Opioid Overdose Crisis: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions Report

This report delves into the opioid overdose crisis, examining its causes, impacts, and potential solutions. It highlights the increasing cases of overdose and misuse, particularly the link to neonatal abstinence syndrome and other infections. The report emphasizes the importance of a public health approach, including better access to treatment, overdose-reversing drugs, and public health surveillance. It also discusses the role of government institutions, healthcare providers, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in managing pain and developing new medications and technologies. The report concludes by stressing the need for sophisticated overdose prevention initiatives and reversal techniques to save lives and support recovery. This assignment is available on Desklib, a platform that provides AI-based study tools for students.

Running head: OPIOID OVERDOSE CRISIS 1
Author’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Date

OPIOID OVERDOSE CRISIS 2
Opioid Overdose Crisis
The crisis related to opioid overdose has become an issue in the U.S because it is a health
situation with devastating repercussions. Significantly, the increasing cases of overdose and
misuse have intensified the pregnancy issues like neonatal abstinence syndrome, a condition that
has been linked to opioid overdose and abuse (Webster et al., 2017). There are also some other
infections like HIV and Hepatitis C, which have been related to opioid use, especially during
injections to administer the drug. Notably, science has always been considered as the best
approach to manage this kind of crisis according to the history of medicine (Pergolizzi et al.,
2017).
The department in the USA dealing with health and human services should take steps to
counter this issue of opioid overdose and misuse. For instance, they should find better ways for
addicts to access treatment and recovery services. Also, health providers should take the
initiative of providing the affected individuals with overdose-reversing drugs as they strengthen
people’s understanding of the issue through proper channels like public health surveillance
(Webster et al., 2017). Government institutions, together with the healthcare providers, should
come up with better ways to manage pain to avoid the use of opioids in the society.
Additionally, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been at the forefront of finding ways
to prevent the misuse of opioids, the treatment options, and how to manage pain. The institution
should devise a way to manage chronic pain by incorporating safe, non-addictive, and practical
approaches (Webster et al., 2017). There have a mandate to develop novel medications and
technology to treat the disorders related to opioids. Lastly, there should be a sophisticated

OPIOID OVERDOSE CRISIS 3
overdose prevention initiative together with the reversal techniques because they will help save
lives and support the recovery process (Webster et al., 2017).

OPIOID OVERDOSE CRISIS 4
Reference
Pergolizzi, J. V., LeQuang, J. A., Berger, G. K., & Raffa, R. B. (2017). The basic
pharmacology of opioids informs the opioid discourse about misuse and abuse: A review. Pain
and Therapy, 6(1), 1–16.
Webster, L. R., Markman, J., Cone, E. J., & Niebler, G. (2017). Current and future
development of extended-release, abuse-deterrent opioid formulations in the United States.
Postgraduate Medicine, 129(1), 102–110.