A Silent Killer in America: What Can Be Done to Deal With The Opioid Crisis Today

Abdi Osman

Abstract

For patients experiencing chronic pain, many physicians assume prescribing painkillers is the ideal course of action. However, prescribing painkillers proves to be a double-edged sword: although many patients might see an improvement in their lives, it can also lead to cases of addiction and overdose. Despite the many years of the opioid crisis, solutions to combat the rising death toll caused by opioid addiction are scarce. With this in mind, what are some of the most effective ways for the United States to deal with the opioid crisis? It has been noted that outreach, communication, and recovery treatment have all been potential courses of actions to combat the crisis. However, there are issues currently preventing proposed solutions from coming into fruition, such as a lack of proper media coverage along with access and awareness for recovery treatment being limited. If we hope to address the opioid crisis, we need to first overcome these issues to make proposed solutions a reality.

Overview of the Crisis

The opioid crisis is believed to have begun in the 1990s and has since been a growing problem plaguing America, with an estimated death toll of nearly 850,000 since 1999 1. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid overdose-related deaths have been increasing with no signs of slowing in the past decade 2. More than 100 opioid-related deaths occur every day, with opioids being a factor in 7 out of every 10 overdose deaths, per National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics 3. Coupled with rising deaths, painkillers have also increasingly served as a gateway to hard drugs. The National Institutes of Health estimates that 80 percent of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids 4. Sometimes people use hard drugs that are known to easily lead to overdoses without their knowledge. State officials in Massachusetts have noted a growing increase in fentanyl and cocaine being found in individuals suffering from opioid overdoses 5.

Outreach and Communication

One of the largest problems that is currently hindering how we address the opioid crisis is a lack of proper communication and media coverage. To some, it would seem as though the media has managed to worsen the crisis by focusing more on the criminalization of opioid use rather than ways to find sufficient care, which in turn, stigmatized and isolated those suffering from chronic pain 6. Evidence has also shown that less than two percent of news articles mentioned scientific research on the prevention and proper treatment of opioid-related disorders, indicating that even those stories focused on the opioid crisis do not stem from proper research 7.

For people that experience opioid addiction, it can feel as though few understand the problems they face, and given how the media has chosen to frame the opioid crisis, this sentiment is valid. Poor communication of opioid-related treatment has not helped with outreach programs and the impact they could potentially have. Much can be done to improve the effectiveness of such outreach. Research has shown that utilizing nonenforcement law officials to reach out to those suffering from opioid addiction could greatly reduce the chances of overdosing deaths in a community 8. There have also been innovative and effective outreach programs such as mobile medical units being used to deliver naloxone kits and syringes to overdose hotspots 9. This mobile health program has managed to reach over 9,000 people struggling with addiction and helped prevent many potential overdose deaths 9. These outcomes are promising, but without public attention, these programs will remain disconnected from those who would benefit.

Recovery Treatment: Awareness, Access, and Funding

Aside from improved communication and outreach, recovery treatment is critical. In terms of awareness, it has been noted by the National Academies that only about 1 in 5 of those in need of such treatments are able to obtain them 10. The reasons for this gap in access are not fully known, but many speculate that pharmaceutical companies and their need to improve their profit margins are to blame. For instance, Evzio is a life-saving drug that can be used to prevent overdoses. However, despite costing only $52 to produce, it is priced at $4100, which may serve as a substantial roadblock to assist those more at risk of overdoing 10. Suboxone, a buprenorphine-naloxone combined pharmaceutical used to calm the urge to use substances, furnishes another example 10. The producer of this drug, Indivior, allegedly wanted to have a monopoly on a film version of Suboxone, so they launched a campaign that would promote the film version to be superior to pharmacists and physicians; they reportedly went as far as to petition the Food and Drug Administration to not approve generic versions of Suboxone due to “safety issues” while also taking their own tablet version off the market for similar reasons 10. This made an already effective version of a drug obsolete for no other reason than to introduce an expensive product that does the same job; this, in turn, could cause some confusion and frustration for patients in need of treatment, as now they are being forced to spend more money for a drug that they already had access to at a lower price tag.

When it comes to funding for recovery treatment and outreach programs such as mobile medical units, we can turn to lawmakers to enact laws that can help those struggling with insurance coverage for such treatment, along with improving the distribution of life-saving drugs and law enforcement efforts targeting opioid distribution 11. The Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency Act of 2021 (S.3418), introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Elijah Cummings in 2021, aims to achieve this in addition to trying to spread awareness of both outreach programs and the impacts of the opioid crisis. Though the bill will not directly impact pharmaceutical pricing, it will however assist those experiencing opioid addiction by streamlining recovery treatment to them, which in turn, would help many avoid the exorbitant pharmaceutical prices preventing them from getting the necessary treatment.

Conclusion

It is disconcerting to see countless lives destroyed by opioids — the very drugs that were intended to help so many endure chronic pain. There are effective ways, however, to help guide those that are impacted by the opioid crisis in combating addiction. Going further, we must emphasize news coverage to improve communication of ways to seek treatment, and in turn, help those in need to find the proper outreach programs. We must address the greed among pharmaceutical companies and how this affects access to vital drugs. Furthermore, we should focus on spreading awareness and increasing funding to allow for better outreach programs and easier access to recovery treatments and life-saving drugs which can be achieved through laws like the CARE Act of 2021.

About the Author

Abdi Osman is a student at Harvard College and an associate editor of the Harvard Health Policy Review.

References

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Pharmaceuticals, Public Health, Health ReformHHPROpioids, health crisis, medicine, opioid crisisComment