Introduction

Overview of the opioid epidemic.
Brief history and how it evolved into a crisis.


The Scale of the Epidemic


Statistics on opioid addiction, overdoses, and deaths.
The impact on various demographics and regions.


Causes of the Opioid Epidemic


Overprescription of painkillers and pharmaceutical companies' roles.
Economic factors and healthcare system issues.
Social and psychological factors contributing to addiction.


Effects of the Opioid Epidemic


On individuals (health, psychological impact, and societal stigma).
On families and communities.
Economic impact and strain on healthcare systems.


Addressing the Epidemic: Strategies and Solutions


Prevention: Education and alternative pain management.
Treatment: Access to care, medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
Law enforcement and regulatory measures.
Community and societal support systems.


Conclusion and Call to Action


Summary of key points.
The importance of a multi-faceted approach.
Encouragement for societal and individual actions.


Introduction

The opioid epidemic, a public health crisis that has ravaged communities across the United States, represents one of the most daunting challenges facing the healthcare system today. Originating in the late 1990s, the crisis began with the overprescription of opioid…...

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Resources

CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) for statistics and public health insights.

SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) for treatment and prevention strategies.

Scholarly articles from medical journals (e.g., JAMA, The Lancet) on the causes and effects of opioid addiction.

Reports from non-profit organizations (e.g., The National Institute on Drug Abuse) on the broader impact of the epidemic and recommendations.

OxyContin -- The Start of the Opioid Epidemic Social Impact
Opioids are the class of drugs that involve an illegal drug named heroin. When over-prescription of OxyContin was observed, it was linked to the addiction to heroin. Purdue launched this drug in 1996 with extensive marketing for the primary care doctor who advised their patients for backaches and knee pain to use this drug (Ryan, 2016). It was even noticed that the effects of this best-selling pain killer wore off early in patients, and they wanted more pills when they want relief from pain. Purdue Pharma was pronounced as guilty in 2007 for misleading the federal government and the customers about the overuse of heroin in the name of OxyContin. It had been downplaying the risk of addiction that the drug caused and had to pay $365 million for compensation.
The overuse of heroin has been linked to death rates spiking between 2010…...

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References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.a.). Rx awareness: Recovery is possible. Retrieved from  

Dasgpta, N., Beletsky, L. & Ciccaronne, D. (2018). Opioid crisis: No easy fix to its social and economic determinants. American Journal of Public Health, 108(2), 182-186. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2017.304187

Kadam, M., Sinha, A., Nimkar, S., Matcheswalla, Y. & De Sousa, A. (2017). A comparative study of factors associated with relapse in alcohol dependence and opioid dependence. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 39(5), 627-633. DOI: 10.4103/IJPSYM.IJPSYM_356_17

Ryan, H. (2016, May 27). Senator calls for investigation of Purdue Pharma following Times story on OxyContin. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from  https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-oxycontin-full-coverage/ 

https://www.cdc.gov/rxawareness/treatment/index.html 

Essay Topic Examples
1. The Socioeconomic Impact of the Opioid Epidemic in America:
    This essay would explore the broad consequences of the opioid crisis on various socioeconomic levels, including its toll on healthcare costs, workforce productivity, and increased burden on social services. Attention could be given to how opioid dependence and fatalities affect local economies, communities, and families.

2. The Evolution of rescription Opioids: From ain Management to ublic Health Crisis:
    This topic would examine the history of prescription opioids, detailing the pharmaceutical industry's role, regulatory failures, and changes in medical prescribing practices that led to widespread addiction and the current epidemic. The essay would explore the shift from initially seeing opioids as a panacea for pain to recognizing them as a catalyst for public health disaster.

3. Overcoming Barriers to Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: Strategies for Success:
    An investigation into the challenges and barriers individuals face in obtaining treatment for opioid addiction,…...

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Primary Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Understanding the Opioid Overdose Epidemic.” CDC.gov, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 16 Dec. 2021, www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/epidemic.html.

United States, Congress, House, Committee on Energy and Commerce. “Combating the Opioid Crisis: Battle in the States.” Committee on Energy and Commerce, 12 July 2018, energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Testimony-OpioidCrisisBattleintheStates2018-7-12.pdf.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.” HHS Publication No. PEP20-07-01-001, NSDUH Series H-55, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2020, www.samhsa.gov/data/.

