Current Drug Epidemic: Persuasive Essay

                                                                Current Drug Epidemic: Persuasive Essay

Much like cancer drug addiction one way or another affects us all. Even if we argue that drugs don’t affect the none users, they do. One might ask how so? Well we as a society all function as a whole, we contribute by taxes, voting, etc. Our elected officials pass laws that in turn affect the community in various ways socially and economically. The United States is having a massive crisis, opioid use is at its highest point and seems to not be slowing down; California’s response to this epidemic has been to pass a new law the Overdose Treatment act. This law protects any individual who administers Naloxone in good will (HRC, 2013). Naloxone is an opioid overdose reversal drug. This new law also allows pharmacies to dispense Naloxone without a prescription.

Naloxone, know by its brand name Narcan, is a drug that reverses opioid overdose. Narcan is a nasal spray, used to reverse opioid overdose by restoring the persons breathing and heart rate. Narcan is a non-addictive drug, the desired effects only work on a person who is overdosing on opioids. This medication essentially brings a person back from certain death. Narcan doesn’t give the addict a safety net, this medication increased the addict’s ability to go into recovery, and it gives them the choice of another chance. Administering Narcan to an overdose victim can send them into a rapid and painful withdrawal (Wing, 2015), which makes it unlikely to enable the opioid user. Why would an addict get high to immediately sober up? Opioid withdrawal isn’t something an addict peruses, opioid addicts use to not experience the withdrawal, its not about the high anymore, its about not being sick. They don’t what to experience the hell of being sick; muscle pains, anxiety, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. That doesn’t sound like something to look forward to.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, those are homeless drug addicts, not our community or us.

I’ve used the word opioid for a reason. It’s not just the junkie on the streets that shoot up heroin. The epidemic is in the suburban communities who have become addicted to opioid painkillers, painkillers such as: oxycodine, vicodin, morphine and so on. This opioid problem affects all cultures and social economical background.  "Over 44,000 people die from accidental drug overdoses every year in the United States and most of those deaths are from opioids, including controlled substance pain medication and illegal drugs such as heroin,"(Wing, 2015), that’s almost 200 people each day. In the United States opioid death also currently surpass car accident deaths (Tabrizy, 2014). A simple nasal spray could have avoided the deaths of fathers, mothers, siblings, daughters and sons.

Due to this opioid crisis California had the need to have a law, the Overdose Treatment Act, this law has saved lives and protected the brave who step in to help. The law essentially protects anyone who administers this medication in good will, that being an everyday citizen or first responders. It protects California’s citizen from civil and criminal liability for practicing medicine without a medical license (HRC, 2013). In September 2014 this law had an addition, an addition that now would allow pharmacies to dispense Narcan as an over the counter medication.  September 22, 2015 CVS announced that they would sell Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, with out a prescription in twelve states, including California (Wing, 2015).

From 1996 through June 2014 laypersons reported using Narcan in 26,463 overdose reversals, according to a June report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2013 alone, nearly 40,000 laypersons with 93 organizations reported 8,032 overdose reversals (Wing, 2015).

 Before these laws only medical personal had access to Narcan.  This availability has allowed every day people to reverse overdoses 6x more than first responders (Tabrizy, 2014). Thousands of people have been given another chance. A single dose of Narcan cost twenty dollars, twenty dollars well spent saving a life. Narcan should be kept in everyone’s first aid kit, one never knows who or when we will need it.

I do realize that Narcan isn’t the solution, it gives a person another day, another choice. A choice that wouldn’t exist if no one intervened.

I believe that as a society we have to urge our elected officials to invest more into prevention. More adequate prevention and focus on our younger generations. We need to be explicit in order to get the point across. Treatment centers have to be accessible and affordable. Much needs to change but we have to unite in this effort for our children, our brothers, our sisters, for our community. Unlike cancer, we can prevent the growth of this epidemic, if we unite in the fight. 

                                                          Refrences

 Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC) (2013, August 23). California comprehensive overdose treatment protection signed by governor. Harmreduction.org Retrieved October 23, 2015, from http://harmreduction.org/overdose-prevention/caoverdoseprev/

Tabrizy, Nilo (Journalist/Producer). (2014, December 27). Back from the brink: heroin’s antidote [Television series episode]. Maher, B. Smith, S. Moretti, E. Alvi, S. Mojica, J. (Executive Producers), Vice. New York, New York: HBO Retrieved October 23, 2015, from http://www.vice.com/video/back-from-the-brink-heroins-antidote-333

Wing, Nick. (2015, September 27). CVS to sell overdose reversal drug without a prescription in 12 more states. Huffington Post. Retrieved November 3, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cvs-naloxone-overdose-reversal_5602dba2e4b0fde8b0d0d189