Around two million. Almost 600,000. These two numbers are the number of Americans addicted to prescription opiates (opioids) and heroin in 2015, according to the American Society for Addiction Medicine.
An opiate or opioid is a drug related to opium. Opiates interact with the brain. This means that they can relieve your pain or make you high. People use these for both. Prescription opiates include morphine, codeine, oxycodone, (OxyContin), and fentanyl. They are powerful painkillers and people abuse them. People also abuse another opiate, heroin, but this drug is obviously illegal.
Government authorities have taken recent measures to limit the number of opiates available to the American people and to provide more thorough labeling for these drugs. They have even sued pharmaceutical companies for misrepresenting the addictive nature of the drugs.
Banning the drugs entirely seems unlikely. When used properly under doctors’ orders, an opiate can be a useful tool to manage pain. The trouble is, of course, that people don’t always use opiates properly. They might take too many, or take them without a prescription. Or, they may try to use them properly but may become addicted to them.
But there is a possible alternative to traditional opiates. Scientists studying the effects of an opiate known as BU08028 on monkeys found that the drug relieved pain but did not create the potential for abuse. It also didn’t produce side effects, such as problems with the heart and the respiratory system, that some other opiates can produce.
Scientists are still conducting tests on BU08028. Even if a manufacturer decides to market it, the U.S. government’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would still have to conduct its own tests on BU08028 to determine its safety and effectiveness. It doesn’t look as if doctors would be able to prescribe it anytime soon.
But if the drug does prove effective in fighting pain while minimizing the risk of abuse, that’s a wonderful development. People won’t have to deliberate about taking pain medication because they’re afraid that they’ll become addicted to them.
