Opioid Epidemic_Clinical Plharmacology

1. Obumneke_Amadi- Onuoha, Dr.PH, MPH,MSHS, MS.Pharmacol(c)
Opioid Epidemic
Drug addiction may not be attached to will power or mental health problem. The rational is
because, drug itself from a layman’s view is a substance that is given or introduced to someone
who is either authorized or not authorized to recommend it. On the other hand, drug addiction
can become a mental health that may be attached to lack of will power, wherein a person lacks
the ability to control one’s urges, actions, emotions, or possesses a strong determination to do
something complicated. Also, drug addiction, may be resultant from poor, wrongful, or imposed
drug management from the influencers e.g., medical personal, bad friends, peer pressure, where
the person or patient involved lacks the will power to consent. However, drug addiction can be
related to sociological, environmental(Trauma) and biological aspects surrounding persons under
addiction. Scientifically and medically, genetic factors have been linked to contribute to drug
addition, according to Chitaman, Fraser & Feng (2019), they stated that an aberrant gene
expression underlies drug addiction, thus, investigating the regulation of gene expression in drug
addiction may guide novel approaches towards better diagnosis and treatment therapy (p.137).
However, the system is broken as far as treatment of addiction is concerned, after watching the
video in the Huntington, WV, crisis, it is obvious the problem is not an institutionalized solution
problem e.g., medical and rehabilitation centers and government support initiatives, rather, It can
be blamed on the social economic factors affecting the populations such as high divorce rates,
poverty, trauma, stress etc.
We are not having a shortage of the legally prescribed opioids such as the painkillers morphine,
methadone, buprenorphine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone in the society, the reason from my
perspective, is because, the organizations responsible for their abundant production or
availability in our society is everyone. Everyone one individual is in involved as everyone
experiences pain at a point in time in their lifetime and require healing to alleviate or stop the
pain. Opioids are meant for use for the appropriate reason and dose medically, therefore, the
users, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, drugstores, the government, and

2. public health agencies that seeks to promote quality living and disease-free population are all
involved in opioid abundance production.
To reverse the trend of overdose cases in this country, it is integral to involve families to play a
major role in addiction recovery e.g., parents can encourage their loved one to take thoughtful
and positive action, make them accountable for their behavior and create rewards for positive
preferences, attend support groups and treatment consultations with them to support them make
better informed consent on drug therapies from their providers.
Moreover, it is therefore the duty of the pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession to
adhere to the proper ethics and guidelines to produce and administer opioids to help curtail this
epidemic. A reform is needed by the government, most importantly to involve family assistance
with aid to support already implemented government laws in opioid addiction solution.
However, families can act as dopamine, that may help ease pain and support addiction
withdrawal from affected individual loved one
Reference
Chitaman, J. M., Fraser, P., & Feng, J. (2019). Three-dimensional chromosome architecture and
drug addiction. Current opinion in neurobiology, 59, 137-145.