United States Department of Justice. “The Department of Justice\'s Efforts to Combat the Opioid Crisis: A Year in Review.” Justice.gov, Oct. 2019, www.justice.gov/opioidawareness/justice-department-efforts-combat-opioid-crisis.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Annual Surveillance Report of Drug-Related Risks and Outcomes — United States Surveillance Special Report.” CDC.gov, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 Aug. 2020, www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdf/pubs/2020-cdc-drug-surveillance-report.pdf.

Health Policy Analysis Part IIOptions AnalysisMandate Additional TrainingIn response to this public health crisis, Kentucky policymakers have a variety of options available to them. First, they could pass legislation requiring physicians to complete a certain amount of training on pain management and safe prescribing practices before being allowed to prescribe opioids. The current opioid epidemic in the United States has been labeled as the worst drug crisis in American history. In 2015, over 33,000 people died from an opioid overdose, and the majority of those deaths were caused by prescription opioids. In Kentucky, opioids are a major problem, with 1,404 overdose deaths in 2016. The high number of overdoses is due in part to the fact that opioids are very easy to obtain. In Kentucky, there are no limits on the amount of opioids that a physician can prescribe, and there is no mandatory training on pain management or safe…...

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ReferencesFink, D. S., Schleimer, J. P., Sarvet, A., Grover, K. K., Delcher, C., Castillo-Carniglia, A., ... & Cerdá, M. (2018). Association between prescription drug monitoring programs and nonfatal and fatal drug overdoses: a systematic review. Annals of internal medicine, 168(11), 783-790.Schnell, M., & Currie, J. (2018). Addressing the opioid epidemic: is there a role for physician education?. American journal of health economics, 4(3), 383-410.Scrivani, S. J., Keith, D. A., Kulich, R. J., DaSilva, A. F., Donoff, R. B., Handa, S., ... & Schatman, M. E. (2021). Pain management for dental medicine in 2021: Opioids, coronavirus and beyond. Journal of Pain Research, 14, 1371.Ti, L., Mihic, T., James, H., Shalansky, S., Legal, M., & Nolan, S. (2022). Implementation of an Opioid Stewardship Program to Promote Safer Opioid Prescribing. The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, 75(2), 113-117.Young, S. G., Hayes, C. J., Aram, J., & Tait, M. A. (2019). Doctor hopping and doctor shopping for prescription opioids associated with increased odds of high?risk use. Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 28(8), 1117-1124.

Health Economics
In 2012, there were nearly 800 million doses of opioids prescribed in Ohio alone -- a figure which equates to roughly 70 pills for every individual in the state. The prescriptions were for 20% of the state's populace (Semuels, 2017). What's more is that these prescriptions are not helping people; on the contrary, as Katz (2017) reports, "drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50." It is so bad that the country is now essentially addicted to pills and it is literally killing us.

The causes of the opioid crisis are directly related to the Sackler brothers who pioneered the art of Big Pharma's role in advertising and making relationships with physicians in prescribing drugs to patients (Mariani, 2015). The Sacklers pushed OxyContin onto the market and turned the country into a drug-dependent nation. This was purely a profit before people type of play. The…...

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References

Binder, L. (2013). Stunning news on preventable deaths in hospitals. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahbinder/2013/09/23/stunning-news-on-preventable-deaths-in-hospitals/#6df8e1284f69

Goldhill, D. (2009). How American health care killed my father. The Atlantic.

Retrieved from  https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/how-american-health-care-killed-my-father/307617/ 

Katz, J. (2017). Drug deaths in America are rising faster than ever. The New York

Introduction When the nation was founded, hemp was a regular crop that the Founding Fathers all harvested. Cannabis was literally part of the fabric of the American Way: hemp was used for a variety of functions, from tea to textiles. As Robert Deitch notes, “we know colonial Americans were aware of the medicinal properties of cannabis. It was one of the few medicines they had, and they used it as commonly as we use aspirin today” (25). If cannabis was good enough for the first Americans, surely it stands some much warranted consideration—particularly in the light of the recent opioid epidemic that has claimed the lives of so many young in today’s day and age (Nelson, Juurlink, Perrone). People looking for a little relief are chasing after dangerous drugs that can kill. Marijuana, however, has never really been associated with overdosing and death. Just as the early Americans found, cannabis has…...

