Brief Introduction to the Epidemic:
The
opium is a plant species endemic to Asia’s continent. It was globalized through
the course of time because of its healing properties. It contains the
substances of thebaine, codeine and morphine; which is the best known since it
has been the more studied. Morphine’s molecule was isolated in the middle of
the 19th century and afterwards it’s was
synthesized a new compound while looking to make morphine a better drug:
heroine. Heroine was commercialized as a analgesic and flu remedy at the end of
the 19th century and beginnings of the 20th century in Europe and United States. It’s
during the 20th century that it’s discovered the
disadvantages of heroine, mainly its addiction. Therefore it was banned and
removed from the market. That didn't mean that people couldn't find it.
It
is during the 60's decades that started in the United States the preview of
today’s epidemic with the heroin epidemic. This epidemic was fought by the
government with strict laws without measuring the outcome of them.
Unconsciously, the main faces of this epidemic were minority ethnicities, which
didn't help at the prejudice that was already taken place. The principal
epicenters of this epidemic was in cosmopolitan cities such as New York and Washington
DC.
It
was towards the end of the 20th century that it was synthesized a new miracle drug:
oxycodone. This drug was advertised as the solution of all the pain that
aspirin and ibuprofen didn't diminish. In line with the innovation, the media
propaganda was aggressive, being the first pf it kind and the starting point of
multiples propaganda with the same goal in different illnesses. The
pharmaceutical responsible went under scrutiny since it evaded the patient
wellness compromise. Their scrutiny came after the first signs of the opioid
epidemic which came as the comeback of the heroin epidemic. The opioid epidemic
is faced very differently as it was its predecessor. This epidemic has brought
with it a new point of view in drugs and mental health. Actually, it is wanted
to be treated as a mental illness, instead of punish of the choice taken by the
patient to use the opioid drug. A lot of the punishments fell back into the
statement that the person had a choice and choose wrongly, so it has to face the
responsibilities that society imposes no matter what were the consequences.
The
addiction martyrium as a mental illness was always there, only nobody noticed
until recently. The purpose of this blog is to make reference to statistics
studies made in which, you -its reader- can make your own conclusion. At the
end you'll question if a drug addict can decide by itself if it wants to be
drug dependent or if he or she had some help into the wrong use of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment