Heroin & Pain Medication: The Problem with Overprescribing

heroinThe number of heroin-related deaths has drastically increased over the last several years in Minnesota and across the nation. In the past, heroin was a drug in the shadows, shot up into veins for an immediate high.  It was a problem in the 1960’s and early 1970’s and then faded away for a while.  Today, it is back with a vengeance, and its resurgence is linked to prescription pain medications.

Heroin & Prescription Drugs

Today heroin is more pure than ever and is relatively cheap at small amounts.  The street cost of heroin is often less than that of prescription narcotics.  The availability of both heroin and prescription narcotics has led to our current crisis.  When prescription drugs are not available, people turn to heroin to obtain the high they need to prevent narcotic withdrawal.  Unfortunately, overdosing on heroin is easy.

A heroin addiction often begins with prescription opioids or narcotics.  These medications can be legitimately used to treat pain, but they have become overly prescribed and not closely monitored by physicians.  Many people are not controlling the medications they receive and are selling them for personal profit.  The movement of prescription opioids to the street, and the use of these medications for a high is now a major problem.

Pain Cannot be Cured by a Magic Pill

Patients today often think that medicine has a magical solution to their pain and that they are entitled to opioid pain medications.  There are many treatments for pain, but there is no magical pill that will resolve a person’s pain entirely. In the United States, we prescribe over 90% of all opioids in the world – surely we do not have that much more pain.

At one time, pain was undertreated and ignored by medication.  Education and awareness over time improved treatment, but the pendulum has swung past the rational treatment of pain.  Opioid medication has become the simple and easy treatment option for those in pain. But pain medicine is a complex specialty aimed at an appropriate management of the problem.  Good pain management is a comprehensive treatment, not an opioid pill.

The Solution is Proper Pain Management

Heroin and opioid drug abuse are now significantly intertwined.  Addiction is a disease that does not go away. Once a person has an issue with addiction, no matter what the drug, they will always be prone to addiction to other compounds.

Addiction is a serious problem, and treatment of pain is much more than treatment with opioids.  To decrease drug abuse across the country, physicians need to use pain management experts to develop good treatment programs for pain beyond just a pill.