Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T03:23:21.659Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The Effect of Policy and Governmental Regulations on the Opioid Epidemic

from Part I - The Origins of Addiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2023

Ethan O. Bryson
Affiliation:
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
Christine E. Boxhorn
Affiliation:
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Get access

Summary

The effect of individual governmental drug policies and regulations has, in many cases, been the main driving force behind the direction the opioid epidemic has taken in the United States and many countries around the world. Unfortunately these policies have sometimes had dramatically different effects than were initially intended. Changes in policy which allowed for increased availability of opioid medications had the unintended consequence of widespread opioid addiction and overdose deaths. Policies which aimed to crack down on the diversion of these medications from legitimate medical use resulted in the spike in heroin use as those people who were now addicted to opioids had to turn elsewhere. As demand for heroin surged, so too did manufacturing and sales, and as law enforcement targeted illicit heroin trafficking, cartels turned to the more potent and easier to hide synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and carfentanil. It seems that every governmental policy change or new regulation intended to stop the opioid epidemic is met with a creative solution by the people profiting to keep the opioid trade open.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Opioid Epidemic
Origins, Current State and Potential Solutions
, pp. 33 - 46
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References and Further Reading

Alawa, J, Muhammad, M, Kazemitabar, M, et al. (2022). Medication for opioid use disorder in the Arab World: A systematic review. International Journal of Drug Policy 102: 103617.Google Scholar
Bridge, J, Ane, M-G (2017). Drug laws in West Africa: A review and summary. West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD) and the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) briefing paper, November 2017. https://idpc.net/publications/2017/11/drug-laws-in-west-africa-a-review-and-summaryGoogle Scholar
Carson, EA, Anderson, E (2016). Prisoners in 2015. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/p15.pdfGoogle Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2011). Vital signs: Overdoses of prescription opioid pain relievers – United States, 1999–2008. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 60(43): 14871492.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (n.d.). Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). https://wonder.cdc.govGoogle Scholar
Drug Enforcement Administration (2019). National drug threat assessment. Drug Enforcement Administration Strategic Intelligence Section, U.S. Department of Justice. www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-01/2019-NDTA-final-01-14-2020_Low_Web-DIR-007-20_2019.pdfGoogle Scholar
Eligh, J (2019). The evolution of illicit drug markets and drug policy in Africa. ENACT Observer, June 30. https://enactafrica.org/research/continental-reports/the-evolution-of-illicit-drug-markets-and-drug-policy-in-africaGoogle Scholar
Felbab-Brown, V, Trinkunas, H, Barakat, S (2016). Breaking bad in the Middle East and North Africa: Drugs, militants and human rights. www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2016/03/22/breaking-bad-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-drugs-militants-and-human-rightsGoogle Scholar
Gladden, RM, Martinez, P, Seth, P (2016). Fentanyl law enforcement submissions and increases in synthetic opioid-involved overdose deaths: 27 states, 2013–2014. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 65: 837843.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gladden, RM, O’Donnell, J, Mattson, C, Seth, P (2019). Changes in opioid-involved overdose deaths by opioid type and presence of benzodiazepines, cocaine, and methamphetamine – 25 states, July–December 2017 to January–June 2018. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 68(34): 737744.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, N (2016). The federal prison population buildup: Options for congress, May 20, 2016. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R42937.pdfGoogle Scholar
Kariisa, M, Scholl, L, Wilson, N, Seth, P, Hoots, B (2019). Drug overdose deaths involving cocaine and psychostimulants with abuse potential: United States, 2003–2017. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 68(17): 4143.Google ScholarPubMed
National Institute on Drug Abuse (n.d.). Drug overdose death rates. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates (accessed December 2, 2022)Google Scholar
O’Donnell, JK, Gladden, RM, Seth, P (2017a). Trends in deaths involving heroin and synthetic opioids excluding methadone, and law enforcement drug product reports, by census region: United States, 2006–2015.Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 66: 897903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Donnell, JK, Halpin, J, Mattson, CL, Goldberger, BA, Gladden, RM (2017b). Deaths involving fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and U-47700: 10 states, July–December 2016. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 60: 14871492.Google Scholar
Paulozzi, LJ, Jones, CM, Mack, KA, Rudd, RA (2011).Vital signs: Overdoses of prescription opioid pain relievers: United States, 1999–2008. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 66: 11971202.Google Scholar
Pew Charitable Trusts (2018). More imprisonment does not reduce state drug problems, a brief from the Pew Charitable Trusts. www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2018/03/pspp_more_imprisonment_does_not_reduce_state_drug_problems.pdfGoogle Scholar
RAND Corporation (1993). Comparing Western European and North American drug policies, an international conference report. www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR237.htmlGoogle Scholar
Rudd, RA, Paulozzi, LJ, Bauer, MJ, et al. (2014). Increases in heroin overdose deaths: 28 states, 2010 to 2012. The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 63(39): 849.Google ScholarPubMed
Reuter, P, Mathea, F, MacCoun, R (1993). Comparing Western European and North American Drug Policies: An International Conference Report. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.Google Scholar
Snell, TL (1995). Correctional Populations in the United States, 1993, Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/correctional-populations-united-states-1993Google Scholar
University of Albany, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 2003, Table 6.57. www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t657.pdfGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2017). HHS acting secretary declares public health emergency to address national opioid crisis. https://public3.pagefreezer.com/browse/HHS.gov/31-12-2020T08:51/https:/www.hhs.gov/about/news/2017/10/26/hhs-acting-secretary-declares-public-health-emergency-address-national-opioid-crisis.htmlGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Justice (2016). United States Department of Justice report on prisoners in 2015. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/p15.pdfGoogle Scholar
Westermeyer, J (1976). The pro-heroin effects of anti-opium laws in Asia. Archives of General Psychiatry 33: 11351139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×