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The Opiod Epidemic

The Opioid Epidemic is still raging on in all of the country. There are no signs that it is slowing down nor are we developing plans to contain it. There have been 64,000 deaths claimed in 2016 in the United States alone. (Serrano, A) Out of the Fifty states, three of them had 70% of their opioid deaths related to fentanyl. This is why they created Fentanyl testing strips! It is the exact same concept as a pregnancy test where it will tell you if its positive or negative. 
There is a Canada based company that created fentanyl testing strips. For just $1 Jess Tilley started selling them so that the drug dealers would be able to test of there was any fentanyl laced with their drugs. These tests are extremely accurate, in Baltimore they were 100% accurate and 96% accurate in Rhode Island. There are two other main techniques for discovering fentanyl laces drugs. One test uses infrared light that will scan an item of its chemical properties and list off all of the known substances but it cost $20,000. The third way is to find their molecular vibrations in drugs to see what drugs they are. The second and third methods are very expensive and they are less accurate. If we would be able to mass produce these for all drugs then we would be able to crack down on laced drugs. 

The paper struck home for me because I know if people that have had drug addictions and even if we would be able to provide them with these strips who knows how many lives we can save. This is extremely relevant to all of us because in Utah alone we have the 7th highest rates drug overdoses with six Utahan’s dying every week from them! This paper was giving reliable information and if we were to shed more light on it hopefully one day we can mass produce these testing strips. To help people in need one by one. 

-Alexis A

References
(2016). Retrieved from http://www.opidemic.org/

Serrano, A. (2018, March 08). $1 Fentanyl Test Strip Could Be a Major Weapon against 
Opioid ODs. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/1-fentanyl-test-strip-could-be-a-major-weapon-against-opioid-ods/#

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 12, 2018 at 7:41 PM

    I found this article to be particularly interesting as the opioid epidemic hits very close to home. My father battled opioid addiction for nearly 30 years, eventually taking his life with an overdose over opioids. I personally would love to see anything that would assist in saving lives and preventing these kinds of tragedies. Mandy D.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 25, 2018 at 5:38 PM

    I was just reading an article about Prince's death and how his pain medication had been laced with fentanyl. This was a contributing factor in his death and I'm sure shed a lot of light on the importance of checking for this substance in the pain medications people either use as directed, or abuse.
    I also wanted to mention that a lot of research and work in taking place in the fight against opioid abuse. I work for Intermountain and have seen a lot of effort going into encouraging doctors to looks for warning signs of addiction, decreasing the prescribing of narcotics after joint replacement surgeries and developing new solutions to pain that do not involve the high and withdrawal of traditional narcotics. I think we're making progress!
    -Madelin Crapo

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownApril 26, 2018 at 12:10 PM

    This article was very interesting, I was curious though as to how Opiods have their effect on the body and why this effect takes place?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownApril 26, 2018 at 12:27 PM

      I was just reading about this! Narcotics work by blocking your body from feeling pain. Opioids look like chemicals to your brain and attach to receptors that transmit pain signals, and produce feelings of pleasure, among other things. Basically, opioids relive pain but they also produce effects that can be addictive. Depending on the type and amount you take, they can produce a high that can be addicting and be harder to achieve as your body adjusts. If abused, you can become dependent on narcotics and eventually be completely addicted to the high and unable to function without it.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousApril 27, 2018 at 9:02 AM

    Answering the question above - Opioids attach to things called opioid receptors on nerve cells all over the body. Opioids block pain messages sent from the body through the spinal cord to the brain. A lot of people get addicted to pain medications. There are a lot of medications to overuse. There is one medication we prescribe for patients that overuse that reverses the effects of things like Norco and Morphine. This other medication binds to the pain receptors for a longer amount of time, that way if things like Norco or others are taken, the effect won't work.
    -Kayla I.

    ReplyDelete

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