The undesirable use of opioids such as heroin is a great problem in several areas all over the world. Misuse of opioids such as heroin, methadone, oxycodone, codeine, and fentanyl has recorded great rates of morbidity and deaths, hence making it a great public health issue. An estimate of 70,000-100,000 deaths due to opioids overdose is recorded every year all over the world (Stam et al., 2019). Heroin has been considered to be one of the most dangerous opioids worldwide, and that is why it is not used for medical purposes in the United States. Also, the prescription of opioid drugs has increased greatly in the United States. The use of illegal opioids like heroin seems to be more dangerous and has a great risk of premature deaths than other illegal drugs like cocaine, amphetamine, and cannabis. Opioids misuse has also caused economic burdens in relation to the cost of healthcare, substance use disorder treatment, loss of productivity, and criminal justice involvement. The major concern is the great rates of opioids use disorders among youths and young adults due to these seasons of great vulnerability and important neurological, social, and psychological development. Mental health issues and substance use disorders co-occur greatly mainly among youths. Generally, opioids are used for medical, psychiatric, and psychological purposes; however, the use of these drugs is risky because it may lead to drug dependency and addiction.
Opioid use disorder is the chronic use of opioids drugs that leads to distress. Many people using opioids more often are mainly people diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and epilepsy. Mostly used opioid drugs are heroin, codeine, morphine, oxycodone, and fentanyl. Opioid use disorder involves an irresistible urge to use opioids, great opioid tolerance, and symptoms of withdrawal when discontinued. Opioids are types of drugs that are naturally present in opium poppy plants. They are mainly used medically since they have chemicals that can relax and relieve the body from pain. Opioids are used mainly in a variety of pain conditions such as acute pain, chronic pain, and cough suppression. Opioids can also be used in behavioral and emotional changes, including better creation and functioning of euphoria or sedation. People are prescribed some of the opioids, such as morphine, to treat uncontrollable pain while other opioids are used in curing diarrhea and coughing.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Opioids that are mainly prescribed for medical purposes include oxymorphone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl, and hydrocodone. When taken prescribed, they are safe and may help control and treat pain. Opioids such as morphine are used during and after surgery to help control pain. Opioids medications are mainly important after surgery. The opioid medication provided should be used to cure extreme short-term pain like the one after surgery. Usage of opioids should not be implemented in long term painful conditions that do not require surgery like kidney stones (Smyth et al., 2018). Opioids have also been used in cancer patients with acute pain. This is mainly because pain is mainly associated with patients who have cancer. Opioid usage has its potential risks which limit its use and also contribute to a phobia of the drug. Prescribed opioids have their side effects as well. They include drowsiness, nausea, mental fog, and constipation. It may also lead to death due to its effect of causing slow breathing. The mainly abused opioids are from those prescribed by doctors. Despite the medicinal benefits of opioids, these drugs are misused in many ways by the youths. When taken for a long period, there is a high risk of dependence, tolerance, and addiction to the drug.
Dependence of the drug makes the patient have withdrawal symptoms when not consumed. Symptoms of withdrawal of opioids include rapid heartbeat, diarrhea, sleeplessness, and rapid breathing. Patients with high dependence on the drug should receive immediate care. Tolerance forces the patient to take more of the drug to have a relieving effect. Patients need to receive care to manage their tolerance and ensure their pain is managed. Addiction, on the other hand, is a brain disease that makes the affected individual to continuously search for the drug regardless of the harm it causes. Individuals with a history of drug misuse are at great risk for addiction. Patients with opioid addiction need regular monitoring and assistance. These risks are higher when the patient takes more than the prescription given.
Opioids medications are usually used to treat patients who have not shown any response to neuropsychiatric treatments or patients with psychiatric endogenous opioid dysfunction syndrome. In the United States, many adults with mental illness are prescribed opioids because this medication is common in treating people with mental issues. Opioid prescription is given to help control pain in people with mental health problems. Besides relieving pain, opioids can also help alleviate mental issues in patients with mental disorders. In addition, opioids have been used in the treatment of different psychiatric disorders that need more attention (Rapp et al., 2008). It has a mood-relaxing effect on normal people and also used to cure refractory depressed patients. Individuals with mental health problems are about 16 percent of the United States population yet they receive more than half of the prescribed opioids. Patients with psychiatric disorders are vulnerable and, therefore, have a high chance of developing addiction and dependence. Having a mental health condition increases the chances of continuous use of opioids medication. Individuals with mood disorders are more likely to use opioid medication long term compared to individuals with no mental health disorders. Also, opioid prescriptions have been proven to cause mental health problems. Research has shown a relationship between opioid intake and depression. Patients prescribed opioids have a tendency to develop depression. The longer they consume they take their prescription, the higher the chance of having depression.
