Opioid Abuse Starts At Home: Confirms Research
Opioid addiction often starts at home, from your family’s medicine cabinet, a new study has confirmed. It is more likely that others in the home will get an opioid prescription too if someone has surgery and is given OxyContin to manage their pain. The study confirms that prescription opioid use can easily spread within households. This risk is pegged at a measly 1 per cent but across the population, this can add up to a lot of people who are now at a higher risk for opioid addiction.
We are Amidst a Crisis
The opioid crisis continues to demolish our country. Roughly 91 people die every day from opioid-related overdoses, according to the CDC. More than 183,000 Americans died from prescription opioid overdoses from 1999 to 2015. Most cases include overdoses of methadone, oxycodone, and hydrocodone. For misusing prescription painkillers, over 1,000 people are treated each day in E.R.
Opioid Addictions Can Be Preventable
For countless opioid addicts, the first source of getting drugs is their medicine cabinet. Family members might prescribe them or friends get them from home and sell them to others at school. Once a person starts misusing the drugs, it’s very easy to get hooked on them. It is widely believed that prescription drugs often pave the way to other harmful substances.
Here are some of the effective ways to stop this cycle from happening:
- Know when to prescribe opioids: Prescription painkillers are only needed for extreme cases and this is why proper prescribing would reduce the number of opioids sitting in medicine cabinets.
- Limit the number of pills: Doctors should limit the number of pills they prescribe if opioids are the answer to treating pain.
- Keep drugs out of reach: There should be a necessary education that will encompass the safekeeping of prescription opioids. The drugs should be always stored in a locked drawer or cabinet and should not be accessible to others.
- Teach proper discard methods: Leaving opioids around is not unusual for many people. People need to be educated on the proper disposal methods, such as by returning them to the police station or the pharmacy.
Education is imperative, knowing there’s a link between prescription narcotics and use in the household. Call us if someone you know is addicted to opioids. Our therapies have proven to be very effective as we frequently treat opioid addictions.