Shannon Gardner HCS 451 Website Review and Summary Opioid Painkillers
WEBSITE REVIEW AND SUMMARY: OPIOID PAINKILLERS
1
Website Review and Summary: Opioid Painkillers
Shannon Gardner
HCS/457 Public and Community Health
November 23, 2014
Monica Vargas
WEBSITE REVIEW AND SUMMARY: OPIOID PAINKILLERS
2
Website Review and Summary: Opioid Painkillers
Negative consequences associated with the misuse use and overprescribing of the opioid painkiller drug is being seen in urban and suburban areas, rural communities, and the inner cities across the nation. The Centers for Disease Control (2014) states, “More Americans are using and dying from prescription painkillers than from heroin” (para. 2). The CDC reports in 2013 there has been approximately a 20 percent increase in overdose deaths involving opioid prescription painkillers since 2006. In 2010, over 16,000 drug overdose deaths involving prescription painkillers were documented (CDC, 2014). Astonishingly, in the same year there were approximately 3,000 drug overdose deaths involving heroin alone (CDC, 2014).
This website review and summary will address important information pertaining to how the various levels of government are work together to inform the public about public health matters, such as the overprescribing of opioid painkillers and how a combination of community efforts and enforcement of state and federal regulations can make a difference (DEA 2014).
When it comes to public health concerns that effect an entire nation, such as the high rates of deaths that continue to grow due to the misuse of the very addictive opioid prescription painkiller, government and state must collaborate together to establish safer guidelines and tougher penalties for opioid trafficking and continue to help states develop and maintain a prescription monitoring program. This public health pandemic has caught the attention of not only local communities such as, but is also being addressed on both a state and national level as
well
1
Website Review and Summary: Opioid Painkillers
Shannon Gardner
HCS/457 Public and Community Health
November 23, 2014
Monica Vargas
WEBSITE REVIEW AND SUMMARY: OPIOID PAINKILLERS
2
Website Review and Summary: Opioid Painkillers
Negative consequences associated with the misuse use and overprescribing of the opioid painkiller drug is being seen in urban and suburban areas, rural communities, and the inner cities across the nation. The Centers for Disease Control (2014) states, “More Americans are using and dying from prescription painkillers than from heroin” (para. 2). The CDC reports in 2013 there has been approximately a 20 percent increase in overdose deaths involving opioid prescription painkillers since 2006. In 2010, over 16,000 drug overdose deaths involving prescription painkillers were documented (CDC, 2014). Astonishingly, in the same year there were approximately 3,000 drug overdose deaths involving heroin alone (CDC, 2014).
This website review and summary will address important information pertaining to how the various levels of government are work together to inform the public about public health matters, such as the overprescribing of opioid painkillers and how a combination of community efforts and enforcement of state and federal regulations can make a difference (DEA 2014).
When it comes to public health concerns that effect an entire nation, such as the high rates of deaths that continue to grow due to the misuse of the very addictive opioid prescription painkiller, government and state must collaborate together to establish safer guidelines and tougher penalties for opioid trafficking and continue to help states develop and maintain a prescription monitoring program. This public health pandemic has caught the attention of not only local communities such as, but is also being addressed on both a state and national level as
well