Opioid Crisis in America

Sabrina Cavanagh
2 min readAug 5, 2022

--

Over the past few years, the opioid crisis has become a national emergency. Millions of Americans have been affected by opioids, which is the name for drugs such as heroin, hydrocodone, and oxycodone. The crisis has led to an increase in overdoses, which have become the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States. The crisis has also led to a decrease in the amount of prescription opioids being prescribed, which has led to an increase in the number of people addicted to opioids.

A crisis unlike any other is gripping our nation: a public health emergency caused by an unprecedented surge of opioid use, overdose, and deaths. The United States is in the midst of an epidemic that is killing more people than any other drug in our country. Most recently, in 2018, an estimated 33,000 Americans perished from an opioid-related cause, most of them from an opioid overdose. This number is higher than the 31,000 who died from an opioid-related cause in 2017, the year with the highest death toll ever recorded in the United States from an overdose.

Over the last few years, the United States has been plagued by an opioid crisis. An epidemic of prescription drug abuse and addiction has ravaged communities, families, and the nation as a whole. The crisis has caused large numbers of deaths, many of which could have been prevented with better access to and use of prescription opioids. Even worse, the crisis has created an environment where synthetic opioids like fentanyl have become much easier to obtain.

Over the past few years, the United States has experienced a major surge in the number of opioid overdose deaths. The crisis has impacted many parts of the country, from small towns to large cities, and from rural areas to urban centers. The causes of the crisis, and the best ways to address it, are subjects of intense debate and discussion. But regardless of where you live and the nature of your work, the impact of the crisis is felt by everyone in the United States.

The United States is in the grips of an opioid crisis. Overdose deaths doubled in the past decade, with opioids being the main cause of death. The crisis has been so severe that it has forced governments to declare states of emergency, and it has even been compared to the crack epidemic of the 1980s. But how did we get here, and what can be done to stop the crisis from getting worse?

--

--

Sabrina Cavanagh

Scientific geek and cat person who enjoys adult colouring books, going to the movies and jigsaw puzzles. Loves seafood but allergic to it.