Why Does Opioid Addiction Remain a National Epidemic?

Why does opioid addiction remain a national epidemic travesty?

Why, despite the implementation of several protective measures by the state and federal agencies, including restricting prescriptions of opioids, does opioid addiction remain a national epidemic travesty, and why does overdose mortality increase (1, 2)?

If it were as simple as limiting a patient’s access to opioids, the epidemic should subside. Even patients with genetic risk factors for opioid addiction would have very little risk of developing this disease with limited access to opioids. Instead, it maliciously grows, affecting multiple members within the same, often multigenerational rural families.

It appears as if opioid addiction is transmitted like a viral infection within the family.

The significant increase in overdose mortality prompted us to reevaluate the true scope of opioid addiction in the context of risk factors contributing to the spread of addiction and relapse. Since our clinic operates in a small Tennessee city, we focus on the American rural family, often afflicted by addiction, stress, and unemployment. References:

1. Ref. Hedegaard, H., Warner, M. & Miniño, A.M. (2017, December). Drug overdose deaths in the United States, 1999–2016. NCHS Data Brief, no 294. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.   -Dr. Bogdan Nowicki