The opioid crisis in the United states is devastating and we need to approach the crisis differently and properly by formulating new and effective treatments for the victims, holding pharmaceutical companies accountable for their role in the crisis, relieving the pressure on doctors to prescribe opioids to patients and formulating social guidelines in hopes of preventing a new generation of opioid users.
We can formulate new and effective treatments by working to make drugs safer. Unfortunately, Heroin is pervasive, policy makers could check all the boxes but it won’t change the fact that people will still get addicted to drugs. One solution? Prescription Heroin. If other methods don’t work how about we limit the dreadful effects of the opioid and prescribe it in small tightly regulated amounts. This method has been successfully applied in many European countries and worked also evidence backs up the approach as researchers credit the European Heroin prescription programs that let to better outcomes.
In the 90’s, Pharmaceutical companies, in order to make profits, pressured doctors to easily administer powerful and expensive painkillers, although the patient might not be able to afford it out of pocket, their insurance companies could, and the doctors in that time period receiving a lot of complaints from chronic pains became complicit. The companies would raise the prices of the drugs, well aware of the patients’ inability to afford it, the patients will rely on their health insurance who foot the bill, giving the companies a huge payout and the doctors “satisfied” customers. This seemed like a win-win situation, except people became dependent on these painkillers, some sold it on the black markets or passed it along to their friends and relatives thus ballooning into a full blown epidemic. What we need to do is to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable by pursuing lawsuits to compensate for the families involved (congress instead has made it harder to sue these companies), pay a hefty fine, regulate the amount and prices of drugs. Ease the pressure on doctors to administer prescription opioids, by educating them on the dangers, liberate them from the hands of private sponsors and provide proper pain treatments and procedures other than opioids to healthcare facilities. That way we can also prevent a new generation of users.
While I do understand that people who disagree with me will claim, it’s too expensive, alternative treatments while must fly through regulatory hoops before they can even be tested and if rushed could be potentially harmful and dangerous (probably even creating a new epidemic), some would argue doctors are not paid enough and they work long hours, so they depend on these private sponsors for finances and opioids for professional ease. But before we forget the last drug epidemic happened in the early 80’s and nothing despite the billions of dollars burnt, could curb the problem. If it takes time, let it. If it takes a lot of effort, let it. It would all eventually pay off, when we could effectively stave off dependency on opioids.