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Long-term opioid use occurs in about 4% of people following their use for trauma or surgery-related pain. [20] In the United States, most heroin users begin by using prescription opioids that may also be bought illegally. [21] [22] People with opioid use disorder are often treated with opioid replacement therapy using methadone or buprenorphine ...
Between 4 and 6% of people who misuse prescription opioids turn to heroin, and 80% of heroin addicts began abusing prescription opioids. [98] Many people addicted to opioids switch from taking prescription opioids to heroin because heroin is less expensive and more easily acquired on the black market. [99]
The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs called opiates/opioids since the 1990s. It includes the significant medical, social, psychological, demographic and economic consequences of the medical ...
The addiction involves genetic predisposition, corrupted brain chemistry, entrenched environmental factors and any number of potential mental-health disorders — it requires urgent medical intervention. According to the medical establishment, medication coupled with counseling is the most effective form of treatment for opioid addiction.
Each year 69,000 people worldwide die of opioid overdose, and 15 million people have an opioid addiction. [71] In older adults, opioid use is associated with increased adverse effects such as "sedation, nausea, vomiting, constipation, urinary retention, and falls". [72] As a result, older adults taking opioids are at greater risk for injury. [73]
Opioids reduce pain by binding to receptors in the brain that receive nerve signals from different parts of the body. Those chemical interactions also give rise to opioids' addictive effects.