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Pill Popping Problem

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Submitted By koolmoe
Words 1367
Pages 6
Pill Popping Problem
November 1, 2012

Abstract

The following essay is an argument to try to persuade readers that the dispensing and prescribing of opiate medication for all problems relating to pain is detrimental to the health of patients. I have included a personal story and data relating to the overprescribing of pain medication. The sources I have cited include the New York Times, Kaiser Health News, Stop Drugged Driving.org and Daily Mail, UK.

When I looked into the glassy tear-filled eyes of my dear friend Charlotte, I saw pain. She had just spent the night in the Clark County Detention Center. As she explained to me what had happened to bring her there, driving under the influence of narcotics, I saw the pain turn to anguish. She was embarrassed from what she had done to herself. She was fighting withdrawal from the Lortab that her doctor had prescribed for her. I was happy that I could help her get out of jail that morning, but that was not the end of her pain and suffering. It was just the beginning. The medication that was supposed to help her neck pain feel better had wound up causing her more suffering and problems than she bargained for. This is an all too common problem seen in the United States. The prescribing of opiate medications for complaints of simple pain is causing addiction and health problems and is detrimental to the health of patients. My friend Charlotte had fallen victim to an addiction to pain killers propagated by easy access through a local “pill mill.”
Pill mills are essentially offices with people that are licensed to prescribe drugs, whether it be a physician, nurse practitioner or other licensed individual, dependent upon the state one lives in. There is commonly a pharmacy that works with the pill mill to provide easy hassle-free access to multiple refills for the patient. These offices operate under

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