INFORMATIVE SPEECH
What are Opioids?
Informative Speech
Thomas Carroll
Forty-two thousand families in disgust, in anger, in grief wondering if their loved ones will ever come back. In 2016, there were 42,000 deaths caused from misuse of opioids (“The Effects of Opiate Use”). This is an epidemic, it needs a fix. Too many families are losing their loved ones to a prescribed drug, something that is prescribed to get over pain. The start of the cycle of getting hooked on opioids is nothing but normal. Opioids are prescribed to ease pain so a lot of people can get to them. It starts with a surgery, than the patient is subscribed their prescription of opioids and while taking their prescription they become hooked. Eventually, they end up switching to more harmful and more lethal drugs due to cost. These families don’t deserve this. Forty-two thousand.
For most of you, you don’t even know what opioids are. To you, it is just another pill in the cabinet; you don’t know the impact it could have on your life and your loved ones. Opioids are a prescribed drug although they are narcotics. They are in the same class as deadly drugs like heroin and Fentanyl. Describing opioids, DrugAbuse.com says “All opioids are chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the body and brain. Opioid pain relievers are generally safe when taken for a short time and as prescribed by a doctor, but because they produce euphoria in addition to pain relief, they can be misused. Regular use—even as prescribed by a doctor—can lead to dependence and, when misused, opioid pain relievers can lead to addiction, overdose incidents, and deaths.” Opioids attach to some parts of your brain and body to make you feel happy, but when stripped away people have withdrawals because of the opioids addictiveness. The withdrawal symptoms can be quite harsh. Things like hot and cold sweats, abdominal cramping, insomnia, etc some leading to overdose. Steven Melemis says, “Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States.” Since the withdrawals are so bad, it is hard to get off. Once people get hooked, they stay hooked.
Because some opioids are over the counter drugs, it is quite easy for people to get their hands on them. Because they are so often prescribed for pain, they are easy for anyone to start using and than the patients become hooked off of their prescription. The doctors are prescribing their patients with something to ease the pain, but will eventually put them in more pain. Though some of these opioids are easy to get over the counter they are quite expensive. For these addicts that aren’t the wealthiest, it is quite hard to keep paying for bottle after bottle. So instead, their next possible resolution is a cheaper street drug, which may result in worse effects than prescribed opioids, such as death. Though many patients misuse over the counter opioids and when they misuse them, they tend to transition into worse drugs. National Institute on Drugs explains that, “An estimated 40 to 60 percent who misuse prescription opioids transition to heroin.” The death rates rise after the transition from the prescribed opioids to the more dangerous, cheaper, and accessible opioids.
Opioids are a problem in the United States, a big one. There are too many deaths and it is only going up. Way to many people are dying daily from opioids. “Every day, more than 115 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids. The misuse of and addiction to opioids—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare” (National Institute on Drug Abuse). These drugs are starting to impact our country on a big stage. Forty-two thousand.
Bibliography
“The Effects of Opiate Use.” DrugAbuse.com, 11 May 2017, drugabuse.com/library/th
e-effects-of-opiate-use/.
This article was helpful because it shows the transition into pain prescriptions to opioids, and eventually transitioning into harder drugs. It also explains the signs of being on opioids in a physical and mental way.
Jansson, Lauren M., et al. Journal of Opioid Management, U.S. National Library of
Medicine,2009, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2729086/.
This article is helpful because it explains the problems pregnant women and their opioid addiction. It also explains how their children are affected by their addiction, being raised with an addiction. And it explains the withdrawal systems, and is also very in depth.
Melemis, Steven. “Opioids - Opiates: Addiction, Withdrawal, Crisis, Recovery Facts.”
I Want to Change My Life,
This article is helpful because it shows the signs of opioid addiction and helps me understand how people got hooked. It helps answer a lot of simple questions that were needed to be answered.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Opioid Overdose Crisis.” NIDA, 6 Mar. 2018,
www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis.
This article is important to my paper because it shows how Opioids started and how addictive it is. It explains how organizations are helping the epidemic and fighting for the people addicted. This article is important to my research because it explains how many people are addicted and what will help them.
“The Next Gateway Drug: How Prescription Drugs Have Started a New...” DISA
Global Solutions, 26 Mar. 2018, disa.com/blog/the-next-gateway-drug-how-prescription -drugs-have-started-a-new-epidemic.
This Article explains how Opioids work and the effects of using them. This Article is useful because it helps understand where the user gets the drug. It also explains where the problem aroused, how it began. This article explains how Opioid users seem different when they are on them, and the signs that the user is on. This article is important to me because it helps me understand the effects on the users and to show how dangerous the withdrawals.