OxyContin
Emmanuela Brown
Pharmacology
Mr.JD
Southern Technical College
Have you ever thought of why people get additive to Pharmacia drugs. What are the street values of those drugs? Why are these drugs so important if various people are abusing and getting addictive to them? “Acadiana Addiction Center says, people get addicted, because it causes a Euphoric high caused by stimulation of the reward center of the brain (acandiana addiction center, n.d.). There is always someone going to abuse this drug, because of how it makes you feel. People find this drug addictive and enjoyable, with great relief. OxyContin makes people’s behavior change to the point where people
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People who abuse the drug crush the tablet and swallow or snort it, or dilute it in water and inject it. This destroys the time-release mechanism so that the user gets the full effects of the narcotic. Users compare the high to the euphoria of heroin (OxyContin: Pain Relief vs. Abuse, n.d.). Thus, the street value is high on these type of drugs because of the high it makes people feel. The way this drug makes people feel is the exact reason people get addicted, they also can get addicted, because they may be in fear of pain or a traumatic event that occurred that made them feel this type of pain. The other people if taking the drug for a long time and if you stop immediately your body may feel that it needs it and that can cause …show more content…
This drug should not be used for long term use. If used long-term it can be very addictive and cause patients to change suddenly. When used correctly it can relief chronic pain. This drug can become addictive if fear of pain, used long-term and cause withdraws it stopped immediately. Oxy is not the type of drug that should be abused.
References acandiana addiction center. (n.d.). OxyContin Abuse & Addiction Treatment. Retrieved from acandiana addiction center: http://www.acadianaaddiction.com/prescription-drugs/oxycontin
Benefits Of Oxycodone. (n.d.). Retrieved from Benefits Of everything that matters: http://benefitof.net/benefits-of-oxycodone/
OxyContin: Pain Relief vs. Abuse. (n.d.). Retrieved from Pain Management Health Center: http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/oxycontin-pain-relief-vs-abuse plaid zebra. (n.d.). plaid zebra. Retrieved from Scientists discover a hormone that turns you into a cuddle addict:
Reformulation did not help diminish preexisting OxyContin addictions but provoked people to seek out their fix through stronger means. Opioid pills paved the way for street drugs such as heroin. Black tar heroin was appealing to many OxyContin addicts as it was incredibly cheap, yet potent; and most of all, satisfied their opioid cravings. CDC data suggests that “people who misuse prescription opioid painkillers are 40 times more likely to become addicted to heroin than those who do not misuse prescription opioids” (Wickramatilake et al. 171). Consequently, America saw an en-masse departure from pills to heroin which began permeating wealthy suburbs, high schools, and other locations previously assumed to be “safe” from street drugs.
What Hari and his findings concluded about addiction is that addiction doesn’t come from drug hooks, more so the root of addiction is depression and disconnection. “The Canadian physician Gabor Maté argues in his book “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts” that studies examining the medicinal use of narcotics for pain relief find no significant risk of addiction” (Hari). This being said, what we thought we knew about addiction isn’t correct. During the Gin Craze back in the 18th century an enormous amount of people was driven out of their everyday lives to urban slums, which through all their distressed caused them to drink their selves to death. Even if Gin wasn’t around, they would have found something else to ease the pain of everyday life.
Heroin is a depressant that is converted back to morphine when it enters the brain. It then attaches to opioid receptors. These receptors are located in many areas of the brain and are that control the sensitivity to pain and reward. After a hit of heroin, users feel a rush of euphoria along with a dry mouth and heavy limbs. After the feeling of euphoria has dissipated the user experiences a consecutively restless and drowsy
Opioids come in many forms, both licit and illicit drugs. Licit drugs would be considered pharmaceuticals, since they are prescribed by doctors and usually come in pill forms. Some examples of licit opioids are: OxyContin®, Vicodin®, codeine, morphine, methadone, and fentanyl. The illicit drugs would be heroin and can come in many different forms. Both forms must be consumed with caution due to their addictive nature.
