Junkie man lying on the fllor near drug injection syringe and pills. Death from drug overdose and addiction concept
Opioid overdoses have been on the rise in Texas, and it has alarmingly increased by 402% from 1999 to 2019. This trend mirrors the national situation as the opioid problem affects every facet of society.
Overview
Opioid addiction has taken hold in the working class and rural communities, and many states, such as Texas, are struggling to handle the problem. Opioids have become a part of the social fabric, with people becoming more tolerant about their use.
Causes of Opioid Overdose In Texas
The most common cause of opioid overdose is prescription medications such as hydrocodone and oxycodone. Methadone and suboxone are used regularly for treatment, but some people end up misusing these medications, further leading to an overdose situation.
Doctors commonly prescribe opioids to treat chronic pain. If you have once developed tolerance toward these drugs, it doesn’t mean you’ll end up becoming addicted to them. A patient taking opioids regularly becomes dependent on them over time and eventually becomes addicted. If they don’t get their regular dose, they may start taking it in larger amounts, leading to an overdose.
Epidemiology of Opioid Overdose In Texas
Opioids are normally used for pain management, and hospitals have also started using opioids as a replacement for regular anesthetics. These drugs form the backbone of chronic pain treatment, and they are used for moderate to severe levels of pain as well as post-surgery and chemotherapy sessions.
Opioids do not treat the underlying cause of pain but rather work by blocking pain signals from reaching the brain. Many overdoses in Texas are due to opioids used for pain management.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, opioids were involved in nearly 50,000 deaths in 2019. Almost half of these cases included a prescription for the said drug. The most common cause of opioid overdose is prescription medications such as hydrocodone and oxycodone.
Heroin and fentanyl also contribute to the opioid epidemic. People who can’t afford expensive painkillers tend to switch toward these cheaper alternatives, which are almost 100 times more potent than morphine. These drugs can be easily purchased online, and recreational use of opioids is becoming common among the youth. As a result, more people are dying due to opioid overdoses than ever before. For more data about fentanyl addiction, you may click here.
Symptoms and First Aid
Opioid overdose symptoms may include the following:
- Respiratory depression
- Pinpoint pupils
- Loss of consciousness
- Cold, clammy skin
- Weak pulse
- Difficulty to wake up after overdosing
There are currently three types of treatment used for opioid overdose: naloxone (brand name: Narcan), symptomatic and medical care, and the combination of the two.
Naloxone is a medication administered as an injection or as a nasal spray to counter the effects of opioids on the body. If administered within a few minutes of an overdose, naloxone can be very effective, and it starts working within two to five minutes.
Symptomatic care is mainly supportive. This includes putting the person into the recovery position, cleansing the mouth with proper precautions, and putting him to rest while ensuring that breathing isn’t impeded.
Medical care refers to emergency medical treatment involving administering oxygen, intravenous fluid therapy, and other medications. This treatment is only required if the opioid overdose is very severe.
Today, most states adopt a combined approach for treating opioid overdose. A few decades back, state hospitals had adopted this approach, and today it’s available in most Texas hospitals.
The Opioid Challenges
The opioid addiction problem in Texas has become a serious threat to public health for adults and the unborn. The state of Texas is grappling with many challenges in its fight against opioids, including:
1. Need For Better Opioid Crisis Data
The primary challenge confronting the state of Texas in its fight against the opioid crisis is a lack of data. The main reason why this is a problem is that it’s challenging to identify how big the issue is and what specific areas need greater attention from epicenter hospitals, treatment clinics, etc.
Developing an accurate data bank becomes extremely difficult as far as the opioid epidemic is concerned. According to the state government of Texas, there are around 500,000 people who have overdosed on opioids within the last decade.
However, this number is considered a very conservative estimate as it contains those reported by doctors as opioid abusers. More people in Texas have overdosed on opioids but have not been identified yet.
2. High Medical Expenses
Another significant challenge for the public health system of Texas is the high medical expenses on opioid overdose treatment. According to Texas Hospital Association, the opioid crisis costs Texas USD$20 billion annually. In 2015 alone, the average cost among 162 academic hospitals was nearly USD$93,000 per patient in intensive care.
The high medical expenses are due to several factors, including lack of access to addiction care clinics, increased need for medications such as naloxone, symptomatic care, and emergency treatments. In the absence of addiction clinics, people have to rely on emergency treatment centers which can be very expensive because these specialty clinics deal with patients suffering from all types of emergencies.
3. Unavailability Of Counseling Centers
Texas is also facing a serious challenge concerning the unavailability of counseling centers for opioid patients. The federal government has been supplying grants to states for providing counseling services. However, despite receiving these grants, Texas has yet to establish sufficient counseling centers to cater to the high number of opioid patients.
Ideally, opioid patients should be treated for at least six months in a counseling center. At the moment, though, only less than 50 centers are operating in Texas. This shortage in counseling centers has led to a long waiting period for opioid patients seeking treatment.
4. Insufficient Prevention Programs
There’s also a lack of sufficient prevention programs in Texas. In most opioid addiction cases, patients have started their drug therapy with prescription opioids and then graduated to stronger doses than those prescribed by doctors.
To prevent future opioid patients from resorting to illegal drugs, it’s crucial to establish a strong prevention program. The state health department of Texas has already launched a prevention program that aims to educate schoolchildren about the effects and consequences of opioid addiction. However, this is a small initiative compared with the large number of patients being treated at various treatment centers in the state.
