The Opioid Epidemic: Prescription For Change

Abstract

The opioid epidemic has cost countless numbers of Americans their lives over the last few decades. The widespread availability of the extremely addictive narcotics, caused by skyrocketed prescription rates, has led to concurrently high addiction and mortality rates. This has lead policy makers to make crucial decisions on how to best curb the epidemic. In this paper, I use New York as a model of a state whose legislature has been successful in passing laws to begin the process of driving these rates down. Through interviews of legislators and other relevant actors, and through analysis of the effectiveness of several programs and bills that the state has either successfully implemented, or is in the process of getting approved, it is the goal of this thesis to present clear recommendations to policy makers at both the state and federal level. In many cases, states have attempted reforms to attempt to fight the epidemic, but have failed when it comes to getting legislation passed through both houses of their legislatures. In response to this, the paper will show how New York’s responsive government has been able to both come to a bipartisan understanding about the importance of this fight, and has also been able to bypass negative pressures from medical associations who have provided pushback to several important mandates. While this paper does speak about the treatment of addiction, it specifically focuses on its prevention, due to the belief that this is the most crucial avenue towards the long-term end to the epidemic. Without people taking their first narcotic, they will never be tempted to abuse, misuse, or divert them. Additionally, without an addiction to prescription painkillers, people will not be tempted by their disease to switch to illicit forms of the opiates, such as heroin and fentanyl, which can be even more dangerous. While prevention may be the long-term focus, preventing deaths in the short term must be a focus as well. Thus, the paper will also analyze several treatment options to curb more immediate mortality rates. Lastly, the paper will delve into the potential for substitutes to aid in the fight by decreasing the rates of abuse, misuse, and diversion.