The United States is grappling with one of the worst drug-related crises in history. In 2015 alone, drug-overdose claimed over 52,000 Americans ( Beletsky & Davis, 2017) . Emergency departments in hospitals have recorded a significant rise in the number of cases related to the misuse of prescribed pharmaceutical drugs in recent years (Chapman et al., 2015). Sedatives and opioid-related pain relievers have especially been connected with these deaths. According to Rudd and colleagues (2016), approximately l00 Americans die each day due to misusing opioids. The abuse of opioid drugs has been related to several causative factors.
One of the most significant causes of opioid-related deaths is the prescription of the drug in large amounts without considering the medical need of the patient. Furthermore, research shows that prescribed opioids, the most abused prescribed drug, are commonly abused because most people believe that opioids produce a safer and more dependable “safe high” ( Cicero & Ellis, 2017). Furthermore, the growth of opioid abuse is attributed to the introduction of oxycodone, a sustained-release drug which relieves pain between 8 to 12 hours ( Cicero & Ellis, 2017) . Oxycodone is known for its excellent pain-relieving ability and its robust euphorigenic agent ( Cicero & Ellis, 2017) . Marketed as OxyContin, most people prefer the drug because it only needs to be taken once or twice in a day as opposed to other prescribed medications that need to be taken after every 2 or 4 hours” ( Cicero & Ellis, 2017).
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To prevent the misuse of controlled substances and to ensure an adequate supply of only legit and research-backed controlled prescription drugs in the US, Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). In the wake of the law, Congress also came up with a closed system that allowed the monitoring of controlled substances’ manufacture and dispensation.
References
Beletsky, L., & Davis, C. S. (2017). Today’s fentanyl crisis: Prohibition’s Iron Law, revisited. International Journal of Drug Policy , 46 , 156-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.05.050
Chapman, M., Dyous, C., Edgerton, J., Francis, K., Hunt, D., Jalbert, S. … Shivley, M. (2015). Research on illegal prescription drug market interventions. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Document no. 248905 . https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/248905.pdf
Cicero, T. J., & Ellis, M. S. (2017). The prescription opioid epidemic: a review of qualitative studies on the progression from initial use to abuse. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience , 19 (3), 259-269.
Rudd, R. A., Seth, P., David, F., & Scholl, L. (2016). Increases in drug and opioid-involved overdose deaths—United States, 2010–2015. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report , 65 (50 & 51), 1445-1452.