There are various reasons that make individuals with mental health problems have a dependency on opioid medication. Many patients continue to take a high dosage of opioids drugs regardless of their consequences. Research has shown that patients who take high doses of opioids have difficulty reducing the dose. Pain is common in patients with mental health. Pain forces the patients to have a dependency on the drug. A patient experiencing any kind of trauma may lead to mental illness hence dependency on the drug. Individuals with mental issues such as depression may depend on opioids to treat themselves and escape their problems. Also, some mentally ill patients may fail to have any response to opioid medication causing making them take large doses. Opioids are known to alter brain chemistry, giving one the urge to need more and more of the drugs to feel its effect. With the continuous large intake of the drug, the patient will depend on the drug. Efforts to get off the drugs will be difficult due to withdrawal symptoms like nausea, insomnia, sweating, and vomiting (De Luca et al., 2019). More than 130 people die of opioid overdose daily in the United States.
Opioids addiction and dependence have undesirable effects as it may affect an individual, families, and communities. Long-term use of opioid medication has been related to major effects, including deadly consequences. The medication also has physiological side effects like constipation and nausea, which are harmful. Opioid addiction and dependence have increased the prevalence of drug trafficking. Due to dependence and addiction, such people are forced to buy these drugs illegally. Drug trafficking will lead to money laundering, which causes a strain on the economy. Opioids dependence and addiction have also increased the rate of violence in the country (Jalal et al., 2018). The journal of substance abuse treatment recorded that more than 75 percent of individuals undergoing treatment of addiction has been involved in the previous incidence of violence such as physical assault, mugging, and use of weapons to attack other people. Some people would be involved in criminal incidents to acquire drugs. Opioid addiction may also contribute to an increase in physical and social consequences like poor health status, poor academic performance, changes in brain structure, and also increased deaths due to overdose. Also, opioid dependence and addiction have led to division among many families. Dependence and addiction of the drug can lead to one being distant, irresponsible, and also neglect his or her duty to their family (Davis et al., 2019). Besides overdose, the effects of opioids include an increase in situations where infants are born with opioid dependence because the child's mother used these drugs when she was pregnant. Opioids addiction consequences also lead to the spread of infectious diseases like hepatitis C and HIV. Other throwbacks that come with opioid dependence and addiction include social stigmatization and financial cost problems. Addiction may also affect vocational and social functioning.
Nonmedical use of prescription opioids like narcotics, analgesics, painkillers, etcetera., are among the greatest public health issues in the United States. The nonmedical use of opioids has received great attention in the United States. It is described as a drug consumed without medical prescription. It has also been described as misuse for self-purposes to be high or self-treatment medication for physical and psychiatric issues. It has increased the chances of heroin use among youths and young adults. Analysis has been done to determine the frequent use of nonmedical opioid use and heroin use in order to determine the preventive and treatment methods to be taken. The nonmedical use of opioids has its adverse effects. It can lead to irregular heart rate, cardiovascular system failure, hypertension, stroke, and seizures. Opioid use for medical and nonmedical purposes has led to an increase in the rate of addiction and dependency of the drug. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported an increase in heroin use ever month with about 435,000 people using the drug showing a hundred percent increase from the prevalence in 2002-2013 (Piper et al., 2018). There has also been an increase in the hospitalization of people due to opioid abuse and overdose.
