The Opioid Epidemic in the United States

Richard Gentry Wilkerson; Hong K Kim; Thomas Andrew Windsor; Darren P Mareiniss

doi:10.1016/j.emc.2015.11.002

The Opioid Epidemic in the United States

Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2016 May;34(2):e1-e23. doi: 10.1016/j.emc.2015.11.002. Epub 2016 Feb 17.

Authors

Richard Gentry Wilkerson¹, Hong K Kim², Thomas Andrew Windsor², Darren P Mareiniss²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 110 South Paca Street, 6th Floor, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: gwilkerson@em.umaryland.edu.
² Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 110 South Paca Street, 6th Floor, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.

PMID: 27133253
DOI: 10.1016/j.emc.2015.11.002

Abstract

There is an epidemic of opioid abuse. This article discusses the history of opioid use. Abusers of opioids are at great risk of harm. There have been increasing legislative efforts to curb this abuse and we present a review of the current state of these laws. Naloxone has made a profound impact in the care of these patients if they present for medical care early enough. This paper discusses naloxone pharmacodynamics, its use in the medical setting, and how its use is now being expanded to include nontraditional providers with take home naloxone programs.

Keywords: Heroin; Legal liability; Opioid epidemic; Opioids; Overdose; Prescription drugs.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Analgesics, Opioid / therapeutic use
Humans
Opioid-Related Disorders / epidemiology*
Pain / drug therapy
Prescription Drug Misuse*
Risk Factors
United States / epidemiology

Substances

Analgesics, Opioid