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Judith Rosales

Instructor Eileen Morris

POLS 155: Section 27

7 May 2018

A New Public Health Issue On The Rise

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

relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine,

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

Americans who need it the most.

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

supported to help drug addicts to receive the help they need.

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

them in several states.

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

help those Americans who are in need.

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

every single year in America.

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

now have drug overdose reversal kits.

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

of money that help citizens receive the help they need?

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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”

House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, 26 April 2017

Gorman, Sara, Gorman, Jack M. “Why Do Doctors Overprescribe?” Psychology Today, 5

February 2018

Kaplan, Karen. “Opioid overdose deaths are still rising in nearly every segment of the country,

CDC says” Los Angeles Times, 27 March 2018

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

Enough.” The Vox, 24 April 2018

National Institute of Drug Abuse. “Opioid Death Rates” September 2017

Mallin, Alexander. “Despite Gains, Trump Administration Response to Opioid Crisis Still Faces

Criticism” ABC News, 4 March 2018

Peehle, Stanton. “The Solution to the Opioid Crisis” Psychology Today, 16 March 2017