In addition, there has been alarming data showing an increase in the rates of deaths of opioids use and overdose. These data show how many people have been affected by dependence and addiction to drugs (Palamar & Shearston, 2018). In the past years, the nonmedical use of opioids has been recorded to be most prevalent in young adults between the age of 18 and 25 in the United States. Regardless of the high consequences of nonmedical use of opioids, there has undetermined knowledge because various studies have been unable to differentiate between people who use other people's opioid prescriptions to treat themselves and people who use other people's opioid prescription for their satisfaction. Nonmedical use of opioids among youths and young adults has been associated with dangerous use of other substances hence leading to psychiatric symptoms and disorders and suicidal thinking. The overall extent of public health effects of opioids prescriptions has further been complicated by the increased level of heroin which is cheaper than prescribed opioids in the black market. Heroin abuse has recorded great mortality rates over the years. It is highly addictive and many youths have abused this drug (Stam et al., 2019). Adolescents who have a high dependency on heroin have demonstrated great rates of psychological issues. Research has shown that heroin abuse is associated with nonmedical opioid use. Repeated use of heroin drugs leads to a heroin use disorder. This disease is greater than physical dependence, and it forces one to look for drugs uncontrollably without considering the consequences. Getting used to heroin, seeking, and using drugs becomes a priority to them.
Approximately 2.1 million people in the United States have had substance use disorders that are related to opioid addiction and dependence (Gerra et al., 2009). However, a small percentage of these people with prescription opioid use disorders receive appropriate treatment. There are preventive and treatment measures that can be used for opioid misuse and disorder. Addressing the consequences of opioid prescription and heroin use. There are five important ways of addressing the opioid crisis (Gerra et al., 2009). They include improving ways to accessing treatment and recovery services, implementing the usage of overdose-reversal drugs, strengthening the understanding of the crisis employing better public health surveillance, providing support for cutting-edge research on pain and addiction, and finally implement better practices for pain management. Treatment of opioid use disorder includes buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone. These medications can relieve one from opioid use disorder. All patients need to use opioids medication exactly as prescribed by their care providers for effective use. Taking prescribed medication will reduce the chances of overdose and undesirable side effects.
In conclusion, opioids can be used for medical and psychiatric purposes; however, high dosage and long-term usage of the drugs can lead to tolerance, dependence, and addiction. It is important for all healthcare providers to note that before prescription of any, opioid medication for pain management, the care providers should involve the patients in creating a treatment plan. In general, opioids usage has its pros and cons.
References
Davis, J. P., Prindle, J. J., Eddie, D., Pedersen, E. R., Dumas, T. M., & Christie, N. C. (2019). Addressing the opioid epidemic with behavioral interventions for adolescents and young adults: A quasi-experimental design. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 87 (10), 941.
De Luca, M. T., Montanari, C., Meringolo, M., Contu, L., Celentano, M., &Badiani, A. (2019). Heroin versus cocaine: opposite choice as a function of context but not of drug history in the rat. Psychopharmacology , 236 (2), 787-798.
Gerra, G., Maremmani, I., Capovani, B., Somaini, L., Berterame, S., Tomas-Rossello, J., Saenz, E., Busse, A., &Kleber, H. (2009). Long-acting opioid-agonists in the treatment of heroin addiction: Why should we call them "substitution"? Substance Use & Misuse , 44 (5), 663-671.
Jalal, H., Buchanich, J. M., Roberts, M. S., Balmert, L. C., Zhang, K., & Burke, D. S. (2018). Changing dynamics of the drug overdose epidemic in the United States from 1979 through 2016. Science , 361 (6408), eaau1184.
Piper, B. J., Shah, D. T., Simoyan, O. M., McCall, K. L., & Nichols, S. D. (2018). Trends in medical use of opioids in the US, 2006–2016. American Journal of Preventive Medicine , 54 (5), 652-660.
Palamar, J. J., &Shearston, J. A. (2018). Nonmedical opioid use in relation to recency of heroin use in a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs , 50 (2), 159-166.
Rapp, R. C., Carr, C. A., Lane, D. T., Redko, C., & Carlson, R. G. (2008). Development of the pretreatment readiness scale for substance abusers: modification of an existing motivation assessment. Substance Abuse , 29 (4), 39-50.
Smyth, B. P., Ducray, K., & Cullen, W. (2018). Changes in psychological well‐being among heroin‐dependent adolescents during psychologically supported opiate substitution treatment. Early Intervention in Psychiatry , 12 (3), 417-425.
Stam, N. C., Gerostamoulos, D., Pilgrim, J. L., Smith, K., Moran, L., Parsons, S., & Drummer, O. H. (2019). An analysis of issues in the classification and reporting of heroin‐related deaths. Addiction , 114 (3), 504-512.
