Opioid Crisis, possible regulations

Decades of systematic overuse and overselling of different kinds of powerful opioids have left us in an unwanted situation. A situation in which thousands if not millions have been trapped in drug dependence owing mostly to their physicians who were guaranteed that the drugs are not as dangerous as they thought.

This devastating opioid crisis, spearheaded by drugs such as Morphine and Oxycodone can trace its roots to the start of the war on drugs. Pushing most of the nation’s attention on illegal drug trafficking politicians have left entire communities unprotected from another source of addiction.

If the numbers are to be believed this epidemic of hard drug addiction is not only not going to go away on its own but it will get progressively worse with time. For the last few years the numbers of Oxycodone and Morphine related overdoses has risen by the thousands and the trend is still picking up steam.

What are Opioids?

In order to better understand what it is that’s killing hundreds of people and leaving thousands in the grips of drug addiction, we need to learn about the drugs. Opioids are a group of drugs that covers a wide range of drug use. Ranging from Heroin all the way to your regular prescription painkillers such as Oxycodone.

If we look at only the legal and prescription drugs we can see that these opioids are quite powerful and very much addictive. As things stand for years neither doctors nor their patients knew any better than to use these drugs. This in turn would lead to dependency which would then result in the doctors cutting off their patients.

Even though many doctors are careful with these kinds of drugs, a large number of them have not been. Resulting in patients that have become dependent on painkillers such as Morphine and with no legal way to get them. So, through corruption and other means they found the drugs they needed.

Opioid Withdrawal

One of the hardest withdrawal processes connected to drugs can be found when talking about opioids. This is because most legal ones are initially not used to get a high but rather to treat severe pain. Once the drug is cut off by doctors they are left with the excruciating aftermath, often without proper guidance

Some of the more noteworthy early stage symtpoms of withdrawal may include the following:

Agitation

Anxiety

Muscle aches

As well as:

Increased tearing

Insomnia

Runny nose

Even though these symptoms might seem rather simple, they are a sign of things to come. Later on the symptoms will expand and include:

Abdominal cramping
Diarrhea
Dilated pupils

As well as:

Goose bumps
Nausea
Vomiting

As you can see all of these symptoms are capable of making your life a living hell. They are a severe reaction of your body to the absence of the drug you have become addicted to. To avoid this we would recommend to do personal drug testing while you are taking some of these powerful drugs. This will give you more of an insight on how much you are taking in.

Morphine

Morphine is used to treat mild to severe pain and it is quite effective at this job. It functions as a block for all the signals coming from your body back to your brain which tell the brain you are in pain. This in turn soothes your pain and gives patients some respite while they recover from injuries or after medical operations.

This drug should never be taken if you have preexisting conditions such as asthma or any breathing problems. Since Morphine can slow down your breathing and even inhibit it which can lead to death. Opioids such as this are highly addictive on top of this and can lead to dependency and overdose.

Oxycodone

Much like Morphine, Oxycodone can be described as a potent painkiller. It can be found in medications such as Oxycontin and Percocet and these drugs are in regular use as painkillers. Made favourites by doctors who were either misinformed or unaware of the dangers connected to the drug.

Also like with Morphine, people who intake Oxycodone with prescriptions develop a tolerance of the drug which in turn fabricates the need to increase the amount taken. This increase in Oxy intake is what leads to the development of dependency with most patients, leading to overuse and with time to overdosing.

Opioids list

In order to give you a tool for checking your medications here is a list of all known Opioids that are most commonly in use. Whether that be illegaly or through perscriptions. These drugs should not be taken lightly as they have the potential to endanger lives. Here is a short list of opioids:

Opium
Heroin
Codeine
Oxycodone
Hydrocodone
Tramadol
Morphine
Hydromorphone
Fentanyl
Carfentanil

This is not the full list of all opioids in use today but it is a list of the most used in medicine and illegally. Each of the drugs present on this list are extremely potent and capable of creating addiction which in turn will lead to several wide ranging complications and life threatening situations.

Opioid Crisis Regulations

The lack of FDA regulations of this developing situation has led to the crisis we now find ourselves in. In order to start combating this epidemic of addiction the regulatory services of the USA will need to do much more to protect patients. New laws will have to be implemented, however the problem present here is a simple question: “Is there a will to fight this epidemic at this time”

While we wait for the answer to this question thousands still suffer as a cause of it. One way you can protect yourself is through extensive drug testing. Pocet testing devices such as testing strips have made it easy to keep an eye on your intake.

Other than this we recommend that you contact healthcare professionals and get second opinions. If you know someone or you yourself have developed a drug addiction, you can get help, all you need is to take the first step!