Opioid Epidemic Supply Side Research Paper

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Total Length: 1356 words ( 5 double-spaced pages)

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Purpose

The purpose of this executive summary is to provide an overview of the issue of the opioid epidemic in the U.S. and how supply-side factors have played a role in the spread of this epidemic. According to Pacula and Powell (2018) in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, published at Rand.org, the opioid crisis “is a complex, multifaceted, and dynamic problem requiring a comprehensive strategy for dealing not just with the stock of addicted users who are at risk of overdosing, but also considering the flow of new initiates and escalators in abuse.” This summary will discuss the background of the issue, the results of the research by Pacula and Powell (2018), available federal data, appropriate economic predictors, and three reliable and implementable recommendations.

Background

The opioid epidemic has ravaged the U.S. in recent years. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows that 2016 alone, 116 people died every day from opioid-related overdoses (HHS, 2018). The problem stems from the rise of the pharmaceutical industry and its development, manufacturing and sale of prescription drugs that were highly addictive and so very effective in relieving the pain of individuals that for addicts they became a way of obtaining a “high” that then became something to be desired in and of itself. This “high” has been an allure for many millions of people who use prescription drugs illegally and/or abuse their own prescriptions in order to achieve a “high” from the drugs. The result has been a tremendous loss of life, a problem of crime, a problem of family deterioration, and a problem of economic trouble as more and more people are becoming addicted to opioids and not entering into the workforce to support their families, communities and the overall national economy (Blackstone, Fuhr & Pociask, 2014).

Results of the Research

The key findings of the study by Pacula and Powell (2018) are that supply-side factors contributed significantly to the rise of the opioid crisis.

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This means that the pharmaceutical companies bear considerable responsibility in this problem as they were the ones manufacturing highly-addictive drugs and selling them at very cheap rates so that the market was oversaturated with them and they became readily available to the public. The federal government also played a role in this rise as it subsidized health care that included prescription drug treatment and thus incentivized physicians to overprescribe in some cases. Pacula and Powell (2018) identify the following results in their study:

· Opioids were promoted by manufacturers to medical professionals, medical and hospital boards, and patients, sometimes with misleading evidence of their addictiveness or effectiveness.

· Declining drug prices lowered the cost of prescription opioids since 1999, which led to increased utilization.

· Health care reimbursement rewards volume of services, creating an incentive for providers to overprescribe (Pacula & Powell, 2018)

Another finding of the study is that while since 2010, deaths from prescription opioids have declined, deaths of illicit opioids like heroin and fentanyl have increased dramatically in the words of the researchers.

The models used to obtain the results include examining the supply-side factors of the opioid issue and examining the relevant published data and statistics available at the national level to develop an understanding both of the scope of the problem and the ways that it can be effectively addressed. The researchers identified three main challenges to the opioid crisis:

· New users of illicit street drugs tend to be unsophisticated and thus at elevated risk of overdosing.

· Consumers of street drugs can be exposed to "cutting agents"—additives designed to stretch the supply of opioids—that can heighten the danger of using the drug.

· Illicit opioids are more likely than prescriptions to be injected, creating the risk of….....

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