Recent research and headlines indicate that US “abuse of opioid drugs hits all-time high.” Is this possible? When you think of our war on drugs, you might think of a meth addict or a coke head. Apparently, the tables have turned. Today’s drug abuse challenges are much different. Your modern-day drug addict is a pill head who includes a cocktail of other drugs into the mix and drinks excessively.
What Are Opioids
Opioid drugs are pills that provide powerful pain relief. They shut off signals of physical pain from reaching the brain and also de-intensify emotional pain as well. Hydrocodone and Oxycodone are two of the most popular opioid drugs that are available, and are used in the popular pain medications Vicodin, Oxycontin, Percocet, etc. Other opioids include Morphine and Codeine.
These high-level pain management drugs are prescribed for a variety of conditions ranging from toothaches and injuries to recovering surgical patients. Opioids require prescription and heavy regulation due to their dangerous risks of dependency and addiction. Their value is high, in that they provide powerful pain relief. However, they carry with them serious risks that all should be educated on.
Opioid Abuse Prevalence
Approximately 210 million prescriptions were written last year for opioid pain pills, and a reported 12 million Americans use prescription pain relievers non-medically to get high or self-medicate. This boils down to almost 6,000 people in the US abusing opioids without a prescription every single day. Why pain pills? What is the appeal?
Opioid drugs, bluntly, are legal heroin. They are pharmaceutical-grade heroin, produced in a laboratory in pill-form. Many heroin abusers use opioid drugs to escape withdrawals, and gradually become dependent and addicted to the euphoric and pain relieving effects these medications provide. There is a reason these drugs are regulated and that people abuse them. They are addictive.
Historically, you’d think we would have learned our lesson by now. In the 1920’s, heroin (which had been marketed by Bayer as a safe product for all, including children) was pulled off the market. It was simply too addictive and dangerous for users; the risks far outweighed the benefits.
Today, we learn that abuse opioid drugs hits all-time high and are, for some reason, surprised by this.
Opioid Addiction VS Opioid Dependency
There is a common debate surrounding opioid abuse regarding dependency versus addiction. The body does form a physical dependency to opioids rather quickly—this means it builds up a tolerance and requires higher dosages over time in order to produce the same effects. Addiction is considered, medically, to be a different phenomenon. Opioid addiction is classified as a behavior where users are compulsively seeking out the drug for a high. In many cases, dependency and addiction are seen to work hand in hand; a deadly combination.
Either way, whether an abuser is “dependent” or “addicted,” the risk of fatal overdose is always a possibility. Someone taking prescription pain pills will take larger and larger doses to achieve the same sedative effects (or reduce withdrawal symptoms, etc.) Doing so can slow the abuser’s breathing down so markedly that breathing can stop altogether, causing death.
Getting Help Through The Drug Narconon Program
Now that the abuse of opioid drugs hits all-time high good help is needed that achieves results to get opioid addicts permanent sobriety.
One key solution to opioid addiction has been through the drug Narconon program. The treatment lasts 4-6 months on average and achieves a 76% success rate for opioid addiction.
For more information on the current opioid problem or to help someone in need contact the drug Narconon program today.