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Judith Rosales
7 May 2018
The Opioid Epidemic has affected 2 million Americans and the number continues to
increase as the years go by. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse , opioids are a
class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and pain
and many others. Every year 64,000 Americans die from a drug overdoes and 42,000 of those
deaths are from opioids. Each day, 115 Americans die from a opioid over dose, and 31 states
have reported deaths caused by opioids. The policy problem I have addressed is: What can
America do to fight the Opioid Epidemic back? The policy solution I think is necessary to to
have doctors stop giving opioids as if they were candy, open up more rehabilitation centers for
The learning/research project made me feel appalled and concerned for the fact that the
numbers of families that were affected by opioids kept increasing, and there wasn't a call to
action because no one seemed to care until it got to become a public health issue. The evidence
and information I found from this epidemic made me feel more attached to this topic. CNN has
posted some of the rawest and realest videos I’ve ever seen. One interviewer asked a homeless
drug addict if he thought he would stop using opioids and the homeless many said no, he said he
was probably going to die from an overdose and he would leave behind his two kids who he lost
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contact with years back. Hearing stories like these made my heartbreak and I wish more people
The level of government that is most appropriate to solve this issue is the federal
government because this epidemic is a national public health issue that affects the entire country
not just a specific nor a specific local level. So far, The Trump Administration has declared this
crisis a “national emergency”. The White House has hosted an Opioid Summit which discusses
the Administrations effort to battle the crisis. The Trump Administration still faces criticism
because of the vagueness the President has given, and because of all the talk there has been to
help Americans affected but have no been helped at all or has there been a steady plan that will
battle opioids. The President has proposed a budget of 13 billion dollars dedicated to the crisis,
within the next two years, but a week later Congress passed a budget bill of 6 billion dollars to
help this public health issue with two years.At the Opioid Summit Attorney General Jeff
Sessions announced the beginning of a new task force within the Justice Department known as
the Prescription Interdiction and Litigation Task Force, or PILS. This program is aimed to bring
criminal and civil penalties against opioid manufacturers who have pending lawsuits against
The first argument that are against the use of opioids have come to the solution of
educating Americans about non-pharmacological pain management because opioids are often
used as pain killers. The Washington Post-Kaiser Foundation created a survey which revealed
that only 62 percent of Americans received physician education on pain management strategies
not involving drugs, 20 percent were not told about drug side effects that includes addiction, and
sadly revealed that 34 percent of Americans who took pain medication for as little as two months
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became addicted. This is something more doctors should suggest because patients can just go
into a doctors office and get prescribed opioids and creates a bigger issue. So a possible solution
to battle the opioid epidemic is to find other methods to fix pain management that don't involve
the use of opioids. Another solution is for doctors to restrain from prescribing opioids because
since 2013, the prescription of opioids was at 200 million. Opioids cant treat chronic pain for a
long period of time. Since they found this evidence, they hope doctors are more reluctant to
prescribe opioids. An important solution to help those who are struggling with the epidemic is to
expand the drug treatment industry and addiction support groups and make it more accessible for
the Americans who are in need. No other country around the world like the United States has as
much disease oriented addiction treatment. With the budget President Trump has dedicated to the
crisis will it help a lot to battle the crisis to open more rehab facilities, funding states with more
drug overdose reversal kits, and providing Americans with more knowledge and information to
A reason why there are Americans in favor of opioids are because doctors bring in more
money because of them. In 2014 and 2015, opioid manufacturers paid doctors across the country
six-figure sums for speaking, consulting and other services. Doctors were paid 25,000 during that
time. Doctors who write the most opioid prescriptions get paid the most money by
pharmaceutical companies that make opioids which is absolutely absurd and explains why
doctors don't give up the idea of opioids. Money talks for these doctors, and sadly wont actually
care for their patients because they are being paid by each opioid prescription. A reason why
doctors like opioids are because they claim opioids are the best drug to treat chronic pain and
don't enforce other medical options that can help the pain as well as opioids. There has been a
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strong push for medical marijuana to be legalized for pain management instead of using opioids
but the medical community does not share/enforce this information because it is not legal in
many states. This also causes another situation because not everybody body reacts the same way
as everyone else so the medical marijuana may also not work for anyone. Both of these drugs are
not the best solutions for chronic pain either and are not drugs that can help you long term.
