The choice is life or death

The Global Commission on Drugs revealed that approximately 64,000 people had died from opioid-related overdoses in the United States of America . These are the highest number of overdose deaths to be ever reported in U.S. history. Many of these deaths are happening from prescribed pain medications such as Percocet and Oxycodone, and illegal drugs like heroin and fentanyl.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and is a driving force behind these statistics . Shockingly, overdose deaths had accounted for more deaths than motor vehicle accidents and took more lives than the Vietnam War did. These statistics are staggering and are impacting not only the addict, but their family, friends, and stakeholders of first responders and law enforcement. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stated that “We need to declare a national emergency.” According to Rudd & Scholl from 2000 to 2016, opioid overdoses reached an astonishing 600,000 deaths. This is roughly 115 Americans that are dying every day from overdoses.

A factor that is important to consider when an individual wants to begin some form of maintenance or opioid therapy, it is essential to establish goals, that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (SMART). Some individuals might find it beneficial to attend psychiatric therapy or detox programs, but there are other options that are available for these individuals as well. Methadone or Suboxone are also viable options for the addict that might be helpful. Research shows that it is important when working with these individuals that establishing care and goals outweigh the risks of relapsing.

Recently, there has been some discussions about establishing safe injection sites for opioid-dependent addicts.

According to CNN, a safe injection site would be a place where addicts can safely use their drugs. At these, safe injection sites, there would be medically trained staff on hand in case someone was to overdose. In addition, these locations would provide sterile syringes and other paraphernalia that is required to get high. These sanctuaries might be beneficial to drug addicts because it will be a haven to get high, however it will potentially have negative repercussions. Among some of the repercussions would be increased drug activity into communities and the criminal element might deepen the issue in these communities.

Are we enabling these addicts or are we really helping them?