Opioid Persuasive Speech

Hello Jahmeelah, thank you for your post. The over-prescribing of opioids by licensed doctors which is the focus of your post, has caused a significant increase in the number of opioid addicts, overdoses, and deaths in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999. They additionally report that there were 33,091 deaths in the United States in 2015 from legal and illicit opioids. Clearly, the opioid epidemic is a national emergency that has become a source of alarm for many individuals. Concerned citizens might ask, “Why has it taken so long to recognize this problem and take action? Clearly, when President Donald Trump declared this situation a national emergency, it is hoped that the attention given to this crisis will bring about a resolute and swift response to fight this epidemic.
President Trump’s actions in this matter will depend on whether his advisors are capable of rooting out the causes of the problem and not simply trying to remedy the symptoms. Starling (2011) notes the tendency toward the latter, stating “…many problems that a manager faces are really part of a pattern of problems stemming from one underlying cause. Because this underlying cause is seldom obvious, the tendency is to view the symptoms as the problem and treat them as such” (p. 252). Drug addiction is such a complex issue, with the reasons for substance abuse being as varied as the people being treated, consequently several approaches may be needed in order to effectively battle the opioid epidemic. President Trump and his team would be wise to research drug addiction thoroughly before making decisions and committing taxpayer dollars to a public policy that could be flawed or