There has been several bills that have been introduced already to defeat opioids and one
of the newer bills that has not been passed yet is the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018. This
bill was uaniuosly approved by the Senate Health Committee in April and still needs the
approval from Congress and from the President. The new bill will have grants that help states
boost addiction treatment to better target harder-hit regions. Others remove barriers to
researching non-addictive medications for addiction and pain which would help provide a better
alternative to opioids. Another part of the bill will suggest and enforce new packaging for longer
opioid painkiller prescriptions and better use of prescription drug monitoring programs. Some
experts say this is not enough because a survey from the New York Times revealed that experts
would rather spend 100 billion dollars to fight HIV/AIDS than to actually fight the epidemic of
opioids. This is a devastating thing to hear because the number of total overdose deaths were
higher than the number of deaths that were linked to guns, car crashes, or HIV/AIDS during
A judicial action that has been done is approving another bill that was passed by a voice
vote is called the Comprehensive Opioids Abuse Reduction Act would create a comphrensie
grant that creates a variety of new and existing programs, such as vital training and resources for
first responders and law enforcement, criminal investigations for the unlawful distribution of
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opioids, drug courts, and residential substance abuse treatment. The bill authorizes $103 million
annually for the grant program and is fully offset for cut-go purposes which is under the 6 billion
budget President Trump has dedicated to the deadliest drug epidemic in our nations history. This
outcome is definitely one I would support 100% because although experts say its not enough
being done I believe it is a huge step forward because many programs will be created, more
families and Americans who are in need will get help, more cities and states will be granted
money to decrease the amount of opioids being used and there will be more training done for
first responders and law enforcement to know how to act or what to do if they ever encounter an
overdose. I know here Butte County, specifically Chico they have been granted some money and
One interest group that I found and I really enjoyed was Physicians for Responsible
Opioid Prescribing, also known as PROP. Their mission is to reduce opioid-related morbidity
and mortality by promoting responsible and cautious prescribing practices. This interest group
advocates for state and federal policies, and they have appeared in congress for promoting
changes in labeling, and continued to monitor opioid related state and federal legislation and
policies. I do like this group because these are doctors who are fighting back the epidemic and
want to see change be done in our nations and are willing to take time they have to educate
Americans about safe prescribing and finding alternatives to opioids. This is just one of the many
interest groups there are who are ready to end this crisis and this is my favorite one because they
are doctors and they have the most knowledge about these drugs than anybody else would. They
aren't being biased and are not those doctors who are not fighting the crisis because they get
more paid by each opioid prescription they give out to their patients. There is a way to become a
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member of this organization and you can just go on their website and fill out the form and get
involved.
The first thing I would do is contact elected government officials and I would do this at a
local level of government because it would be easier for me to actually get a word because from
either James Gallagher, or Doug LaMalfa since they are the elected officials of our district. The
first thing I would ask is what are the specifically doing to fight back this epidemic. I would also
ask if there is any forums or any local bills passing by that citizens like me can participate in and
get our ideas and voices heard. I would also encourage citizens to participate in elections and
have them be registered voters and have them also learn about the epidemic because no one
really knows about opioids, neither did I until a classmate last semester did a presentation on
opioids and it really interested me and got my attention and saw how bad this situation was
actually getting. Maybe I can make students interested if I had a little stand out by the library and
had people who were really interested in this topic to help me inform other students.
Im also really active in social media so I would organize like a Twitter page or even a
Facebook page and would post facts and statistics and I would use an appeal of emotion to
actually get Americans interested. I would also lobby government officials, one of my cousins is
a political science major and he lobbies for specific government officials and Im sure there are
times where his group will lobby for the epidemic of opioids. All of these three ways would work
because I have a way in doing all three and it would be really helpful and beneficial.
The two most serious problems enacting my problem would face is that Americans
sometimes have no sympathy for those are addicted to drugs and sometimes they don't want
anything to do with them. Some Americans will just say “Oh I don't feel bad they did this to
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themselves” which is so rude and disrespectful because people can change but other people have
no hope and don't want to see them get better. Another obstacle is what if there is not enough
funding to completely reduce the misuse of opioid, and the overdose deaths. The budget is 6
million dollars but is that really enough money to the all 50 states? Each state is different and
some states require more attentions than other and if they don't get enough money will it even
help them at all? Most importantly does each state have enough rehab facilities and doctors and
citizens that want to see change because if thats all missing no help will be done. The questions
that rise are: Will this be enough to fight the epidemic? or Will states be funded a great amount
Works Cited
Gavin, Kara. “What Will It Take to Overcome the Opioid Epidemic?” M Health Lab, 8 July 2016
Goodlatte, Bob. “House Judiciary Committee Approves Bills to Combat Opioid Epidemic”
February 2018
Kaplan, Karen. “Opioid overdose deaths are still rising in nearly every segment of the country,
Katz, John. “Short Answers to Hard Questions About the Opioid Crisis.” The Upshot, 10 August
2017
Lopez, German. “The Senate is Advancing a Bill to Fight the Opioid Crisis. It’s Still Not
Mallin, Alexander. “Despite Gains, Trump Administration Response to Opioid Crisis Still Faces
Peehle, Stanton. “The Solution to the Opioid Crisis” Psychology Today, 16 March 2017