As more and more Americans became addicted to prescription painkillers, regulatory agencies began to go after doctors who overprescribed these drugs, causing many doctors to reduce or completely eliminate prescriptions for their patients. Addicts, of course, took to the streets looking for alternatives, and that meant illegal drugs like heroin. Heroin on the street is much cheaper, which adds to the problem of use and addiction.
While the number of heroin overdose deaths has skyrocketed, the number of overdose deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl has reached an all-time high of 30,000 in 2018 alone, according to research by RAND Corp (cite: 1). Combined deaths from legal and illegal opioids are estimated at nearly 50,000 according to the US Drug Database of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (cite: 2).
The federal government spent $11 billion in FY 2017 – FY 2018, funding 57 programs to help curb the opioid crisis. The money has been spent on prevention, recovery, and treatment, as well as law enforcement, criminal justice, supply reduction, and public health surveillance according to the Bipartisan Policy Center (Quote: 3).
Is this money working? Yes, but slowly. Recently, the data has shown that we have almost reached the peak of the opioid crisis and the numbers in the future could decrease. Still, opioid addiction is not just a national crisis. It is a local community issue that affects real lives and real people, human beings: our families, friends and loved ones. So, it’s more than just numbers.
As you can see, our nation’s opioid epidemic did not happen overnight, nor will it simply disappear by way of wishful thinking. The history of opioids, whether synthetic or not, shows that these substances are highly addictive. That’s why they work so well against pain, as they activate the pleasure sensors in the human brain.
No one should be too surprised how we got to this crisis, what matters now is that we treat these addictions with compassion and create a solid path to recovery.
Is it possible to recover from an opioid addiction?
Fortunately, the answer is; YES. However, it is never one size fits all. The best chance for a full recovery is a personalized rehabilitation program that takes into account the real needs of the individual. The chances of a relapse are too great to risk anything else, so the program must be tailored accordingly.
There are often co-occurring disorders that need to be treated on a personal level. It’s the only sure way to move forward. Some opiate addictions stem from strictly prescription drugs, others from illicit drugs, many are a combination of both, as the addiction progresses. Often, patients still have pain, perhaps the same pain that the painkillers were originally prescribed for. Since each patient is different and each addiction has been formed along a different path, each recovery program must also be unique, and that is what treatment centers are for: to bring people back to life.
References:
1.) RAND Corp Think Tank – The Future of Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids, 2019
2.) NIH – National Institute on Drug Abuse Database – January 2019
3.) Bipartisan Policy Center – March 2019