Opioid Prescriptions Down: But Addiction Continues to Kill

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Drug Addiction in Ohio roars louder than the Cleveland Cavaliers and the coming and going of LeBron James. With skillful shots and powerful slams on the basketball court by LeBron James, residents in Ohio are slamming and shooting on their own. We’re talking about injecting powerful drugs into their veins, like heroin and fentanyl. The heroin epidemic saw a drastic increase when the crack down on prescription drugs starting in 2012. The crack down on prescription drugs to combat the ever growing opioid painkiller addiction in Ohio was hoping to decrease the amount of opioids prescribed to patients, but Ohio overdose deaths still skyrocketed. Regulators created urgent reforms in 2012 to limit prescription opioids by 11% from 2012 to 2015, a form of heroin addiction treatment in Ohio, with prevention. But with the change in supply of opioids in Ohio, the state saw a large surplus of Heroin flooding the streets and neighborhoods. Unintentional overdose deaths quickly spiraled out of control, rising 59% before the end of 2014. Most fear that the number is continuing to go while the data for 2015 is still being collected.  Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller that is 50 times stronger than heroin, contributed to 502 deaths in 2014 in Ohio. In 2013, fentanyl took the lives of 84 people, the increase death rate still continues to grow. When the state focused on tightening up on prescribing opioids, the addicts had to find another way to get high. Turning from pharmaceutical drugs to unregulated street drugs. The effort to change the culture of “a pill for every problem” mainly talking about pain, is a slow moving process. It is estimated that 200,000 people are now addicted to opioids in Ohio. In 2015, 2.6 million, roughly 23% of Ohio’s population received a prescription for opioids, according to the states prescription drug monitoring program. A slight decrease from the 3.1 million people who received them in 2012, but some believe that’s still too many prescriptions being written.

“Most people don’t need these drugs,” said Rosenquist, chairman of the Pain Management Department at Cleveland Clinic. “This idea that life is supposed to be painless or every answer comes in the form of a pill is something we need to change the dialogue about on a national basis.”

Americans consume more than 80 percent of the world’s opioids but account for less than 5 percent of its population, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Which leads us to some serious questions. Have loose practices when prescribing opioids created this heroin and opioid painkiller epidemic? Has cracking down on prescriptions being written the reason why people are turning to heroin? Is there heroin addiction treatment in Ohio for those already addicted? Does the state have enough resources to fund the heroin addiction treatment in Ohio programs?

Here at Nova Recovery Center we provide heroin addiction treatment in Texas. Sending your loved one away from the heroin epidemic in Ohio could be the best choice for you. If you or a loved one is struggling with a heroin addiction in Ohio, and is looking for heroin addiction treatment or opioid addiction treatment, we can help. Contact Us Today. Or Call 855-969-3668