How many people do you know wake up and say, "I think I will be a drug addict." My point exactly, no one! Rio Arriba County, the county directly bordering the county I live in, has the most heroin overdoses per capita in the world. Yup, in the world. Growing up in this environment never phased me, I was oblivious to drugs or drug problems. It wasn't until my home was the target of a drug robbery. What does that mean, it means that they broke into my home, took what they needed and sold the items to buy drugs. That was my first experience, the next came several years later when my once close friends and family members became part of the vicious cycle of drug addiction. The problem finally captured my attention, what was going, what was the problem? After doing some research, mostly asking questions, I found out that heroin addiction was triggered often times by an accident that caused "chronic pain." Doctors prescribe a pharmaceutical pain reliever such as Percocet or some other opiate derivative. The patient would take the prescription as directed, 1-3 times daily for the next month. A month doesn't seem like a long time, but the human body gains immunity quickly. The next time the patient visits the doctor, the patient will complain that the pain is still acute and the doctor will prescribe something stronger, such as a stronger version of Percocet or even OxyContin. OxyContin is a synthetic version of heroin, often times only prescribed for the most acute type of cancer patients.
As you can see, the patient continues using the prescription drug and the body continues to build immunity to the drug. By the time the doctor cuts the patient off or decreases the supply, the patient is now addicted. This is when it gets really bad, the patient switches to intravenous use of the drug to speed up the process and often switches to a more effective version of the drug, heroin. To satisy the addiction the patient will look to the street pharmacists to satiate the addiction.
Although there are various other reasons how addictions are formed, for this specific case I will focus on a feedback loop I know to be true.
In this situation the variable I would track over time would be the prescription of narcotics such as the ones mentioned above.
Hard elements:
Drug over-doses
Narcotics prescribed and duration
Doctors earn money for prescribing medication
Soft elements:
Lack of incentive for doctors to value patient health.
Social acceptance for drug users
As you can see, the patient continues using the prescription drug and the body continues to build immunity to the drug. By the time the doctor cuts the patient off or decreases the supply, the patient is now addicted. This is when it gets really bad, the patient switches to intravenous use of the drug to speed up the process and often switches to a more effective version of the drug, heroin. To satisy the addiction the patient will look to the street pharmacists to satiate the addiction.
Although there are various other reasons how addictions are formed, for this specific case I will focus on a feedback loop I know to be true.
In this situation the variable I would track over time would be the prescription of narcotics such as the ones mentioned above.
Hard elements:
Drug over-doses
Narcotics prescribed and duration
Doctors earn money for prescribing medication
Soft elements:
Lack of incentive for doctors to value patient health.
Social acceptance for drug users
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