In an article written by Richard A. Friedman who is a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, on "Ordering Five Million Deaths Online" he talks about the initiative of the Medicare officials on a crackdown on the prescription of Opioids. This is one of the chemicals found in legally sold painkillers which can also be used in the manufacture of other more dangerous synthetic opioids like carfentanil and fentanyl. The two are considered a hundred times more powerful than morphine (Friedman, 2018). This crackdown could make it hard for people to buy painkillers legally which may drive to options for getting these painkillers from these dangerous super potent synthetic Opioids discussed above.
Purchasing these synthetic opioids is super easy especially on the online platform and is even easier to get it because of the easy, discreet shipping done for the clients. Carfentanil is mostly used to sedate animals. It's so dangerous that when handling it, the veterans have to wear protective gear just to avoid exposure. This means that even a speck of dust of this drug could kill a person. Fentanyl itself is more potent than carfentanil, and it is even more alarming that it has already hit the streets. Medical experts say that a few grains of it are fatal enough. Purchasing it online is cheap enough which means that with just a small quantity of the two synthetic opioids, could have an immense effect on a very large population. The only known drug that can inverse an overdose of the opioid and heroine is called naloxone. The problem is, it cannot reverse the new synthetic opioids, which means that it may be impossible to stop these new opioids from killing people.
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China is the leading producer and exporter of pharmaceutical ingredients and products which are shipped to the United States (Jon, 2018). This includes both legally and illegally produced products because their industries are poorly regulated. These new synthetic opioids are illegally shipped into the United States, and it is hard to regulate them because there are no firm rules in the export market of pharmaceuticals.
The demand, of course, does not decrease but something can be done about it. The amount of prescription in the painkillers would have to reduce, but then, this would cause an increase in the number of cases of severe opioid withdrawal which comes with so much pain and suffering. This would, in turn, people into use of the synthetic opioids which are incredibly harmful and dangerous to the human system.
The newly implemented Medicare guidelines, however, prove it hard to regulate the demand for these synthetic opioids because they cover the disabled patients. It also covers those of older age which means that, preventing addiction would reduce the intake of the amount of the morphine in their medication in the exemption of course, of the cancer patients, for more than a week which is seven days. This for a patient who is already addicted to a certain specific prescription would be so hard to control and thus they opt to buy the synthetic opioids which have no reversing agent. This increases the deaths eventually by around thirty percent, which is dangerously high (Erin S. Mc., 2018).
In an attempt to solve all this, the government could step up into the situation and maybe increase the shipping tariffs to clutter out the illegal and unregulated producers and traders of the opioids in the market. Secondly, though the doctors are the ones entrusted with the prescription of these opioids, there should be a law that deals with these doctors who contribute to the overflow and illegal prescriptions which are contributing to the epidemic. Clinicians who are not pain specialists should clamp down on their prescriptions and adhere to the current standards of care. In cases of addictions, there is a need for rational drug policy to restrict the excessive prescribing of the same. This way they would be in proper check thence preventing cases of over dosage.
In another opinion post by Jon Shelton in the Washington Times on "Teachers strike may be more powerful now than ever before," he talks about how intense the strike has been in the current times as compared to the past years. The media lives for these types of news coverage on social problems. This strike has seen teachers unite to demand better salaries in an economy that has put pressure on quality education (Levy B, Poulozzi L, Mack KA, 2015). The disinvestment that has been seen in the public education facilities has seen the working conditions of teachers seem similar to those of the teachers who worked in the era before around the 1960s. In these eras, teachers earned meagre salaries and even faced challenges like losing their jobs for getting pregnant.
In the current strikes going on in Oklahoma and West Virginia, the employers are faced with no option other than bargain with the teachers who are now more than ever unified to fight for their rights and recognition in the country's economy. The strike has causes paralysis to schooling of course. Kids cannot go to school because no learning will go on. Parents are therefore stuck with their children at home which is an inconvenience for them. It is high time the government realised how important the school unit is, yet so unnoticed as much.
The stakeholders and employers have no option but to take the necessary measures in this strike. These measures may include having to bend to the teacher's demands or having to replace the workers and bringing in new workers just to keep their institutions running. Though another interesting factor is, there is a key role that education plays in the current economy of America. This is a game changer because the teachers may be more powerful than ever before. They cannot be subcontracted and neither can any fishy deals played in between the negotiations render them archaic. It's a new era for teachers because they have so much power now in the economy of America.
From both articles, looking at the arguments in a political way, the first article has more merits. Health is a key factor in country's stability and growth, Taking care of the country's economy means taking care of generations to come for the country (Boudreau D, Von Korff M, Rutter CM, et al ., 2009) The government needs to step up and have a regulation on how the non-opioids are taken as well as the opioids in the market. This way the number of deaths counted in the statistics done for the overdose cases leading to death can reduce. As easy as it is to purchase the synthetic opioids online, as easy as it is to wipe out a large population of productive population in the country. America being the world leading user of opioid-containing pain relievers, the government needs to look into the alarming increase of importation of the same.
References
Boudreau D, Von Korff M, Rutter CM, et al. trends in long term opioid therapy for chronic non - cancer pain . Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf (2009)
Erin S. Mc. (2018). Five things to know about the teachers strike in Oklahoma. The conversation
Friedman R. A. (2018). New York Times: Ordering more than five million deaths online.
Jon S. (2018). Teachers strike may become more powerful than ever before . Washington Times .
Levy B, Poulozzi L, Mack KA. Trends in opioid analgesic-prescribing rates by specialty , US. (2007-2012) AM J Prev Med 2015.
