The Drug Pricing Epidemic
As disputes arise over who should have to pay for the nation’s opioid crisis, reports estimate that the epidemic cost the U.S. economy at least $631 billion, if not more, with the price of countless deaths that the misuse of the drugs has caused hanging over our heads.
Opioids belong to a class of drugs including moderately strong painkillers. The potency and availability of these substances, despite their high risk of addiction and overdose, have made them extremely popular as both medical treatments and recreational drugs. However, due to their sedative effects on the part of the brain that is responsible for regulating breathing (the respiratory center of the medulla oblongata), high doses of opioids can lead to respiratory depression, respiratory failure, and even death.
While opioids may be effective for treating acute pain, they are less useful for treating chronic pain, as the risks often outweigh the benefits. When people continue to use opioids beyond what a doctor prescribes them, they could potentially develop an opioid addiction. People start to attain a tolerance which eventually leads to dependence on the drug to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Along with this, opioids are relatively inexpensive as alternate options, such as physical therapy, may not be available.
In the late 1900s, around a third of the U.S. population was estimated to be affected by chronic pain. Pharmaceutical companies reassured others that prescription opioid pain relievers would not be addictive. This led to a push by drug companies and the federal government to expand the use of opioids. Along with this, organizations like the Joint Commission began to push for more attentive physician response to patient pain, referring to pain as the fifth vital sign. This only served to intensify the increasing number of opioids being prescribed by doctors to patients, which multiplied opioid overdose rates. The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimates that “in 2017, more than 47,000 Americans died as a result of an opioid overdose, including prescription opioids, heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.”
This continued prevalence of the opioid epidemic in the United States can be traced due to a variety of reasons. For one, there is a lack of appropriate treatments and treatment centers across the nation. Big cities like New York City are lacking in treatment services and health offices as well as small rural areas. Another reason that the opioid epidemic is hard to combat is that the housing is limited to recovering addicts. Limited housing makes it easy for recovering opioid users to return to old environments that promote drug abuse. The fact that “wraparound services,” or programs that properly provide services for patients that have just come out of rehabilitation centers are non-existent is also a reason why the opioid epidemic has gone on for so long.
As a response to all of this, government facilities and drug companies began to increase the price of drugs, specifically opioids, in the pharmaceutical industry. As lethally potent street drugs become progressively affordable and available while lifesaving antidotes are increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain, the death count only continues to rise.
References
Collins, S. (2018, March 14). Beyond Opioids: The Future of Pain Management. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from http://www.webmd.com/special-reports/opioids-pain/20180314/opioid-alternatives
Hendrickson, Z. (2019, October 21). A new study reveals doctors fear the US opioid epidemic will be replaced by a new prescription drug crisis. Retrieved April 7, 2020, from http://www.businessinsider.com/physicians-worried-us-prescription-drug-epidemic-wont-end-with-opioids-2019-10
Hufford, M., & Burke, D. S. (2018, November 8). The costs of heroin and naloxone: a tragic snapshot of the opioid crisis. Retrieved April 8, 2020, from http://www.statnews.com/2018/11/08/costs-heroin-naloxone-tragic-snapshot-opioid-crisis/
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2018, June). How Much Does Opioid Treatment Cost? Retrieved April 8, 2020, from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/medications-to-treat-opioid-addiction/how-much-does-opioid-treatment-cost
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2020, February 20). Opioid Overdose Crisis. Retrieved April 8, 2020, from http://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
