Red Ribbon Week is an annual week devoted to bringing awareness to the harmful effects that drug and alcohol use can have on one’s life. To commemorate this year’s Red Ribbon Week, a post about the drug crisis in America seems fitting. Currently, drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50, says The New York Times. Moreover, this death toll is continuing to increase at an alarming rate. This can attributed primarily to the opioid crisis. Each day, more than 90 Americans die after overdosing on opioids. It is important to be informed about opioids and their detrimental effects in order to help combat the opioid epidemic in American society.
Opioids are chemicals that increase activity in opioid receptor neurons in the brain and in the digestive system, producing euphoria, slower breathing, and constipation. This is possible because opioids have a similar chemical makeup as endorphins. Opioids can both be produced naturally and created synthetically. Common opioids include prescription pain relievers, heroin, opium, and morphine. When morphine was first created, it was meant to be a cure for opium addiction, Unfortunately, it turned out to be more addicting than the raw opium. When heroin was first produced, it was believed to be a stronger, but less addictive pain killer. Again, however, it was soon found out to be twice as addictive as morphine. Furthermore, the danger of heroin can be seen in the fact that it has a low safety ratio, the ratio of the dose that is likely to be fatal divided by the normal dose needed to feel the effects of the drug. Opioids function by activating the sympathetic division of autonomic nervous system. This causes blood pressure and heart rate to increase, typically to dangerous levels. Simultaneously, opioids also have an effect on the parasympathetic division. These effects include insomnia, restlessness, irritability, vomiting, as well as a strong craving of the drug. Opioids have a powerful psychological dependence in addition to severe withdrawal effects. This makes it almost impossible for abusers and addicts to quit using these drugs. Overall, the use of these drugs ultimately leads to major physical and psychological harm.
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