Persuasive Essay On Opioids

Words: 971
Pages: 4

Opioids are a class of prescription drugs that act on the nervous system to relieve pain. When used properly, opioids can be an effective long-term pain reliever. However, this is often not the case as they are not being used safely, and patients are becoming dependent on the drug and their bodies are “forgetting” how to deal with pain without them. These prescription drugs are beginning to act as a type of gateway drug, turning patients to other forms of opioid drugs that are much more dangerous and illegal, such as heroin. Opioids are typically used to block pain receptors, so that pain signals do not reach the brain. However, when a patient's body gets used to not feeling the pain, it can become extremely difficult to get off of the medicine. …show more content…
Opioid proteins block pain signals from reaching the brain, which is helpful for cases of extreme pain. However, opioids are harmful to the human body in numerous ways, including physical dependence or addiction, tolerance of the drug, which goes hand in hand with addiction of the drug, and the withdrawals a patient experiences after not obtaining the amount of opioids the body demands. Prescription opioids drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin are acting as gateway drugs to more dangerous drugs that also contain opioids because of the body’s overwhelming hunger for more and more of the drug. The epidemic of this dangerous prescription drug can be solved by doctors simply recognizing and acting on the knowledge about exactly how dangerous this drug is and the harmful effects it has on the human body. There have already been several cases of drugs that contain opioids being recalled. This drug is dangerous and should not be used so loosely and given out so easily to patients in pain. It is crucial that people be made aware of the effects of the opioid drug so that they may avoid it at all costs. It is equally crucial that doctors recognize this and recommend alternative pain relief methods such as nonsteroidal antiinflammatory