Purdue Pharma's Role in the Opioid Crisis Introduction
The court case of US v. Purdue Pharma is a case that focuses on the Anti-Kickback Statute, which holds it a felony for an entity to accept kickbacks for providing services or items that are reimbursable by a federal program (Baird, 2021). Part of the problem with this case and others like it is that not everyone agrees on what constitutes a kickback. For example, Illiparambil (2020) writes in the Brookly Law Review that pharmaceutical “donations” should not be viewed as kickbacks—even though prosecutors could and have made the case that they act as such. However, kickback laws have been in existence for decades, the first going all the way back to 1931 (Raspanti, Roberts & Bosick, 2017). Today, the Anti-Kickback Statute has led to prosecutions and settlements with pharmaceutical companies like Purdue Pharma for over half a billion dollars (Kraschel & Curfman, 2019).…...

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References

Baird, J. (2021). Recent federal case—Medicare AntiKickback Statute. Retrieved from  

Gore, A. (2020). Exposing the Middlemen in Rising Drug Costs: Modifying Safe Harbor Protections for Pharmacy Benefit Manager Rebates Under Federal Anti-Kickback Statutes. Or. L. Rev., 98, 297.

Illiparambil, T. (2019). Pharmaceutical Philanthropy Or Resisting Regulations?: Why Pharmaceutical Donations Do Not Violate the Anti-Kickback Statute. Brook. L. Rev., 85, 571.

Kraschel, K., & Curfman, G. (2019). Patient Assistance Programs and Anti-Kickback Laws. Jama, 322(5), 405-406.

Raspanti, M. S., Roberts, D. E., & Bosick, P. G. A. (2017). A Practitioner’s Primer on the History and Use of the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Retrieved from  https://www.falseclaimsact.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/MSR-DER-A-Practitioners-Primer-on-History-and-Use-of-Federal-Anti-kickback-Statute.pdf 

Rios, K. S. (2019). Combatting the Opioid Epidemic in Texas by Holding Big Pharma Manufacturers Liable. . Mary's LJ, 50, 1353.

https://medtrade.com/news/billing-reimbursement/Recent-Federal-Cases-Medicare-Anti-Kickback-Statute/ 

The Truth about the Undeniable Hypocrisy of the FDASection 4: Unknown Variables of the FDAs Acceptance ProcessesThe FDAs food and drugs acceptance process includes the risk of unknown variables affecting outcomes (Cooper & Golec, 2019; Haffajee & Mello, 2017; Llamas, 2020; Mulinari & Davis, 2019). One unknown variable is the fact that conflicts of interest arise among panels of experts used to provide advice during committee. Unbiased expert analysis should be the norm, as Congress has sought to exclude experts who have conflicts of interest from serving on FDA drug advisory committees, but this regulation has led to a decline of expertise and a rise in voting approval (Cooper & Golec, 2019). This is one example of how an attempt to curtail bias may have led to an increase in uninformed voting affecting drug approval. Other unknown variables include transparency, reliance upon inspection subsidiaries for recommendations of approval, and use…...

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Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder is proven to cause instances of ovarian cancer (Chang et al., 2015; Haffajee & Mello, 2017; Llamas, 2020; Mulinari &Davis, 2019; Sobel, Madigan, & Wang, 2017; Steffen et al., 2020; Verhaegh et al., 2016). Thousands of women have sued Johnson & Johnson over the matter, but these lawsuits do not threaten the financial well-being of the company because many of them are settled out of court at a fraction of the profits already obtained by the company. Yet the FDA’s responsibility is not toward a negligent industry that puts profits before people, but toward the people themselves: it is supposed to be regulating these companies and the industry as a whole to prevent products from coming to market that represent a serious health risk. In spite of all the data and studies linking Johnson and Johnson’s baby powder to incidence of ovarian cancer, the FDA has not moved against the company or its product.

