RE: Discussion - Week 1

Discussion Post

Opioids are the drugs that act directly on the rewards system of brain; after their consumption, they block pain receptors and release such hormones that give off highly relieving effects. In other words, Opioids are pain relievers that directly work on our nervous system in order to treat somatic symptoms of pain. When we contemplate their mechanism of action thoroughly, we come to know that patients that are prescribed with Opioids are prone to get drug dependence, for that matter, they start abusing drugs through either taking larger dosages or taking smaller ones too frequently. As a result, our brain learns to work on the same mechanisms and when drug isn’t being taken, the person is stroked by a massive urge to use it at any cost. With the passing time, the drug tolerance is developed that leads the person to take drug in larger amounts, the outcome becomes too obvious; mortality. For the evidence based adversities associated with Opioids use, various governments of US struggled to lessen their impact in many ways. The administrative agenda of current president suggests that Opioids demand and over prescription must be avoided along with the education of common people about its potential ramifications (Burton, 2019). The previous President Obama focused on the eradication of supply-chain that works at domestic and international levels in order to reduce drug devastation whereas ex President Bush emphasized on the development and execution of evidence based interventions for struggling patients (NCSSLE, 2019; Felter, 2019). Moving to the resource allocation, Trump administration exceeds the other two administrations of Obama and Bush with $7 billion, $1 billion and $600 million respectively (Burton, 2019, NCSSLE, 2019; Felter, 2019). The approach of President Trump on this issue encapsulates SUPPORT act that includes research and management interventions, President Obama approved the utilization of Naloxone that reverses the drug effects and helps gain drug independence whereas Bush emphasized on the interventions regarding school and institutional level education (Burton, 2019, NCSSLE, 2019; Felter, 2019).

References

Burton, M. T. (2019). Trump Administration to Launch New Opioid-Addiction Initiative. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-to-launch-new-opioid-addiction-initiative-11555625054

Fact Sheet: Obama Administration Takes More Actions to Address the Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic (2019). National Center on Safe Support Learning Environment. Retrieved from https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/resources/fact-sheet-obama-administration-takes-more-actions-address-prescription-opioid-and-heroin

Felter, C. (2019). The U.S. Opioid Epidemic. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-opioid-epidemic