The Opiod Epidemic: A Primer



The U.S. Opioid Epidemic is threatening the national health and economic prosperity of the United States.


  • Nearly 800 people die / week from opioid related overdoses and millions of Americans suffer from opiod addictions. 
  • Experts posit that the crisis began with doctors over prescribing legal pain medications such as oxycodone, but now think that the influx of cheap drugs like fentanyl from foreign cartels exacerbated the problem. 
  • Opioids can be divided into two main categories those that are legally manufactured and those that are illicit narcotics. 
  • Some opioids, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine are used to treat pain and are commonly prescribed 
  • Herion has consistently been the United States' most popular illicit narcotic. However, it wasn't until cheap drugs and an increase in production made them universally available. 
  • Since 1999, the amount of opioid related deaths increased five-fold
  • This epidemic contributed to the U.S.'s declining life-expectancy rate for the second year 
  • The large majority of individuals who overdose are non-Hispanic white Americans
  • These are included in the rise of "deaths of despair," which include drug overdoses and suicides 
  • U.S. military veterans are twice as likely to die from a opioid overdose than the general population 
  • The higher rates of heroin are increasing the rates of hepatitis C and HIV mainly because of sharing syringes 
  • Incidences of neonatal abstinence syndrome which results from a pregnant mother passing an opioid addition to her child increased by nearly four fold from 2000 to 2012
  • A majority of the heroine entering the United States comes from Mexico 
  • While a majority of the world's heroin is produced in Afghanistan, only a small percentage of the U.S. supply comes from the country
  • The U.S. sponsored a program called the Merida Initiative, which helped increase counter drug campaigns in Mexico. 
  • Many states, including Mississippi, Ohio, and Oklahoma are suing pharmaceutical companies for overstating the positive benefits of opiods 
  • Many cities have launched initiatives called harm-reduction programs which create clean needle exchanges for heroin addicts to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDs
  • The Netherlands is a good example of a country who has decriminalized some drugs to prevent the use of more harmful variants. 
Additional Resources: 

https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/22/how-not-to-handle-the-opioid-crisis/ 
https://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2016/may/25/opioid-epidemic-overdose-deaths-map 
http://www.pbs.org/wned/opioid-epidemic/about-program/ 



Potential Debate Resolutions: 

This House would create areas in cities and community were non-violent illicit activity will not be prosecuted by police. 


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