Abstract There is a need to legalize marijuana and allow people an alternative source of health care to that which is provided by the pharmaceutical industry.  Big Pharma is responsible for the opioid epidemic devastating lives today.  Marijuana is a naturally occurring plant that people have used responsibly for thousands of years.  It is time to take back control of the lives of people and legalize marijuana.  This proposal explains why that would be beneficial and how the government can take action now.
Introduction (Purpose and Problem)
Marijuana has been legalized by many different states in recent years.  However, it still remains a schedule 1 narcotic according to the federal government, which means under federal law it is considered a substance as dangerous as heroin and cocaine (DEA).  The history of marijuana usage in the U.S. shows that the plant was always legal up until the era of Prohibition and that from that…...

Interest Group in HealthcareIn the article by Boggs (2006) on the role that Big Pharmathe pharmaceutical industryplays in serving as an interest group in healthcare, the author reviews several books on the subject and concludes that this interest group is exploiting modern American medicine, law, and capitalist systems to its advantage. It highlights for instance how the trade association PhMA is one of the largestinterestgroupsin Washington, DC, and how it uses its influence and money to lobby for regulations that would help rather than harm Big Pharma. It is a relationship that does not speak well of either the drug industry or the healthcare industry, as Boggs (2006) exposes a quid pro quo type of relationship in which profits are put before patients.Boggs (2006) explains that in the United States, the health care industry is a for-profit business. One way that profits are put before patients is in the form…...

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ReferencesBoggs, C. (2006). Review essay: Big Pharma and American medicine. New Political Science, 27(3), 407-421.Walters, J. (2018). Interview: \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'I don’t know how they live with themselves\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' – artist Nan Goldin? takes on the billionaire family behind OxyContin. Retrieved from  https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jan/22/nan-goldin-interview-us-opioid-epidemic-heroin-addict-oxycontin-sackler-family

Anglo American5-3. Because such a large percentage of its workforce consists of migrant workers who are more likely to acquire and spread HIV/AIDS, should Anglo adopt the policy of not hiring migrant workers? Should the South African government close the doors to migrant workers?Anglo should not discriminate against migrant workers just because of the HIV stigma. Stigma is a real thing and can do a great more damage to people than even the so-called disease might do. In Africa, the stigma of HIV is a serious risk that people do not want to accept (Anglo-American Case, n.d.). Therefore, many of them do not want to get tested. If a person does not want to get tested, his wishes and desires should be respected: after all, it is that persons body and a person should have autonomy over his own health and body. It is not Anglos job to test its…...

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ReferencesAnglo-American Case. (n.d.). Comparative Environmental Frameworks.News24. (2012). Aids is not killing African economies. Retrieved from   F., & Botha, C. J. (2011). The nature, extent and effect of skills shortages on skills migration in South Africa. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 9(1), 1-12.https://www.news24.com/health24/Medical/HIV-AIDS/News/Aids-is-not-killing-African-economies-20120721 Rasool,

The U.S. Healthcare Systems 1
The U.S. healthcare system is fragmented by the fact that incentives do not align with the actual goal of healthcare (Enthoven, 2009). For instance, healthcare facilities are incentivized to “treat” patients rather than to help them lead healthier lives. As Goldhill (2009) points out, healthcare treatments are subsidized by taxpayer dollars—and there are powerful lobbies in the healthcare field that promote the use of pharmaceuticals or new health technology (like hip replacements, which could end up leaking cobalt into one’s body). Moreover, care providers are encouraged to perform tests on patients even though there is no real need for them and they may in fact lead to overdiagnosis and to a deterioration of the patient’s quality of life, as the patient becomes obsessed with every minor health problem (Lichtenfeld, 2011).
Fragmentation impacts patient care in a negative way because it leads to the patient being viewed as a…...

NP Elevator SpeechAn NP, or Nurse Practitioner, is a highly trained and specialized healthcare provider who can diagnose and treat a wide range of medical conditions, prescribe medications, order and interpret diagnostic tests, and provide comprehensive health education and counseling. They are able to fill many gaps in primary care due to their training and ability to treat patients using a holistic approach to care. NPs can be one of the best sources of health care for patients who might otherwise lack access to care as a result of so many physicians fleeing primary care for specialized medicine (Bryant, 2018).Patients should seek care from an NP because nurse practitioners can provide personalized and patient-centered care that is focused on promoting health and preventing illness. NPs are trained to provide preventive health treatment to help patients avoid illnesses and diseases that might otherwise be waiting just around the corner. They can…...