5. Unavailability Of Medications
The lack of available medications for treating opioid addiction is also a major challenge for Texas. The state health authorities usually rely on federal government supplies to meet their needs for naloxone and other opioid addiction medications. The federal government is also the major supplier of buprenorphine, one of the most popular medicines used in opioid addiction treatment.
It has been observed, however, that supplies from the federal government have not always been adequate to meet the needs of patients with opioid addiction. This shortage has forced many patients to go without medication for weeks together, even though free opioid addiction treatment services are available for patients.
The 5-Step Solution
The state needs to adopt an integrated approach for tackling the opioid addiction problem with five key strategies:
1. Enhancing The Role Of Data Reporting
The data held by health authorities are great assets for formulating effective policies and programs to counter the opioid crisis in Texas. An integrated approach mandates that all available information be consolidated under a single platform to facilitate easy access for all stakeholders at different levels.
For example, the data from various state agencies involved in combating opioid addiction, such as the health department and law enforcement, can be combined to understand drug-related crime in Texas better. The data available with federal agencies, such as the DEA, are essential for countering opioid addiction through effective policies and programs.
2. Formulating A Combined Limiting Strategy
Addiction treatment centers need to develop a combined limiting strategy that will help reduce both the number of opioid prescriptions and illegal drug use.
The combined approach for treating and preventing opioid addiction is gaining increased recognition and support across the country. This combined limiting approach is based on three major components:
- Prescription Monitoring And Tracking System
This system will ensure that clinics and other medical centers dispense opioids to patients who need them the most. The eligibility criteria for receiving prescription opioids should be much stricter than the ones in place today.
- Increase In Availability Of Buprenorphine And Other Medications
As already stated, medications play a crucial role in treating opioid addiction. They should be widely available to patients. Increased awareness about opioids and buprenorphine among doctors and patients is necessary for the success of any medication-based treatment program.
- Integrating Behavioral And Medication Approaches
The combined approach also recognizes that behavioral therapy by itself may not be sufficient to address all aspects of opioid addiction. Behavioral therapies are effective only when combined with medication-based treatment programs.
3. Increasing Access To Counseling Centers
Another critical step to help reduce opioid addiction is establishing more counseling centers across Texas. It has been found that the availability of counseling centers plays a crucial role in lowering drug-related crimes and deaths. Many patients, desperate for drugs, commit crimes or overdose because they can’t access treatment services.
Counseling centers are essential for providing treatment and play a key part in preventing people from falling prey to opioid addiction. The expansion of counseling centers across the country has been inadequate until now. One way to meet this shortfall would be to increase the number of adequately trained counselors in handling opioid addiction problems.
4. Restricting Availability Of Opioids Over The Counter
All opioids should not be available over the counter as they are today, especially without the advice of a doctor. There’s an urgent need for greater regulation to ensure that opioids aren’t easily available that way. It would be particularly important for drugs like codeine, which is widely available today without any prescription.
5. Expansion Of Free Addiction Treatment Services
Lastly, Texas should expand its addiction treatment program and create a better alternative for patients. Addiction isn’t only an individual dilemma but also has wider social implications. Patients need to be provided increased support to get rid of the addiction.
The state government of Texas should establish more addiction treatment services to provide necessary care for patients who are otherwise at risk of committing crimes or dying because of overdose.
The free addiction treatment services provided by the federal government should be expanded to provide help to more people across Texas without compromising the quality of treatment. The federal government has a vital role in incentivizing state governments to provide better treatment services for opioid patients.
How Individuals Can Help Prevent Opioid Overdose
Here are some ways by which individuals can help prevent opioid overdoses:
1. Proper Disposal Methods
Make sure that you dispose of prescriptions properly. Do not just dump them into the garbage or any other location where they may get misused. Instead, drop them off at pharmacies or other secure locations that may responsibly dispose of them. Likewise, if you have unused drugs, store them securely.
2. Safety Planning
A safety plan is vital to help you avoid an accidental overdose situation. Some tips include the following:
- Carry naloxone everywhere you go.
- Keep rescue medicines in a safe place to be available when needed.
- If you have multiple opioid prescriptions, group them to make monitoring their usage easier.
3. Managing Chronic Pain Effectively
If your doctor prescribes painkillers, make sure that the dosage prescribed is low enough to manage your chronic pain. If you feel that the medication isn’t helping you, consult your doctor and try other options instead of taking a higher dose of medications.
4. Creating Awareness Among Loved Ones
Create awareness among your friends and families regarding opioids so they can help you out in case of an overdose. Stress upon the idea that opioids can be fatal if misused, and you should not take any amount of it unless recommended by a doctor or suggested under supervision.
5. Self-Advocacy
While prescription opioids can be effective for pain management, they carry a high risk of addiction and overdose. Thus, if your doctor prescribes a medication to help manage chronic pain, ask questions regarding the risk factors associated with the drug. Ensure you know how to dose it properly, how long the duration of usage will be, and other details. Ask about other equally effective options if you can’t take the drug.
Conclusion
Opioid addiction isn’t only a federal problem but it also requires extensive efforts from everyone in all sections of society, including government, doctors, researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and patients themselves. It’s now generally recognized that opioids are not only addictive but also dangerous for one’s overall health. They should be used to treat real pain and never for recreational purposes. Chronic opioid use can damage one’s ability to work and create other social problems like unemployment, homelessness, poverty, and crime. The government plays a leading role in encouraging states to provide better treatment facilities for opioid patients and reduce the sale of opioids across the country.
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