The Hidden Epidemic

I have just completed watching the film, Understanding the Opioid Epidemic. It is a documentary published by PBS that covers the issue of the opioid epidemic here in the U.S. The documentary covers a growing epidemic in our nation. Opioid prescription is directly linked with several health related issues such as drug use, drug related suicide, and rates of psychological disorders, yet doctors prescribe them so often. I was shocked to find out about this issue because doctor prescribed pain medications are so common in the United States, and to hear that this was contributing to a load of negative consequences in our society was a little baffling. My whole life, it has been a norm for doctors to prescribe pain medications if you have a surgery or painful treatments. The dentist uses laughing gas to numb the pain so children can sit through getting a cavity filling. Because of the norm built around pain medication, its use is so common and many people are becoming addicted to the pain medication after being prescribed.

In the documentary, it showed viewpoints from doctors and those in communities who have been impacted by relative opioid abuse. Pain is the leading reason that people seek medical attention, and it is the hardest form of illness for doctors to measure and treat. I was intrigued to learn that opioid abuse is an issue that is non-discriminate of socio-economic factors and affects all groups of people regardless of age, gender or wealth. The fact that the opioid epidemic affects all groups of people is what made it stand out to me as rather unique since it is something that is shared by all social groups. It was very interesting to hear viewpoints from those who are affected by the opioid abuse and from the doctors, and hearing both sides has made me realize the true extent of the controversy at hand.

        On one hand, you have doctors that are being convinced to treat pain with prescription opioids, and therefore telling patients that the drugs are harmless and nonaddictive. The doctors are being told from professional agencies to treat pain with drugs, and the drug companies are the larger players that are paying for this information to be spread in order to further the need for their drug research and manufacturing. The doctors are being told this information, and in some cases receiving payment benefits for prescribing drugs to patients. Doctors are being told to treat pain with a drug, and therefore are doing as instructed. They are doing as other medical professionals recommend, and they feel they are doing the right thing because they are alleviating people’s pain. 

        On the other hand, you have patients who will trust anything a doctor tells them because they are a medical professional. That is the danger behind the opioid prescriptions; because they are coming from a trusted medical professional there is no reason for people to doubt what the doctor is saying. Doctors are the trusted medical professionals who are responsible for the widespread prescription of these drugs, and they are how opioids get first introduced to people. Because people are so susceptible to the advice of doctors, the doctor's advice is being followed without question. You have a mass population exposing themselves to drugs because they are disguised as a prescription.

        Due to the polarity of this issue, I can see how it has become such an epidemic. I do not see a way in which this could change now, since people cannot tolerate pain, and many medical procedures involve high amounts of pain. The only solution I see to helping this would be to prescribe smaller doses of pain medications, and prescribing smaller amounts of pills at a time.