The supply chain is short in the use and misuse of opioids. This runs from the prescribing physician to the patient and the prescription drug abuser, which is often the same person. The vast majority of illicitly used prescription opioids are obtained from physicians, not drug dealers. People are seeking out pain medication through their primary physicians
(Earnshaw, et. al 117). In addition to affecting the lives of patients, addiction impacts the community’s functionality. Interestingly, frequent use of psychoactive medications by patients of all ages can lead to addiction, but administration of these medications is a valuable technique of treatment for ailments. Medications can provide relief from discomfort that a patient may experience, nevertheless while causing an alteration in
It also states that legally prescribed opioids are generally safe when taken for a short amount of time and are prescribed by a doctor. It described that opioids can be misused by being taken in a different way, in larger quantities or without a doctor’s prescription. Also talks about the drug that can reverse an opioid overdose if given right away, which is naloxone (Abuse). b. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that since 1999 the number of overdose deaths involving opioids has quadrupled. The number of opioid involved deaths continues to increase in the United States.
In the past, opioids have been used to treat moderate to severe pain such as cancer or post surgery, and on a short term basis. Now they are prescribed to anyone who is experiencing chronic pain and on a long term basis. Opioids being taken for chronic pain allows everyone to have the ability to carry out their daily life easily and without pain. In light of opioids helping people manage their pain, the problem lies with what they are being prescribed for now, how long, and how much. Opioids are now being prescribed for back pain, migraines, and other small instances.
Underlying Causes: The increase in the sale of opioids is considered to be the root of the opioid crisis, as the drugs have been proven to be highly addictive. An addiction to prescriptive opioids, however, can lead to an addiction to synthetic, illegal opioids, such as heroine or fentanyl, which are less expensive and easier to acquire. In fact, in their journal article, “Associations of nonmedical pain reliever use and initiation of heroin use in the United States” Pradip Muhuri and associates discovered that “the recent (12 months preceding interview) heroin incidence rate was 19 times higher among those who reported prior nonmedical prescription pain reliever (NMPR) use than among those who did not (0.39 vs. 0.02 percent)” (Muhuri et. al). In other words, abusing prescription opioids significantly raises the chances of abusing illicit drugs, such as heroin.
Opioid pain medications are some of the most commonly abused prescription drugs. Between 1991 and 2010, opioid prescriptions rose from about 75.5 million to 209.5 million. Americans account for 4.6% of the world’s population but consume approximately 80% of the world’s opioid supply. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 12 million people used prescription painkillers for nonmedical reasons in 2010. Opioid abuse has led to increases in emergency-department visits, hospitalizations, and admissions to substance-abuse treatment centers at a time when our healthcare system is already strained.
First, there is alarming rise in mortality rates together with other formidable effects initiated by the anomalous use of opioid pain relievers. A study by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (2014) outlines that in 2009, more than 15,500 individuals in the United States died due to overdose on opiate pain relievers, a 300% rise in accordance with its history for the last 20 years. These alarming figures have increased the national interest regarding the climb in for script drug abuse in the United States. An additional cause is the escalating diversion of these drugs. Diversion in association with drugs implies to the illegal usage of licit dugs; and it happens when medications are counterfeit, medical records have been interfered with showing false information that a certain drug has been administered while it has actually been purloined, or when prescriptions go missing or stolen.
Dependence on prescription opioids can stem from treatment of chronic pain and in recent years is the cause of the increased number of opioid overdoses. Opioids are very addictive substances, having serious life threatening consequences in case of intentional or accidental overdose. The euphoria attracts recreational use, and frequent,
It can also be deadly for individuals abusing it. It 's important that this drug does also come with side effects, such as shortness of breath, vomiting, or even overdosing. It can also be troublesome for the addict to get to the clinic every day for a dosage of methadone. "If individuals taking methadone develop a physical dependence on the drug and they stop taking it or decrease their dose they will begin to experience methadone withdrawal"(Methadone Statistics). Methadone withdrawal is far more painful and burdensome than other forms of opiate withdrawal and can last up to 5 or 6 weeks.
These pills, such as xanax and oxycodone allow people for short periods of time to withdraw from the harsh reality faced today. “Between 1997 and 2002, sales of oxycodone and methadone nearly quadrupled” (Okie). Around 15 years later and the prescription pill problem is continuing to skyrocket. Since prescription pills are dispersed out to anyone by doctors, many people do not realize that it is as much of an illicit drug as cocaine and heroin is. “Misinformation about the addictive properties of prescription opioids and the perception that prescription drugs are less harmful than illicit drugs are other possible contributors to the problem” (NIDA).
Prescription drugs (opiates only) have caused over 165,000 deaths within the last 15 years and is currently on the rise. Over 2 million Americans in 2014 were addicted to Opiate prescription narcotics. The most troubling fact is listed directly on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website: “As many as 1 in 4