Prescription Painkillers Research Paper

Heroin is an opioid drug which is created from morphine. It is a naturally occurring substance removed from the seed of the opium poppy plant. Heroin can appear as a white or brown powder or as a black sticky, tar-like substance. There are a number of ways it can be used such as; injected directly into a vein, injected directly into a muscle, placed on aluminum foil and inhaled as smoke through a straw or stem, or snorted as powder through the nose. All of the ways that heroin is used offer a swift delivery to the brain which offers an almost instant high.

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.

II. Places of deaths, most effective prescription drug comparison between states. Prescription drug abuse became an issue in every state in the U.S., However, there are some states that have less number of deaths than others for not legalizing the types of drugs that the others states legalize, and abusers can be arrested for using non-medical drugs. Since the medical marijuana movement began, 23 states and the District of Columbia, starting with California in 1996, have legalized medical cannabis.

The fact that it blocks the feeling one gets from taking opiates is very helpful in the treatment process because if the abuser feels like they want and need to use opiates, doing so won’t be effective for

Semi-synthetic opioids include hydromorphone, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. There is also heroin, made from morphine. Opioids that are man made are fentanyl, pethidine, levorphanol, methadone, tramadol, and dextropropoxyphene. Doctors should not be allowed to prescribe opioids to people to relieve pain because of the many dangers, it poses. Prescribing opioids to people can kill them or turn them into addicts.

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 include morphine and heroin among others. Proper use of these drugs for their approved diagnostics usually delivers significant welfares to the ailing patients. However, due to their pleasurable impacts, these drugs are liable to the risk of mishandling, abuse, and eventual addiction. Currently, the United States is in the middle of a pandemic involving opioid overindulgence. The provision of the prescription opioid analgesics is at a high rate in the nation.

Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Opioids are also frequently used non-medically for their euphoric effects or to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Examples of opioids are morphine, heroin, oxycodone, and methadone. Opioid overdose is an acute and serious condition due to excessive opioids use.

Opioid Epidemic in the United States              The opioid crisis has risen over the years here in America. The addiction to painkillers has caused many drug overdoses across America. According to the Vox," In 2015, more than 52,000 people have died from drug overdoses from linked to opioids such as Percocet, heroin, Oxycontin or even fentanyl. This problem did not become an overnight health crisis, but it has become quickly known in America.             Expanding our drug treatment centers across America would provide the support to those who are addicted to drugs.

TEST 4 1. Identify and describe three types of “cybercrime”. The computer as the target: eg a computer virus. This includes theft of intellectual property or personal data.

Similar to morphine, it is used for pain relief and is taken orally. When abused, the tablets are and snorted, or dissolved in water and injected. ”⁵ Oxycodone was first developed as an effort to find non-addictive pain killers and medicine for the soldiers during World War 1. However, oxycodone has a high potential for abuse and addiction. “Like all opiates, oxycodone works by binding to opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord, and these receptors are responsible for both.”

The opium poppy plant produces substances that act as a pain reliever. Most opioid drugs like morphine and hydrocodone that treat severe pain, contain the products of these poppy plants. Opioids are powerful narcotics that have over the years been taken advantage of but should exclusively be for medical purposes only prescribed by physicians. Nabarun Dasgupta is a pharmaceutical epidemiologist who has a Ph.D. in pharmacy from the University of North Carolina. Nabarun wrote a peer-reviewed article about the opioid crisis and how economic factors intensify the epidemic.

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

And opiates are painkillers. So when individuals are not feeling well or in pain, they would resort to heroin to relieve their symptoms.  An example of this would be during times of the American Civil War (mid-to-late 1800s). Soldiers were coming back addicted to morphine, and the solution that was brought up to fix this problem was heroin.

Opium and its derivatives such as morphine and heroin are the drugs most commonly associated with substance abuse. Their potent pain reliving properties make them a preferred choice for analgesics. On the flip side, opium is also characterized by having strong addictive properties and weaning off the medication becomes a challenge for drug users. Treating opium addiction: Discontinuing use of opium or its derived medicines leads to what is known as opiate withdrawal symptoms. The user experiences feelings of depression and anxiety with a sever urge to consume more of the drug.