid pandemic was?
What is another way that could've helped stopped the opioid pandemic?
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/data/index.htmlhttps://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/epidemic.html
Replies
Great topic choice and well done overall Macy! I would like to see more of your thoughts and opinions within yur summary.
I was not aware of the opioid epidemic but now I truly know how terrible the epidemic was and the crazy amount of people it affected. I think some great ways to stop this epidemic would have been to make stricter laws on the usage of these drugs and be more aware of who doctors give these drugs away to.
I knew of the opioid pandemic and I knew it was pretty bad, but I never knew that it was that bad. I think another way that the opioid pandemic could've been stopped was if scientist did test with the drugs and found them addictive or if doctors noticed that people were requiring more and more of the drugs and stopped perscribing them.
I did not know that the opioid epidemic was this bad. I think that one of the main ways that the epidemic could be stopped is by having less opioids perscribed to someone that needs them so they do not have enoughf time to form an addiction to them.
I didn't know that it was this bad. However my uncle overdosed on opioids once I did know that. I'm glad doctors now know that opioids are addictive and only give out a certain amount to deal with the individual's pain level. Again to fix this I think doctors need to simply proscribe less.
I agree with you when you said that doctors now know how addictive opioids truly can be, and only perscribe a certain amount per patient depending on the situation. Although, I still think that doctors should still be hesitant on how many they perscribe for a long time since they are so addictive.
I did not know the opioid pandemic was such a problem. I know overdoses have been on the rise the last few years but I didn't know it was bad in the 1990's. I think the opioid pandemic could have been stopped with other types of treatment that are not harmful to the body.
To be honest I've never heard of opioids causing problems before this. So I had no idea that it was this bad and that the number of opioids overdosing kept increasing. I don't know much about the topic but it sounds like maybe we should try to stop prescribing drugs like this and go with alternative methods.
I knew that the opioid epidemic was bad, but didn't know to what degree. I'm not sure if I think there was another way that could have helped stop it either. Docotors didn't know any better and were doing what they thought was best for the patient. I also feel that what we are currently doing to help people recover is good.
I knew there was a lot of opioid abuse especally in recent years but I didn't know how bad the opioid pandemic was. I also didn't know that the opioid pandemic started in the 1990's, I only knew about the last couple years. I think another way that could help stop the opioid pandemic is have the doctors look at the history of the patient and how often they refill their precription and see if it matches with how many they are supposed to take.
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