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ReferencesBryant, S. E. (2018). Filling the gaps: Preparing nurse practitioners for hospitalist practice. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 30(1), 4-9.Moore, D. J. (2019). Nurse practitioners’ pivotal role in ending the opioid epidemic. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 15(5), 323-327.

Standardization and Priorities of Healthcare Organizations Introduction
As Leotsakos et al. (2014) note, standardization of patient safety in healthcare organizations has not proceeded with a great deal of progress in recent years though monumental steps have been made to increase patient safety in the industry. For that reason the World Health Organization (2018) has made it a priority to address standardization by initiating the High 5s project “to facilitate the development, implementation and evaluation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) within to achieve measurable, significant and sustainable reductions in a number of challenging patient safety problems.” These developments are still needed and to improve safety, Gandalf and Merlino (n.d.) have discussed how transparency, healthcare reform, and critical issues such as market share play a role in the advancement of patient safety standardization in the industry. This paper will examine the points made by Gandalf and Merlino in their podcast “The State of Patient…...

Health Advertising Introduction
Direct to consumer marketing for healthcare products is a controversial subject because of the fact that it brings together two very different worlds—the free market capitalist world and the health care world—and the end result can be a hodge-podge of confusion in which the best interests of the patient are not always front and center. In a free-market capitalist society, producers want to market their products so that they will sell and yield the producer a nice profit. In the health care industry, there is a need to place greater emphasis on prevention rather than treatment (Lichtenfeld, 2011) and even the Affordable Care Act in the U.S. was designed to promote preventive care by putting people before profits (Obama, 2016). However, the problem of direct to consumer marketing for healthcare products distorts the image of the healthcare industry and makes it unclear as to whether the industry is really…...

There are so many interesting topics to discuss surrounding the opioid epidemic,  There are debatable discussions about its root causes and questions of whether public response has been different given the impacted demographics.  Therefore, looking at any of the questions can provide opportunities for debate.  Before debating the topic, it is important to understand some of the facts about the epidemic.  In 2019, over 70,000 people died from drug overdose, 1.6 million people had an opioid disorder, 745,000 used heroin, 1.6 million misused prescription pain relievers for the first time, and 0.1....

Outline for an Essay on the Opioid Epidemic

I. Introduction

a. Overview of the opioid epidemic.

b. Brief history and how it evolved into a crisis.

II. The Scale of the Epidemic (500 words)

a. Statistics on opioid addiction, overdoses, and deaths.

b. The impact on various demographics and regions.

III. Causes of the Opioid Epidemic (600 words)

a. Over-prescription of painkillers and pharmaceutical companies' roles.

b. Economic factors and healthcare system issues.

c. Social and psychological factors contributing to addiction.

IV. Effects of the Opioid Epidemic (600 words)

a. On individuals (health, psychological impact, and....

1. The root causes of the opioid epidemic and how society can address them
2. The impact of opioid addiction on individuals, families, and communities
3. The role of pharmaceutical companies in fueling the opioid epidemic
4. The connection between mental health and opioid addiction
5. Strategies for preventing opioid addiction and promoting safe pain management
6. The criminal justice system's response to the opioid epidemic
7. The stigma surrounding opioid addiction and its impact on individuals seeking help
8. The economic costs of the opioid epidemic on healthcare systems and society
9. The role of healthcare providers in addressing the opioid epidemic
10. The potential for harm reduction....

Topic 1: The Root Causes of the Opioid Epidemic

Examine the complex interplay of factors contributing to the opioid epidemic, including the role of prescription practices, socioeconomic inequality, and the influence of pharmaceutical companies.

Topic 2: The Socioeconomic Impact of the Opioid Epidemic

Analyze the devastating consequences of the opioid epidemic on communities, including increased crime rates, poverty, and the strain on social services.

Topic 3: The Role of Prescription Practices in Fueling the Epidemic

Investigate the role of doctors, pharmacists, and the healthcare system in the overprescription of opioids and its impact on the epidemic.

Topic 4: The Failure of Law Enforcement....