Abstract
There is a rising opioid epidemic in the United States. The opioid class of drugs includes prescription drugs for pain, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, and fentanyl (Jones et al., 2018). In addition to these, heroin, an illicit drug, is also in the opioid drug class (Jones et al., 2018). Statistics show that many people with an opioid abuse problem have gone through the criminal justice system without receiving any kind of treatment. The rate of overdoses per year has been increasing. Many people who have an opioid addiction are in the criminal justice system, whether it be in prison, on parole or probation, or waiting for the court process.
Extract
[...] Many people with opioid use disorders depend on methadone to function in their daily lives. Methadone treatment involves tapering the medication to eventually transition to being opioid free. Other forms of treatment include the use of extended release naltrexone or buprenorphine. All of these medication-assisted treatments are meant to be temporary and eventually patients will wean off the medications to be completely drug free. In most cases of opioid use disorders, participants need to stay on the medication at least 6 months, however, in some cases, people may need to receive the medication for a longer amount of time. [...]
[...] States that implemented both mandatory prescription drug monitoring programs and pain clinic laws overall had a reduction in the prescription opioid overdose rates by 1.2 per 100,000 residents (Dowell et al., 2016). Another method to lower the risk of opioid abuse and misuse is limiting overall opioid exposure during the time period of a patient's surgical procedure setting (Theisen et al., 2018). It is noted that this can be done through enhanced recovery care plans (Theisen et al., 2018). Studies involving enhanced recovery care reveal a decrease in opioid use in patients during and postoperatively (Theisen et al., 2018). [...]
[...] Many people who have an opioid addiction are in the criminal justice system, whether it be in prison, on parole or probation, or waiting on the court process. Opioid related hospitalizations have risen 64% from 2005 to 2014 (Lyden & Binswanger, 2019). The opioid epidemic is a public health crisis nationwide. The opioid epidemic is due to several different reasons. Prescription opioids have had an increased availability therefore consumption of prescription opioids have increased (Lyden & Binswanger, 2019). Doctors have increasingly been prescribing prescription opiates. This is due to people increasingly being reliant on being prescribed opiate analgesics for chronic-pain (Ighodaro, et al., 2019). [...]
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[...] Lee, J. D., Friedmann, P. D., Kinlock, T. W., Nunes, E. V., Boney, T. Y., Hoskinson, R. A O'Brien, C. P. (2016). Extended-release naltrexone to prevent opioid relapse in criminal justice offenders. N Engl J Med, 374(13), 1232-1242. Lyden, J., & Binswanger, I. (2019). [...]
