Orange County, CA - December 12th, 2018 - In October 2018, President Trump signed legislation that aimed to help people overcome their opioid addiction, and prevent it before it starts. Still, the new law invites the obvious questions people ask, which is if whether the new opioid law would be effective and how opioid addiction became such a big problem in first place.
Throughout more than a decade, the opioid crisis has grown into a problem which has destroyed lives across the nation regardless of age, race, wealth or location. More than 115 people in the United States die each day, after overdosing on opioids. Many factors contribute to the crisis like doctors over-prescribing, and inappropriately prescribing patients or the availability and importation of cheaper and stronger drugs, but the epidemic didn’t happen overnight.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug known as OxyContin in 1995. The National Institute on Drug Abuse stated that pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers. Healthcare providers then began prescribing them at high rates, which lead to widespread diversion and medication misuse; before it was clear that the medication could be highly addictive.
The American government declared its response to the addiction to drugs in the early 20th century. It was decided to divide the drug markets into two types: medical and nonmedical.
“The people building these categories were the same people who were building Jim Crow racial segregation, campaigning for immigration restriction and implementing eugenic policies,” said David Herzberg, associate professor of history at State University of New York at Buffalo.
Drugs called “medicines” were used by the whites, while African-Americans used the non-medicines. Subsequently, the “medicines” weren’t regulated enough compared to the other drugs due to the thought of them being used by “responsible” people. Ironically, that developed into the U.S. opioid crisis when highly addictive “medicines” went mainstream.
Pharmaceutical companies, lawmakers, federal regulators, and doctors must take control of this crisis, and regulate over-prescribing opioids without it affecting American patients who legitimately need the drugs. A medical study in 2008 noted that opioids play a unique role in society, but they are also essential medications that are the most effective drugs for the relief of pain.
