Opioid Crisis: An Epidemic

Lecture Center Concourse

News of the opioid epidemic has circled globally. Cases by the thousands of overdose related deaths due to opioids has caused problems within not only America, but the world. The news coverage contains cases of families being torn apart, children being left without parents and how it leads to problems such as sex trafficking and killing. Opioid usage in the United States has become a more and more serious issue throughout the 21st century. As of 2019 there are more than 130 opioid related deaths in the United States. Many of these addictions can stem from prescription painkiller addiction post-surgery. Roughly 25% of patients who receive prescription painkillers misuse them, and roughly 10% develop an addiction. This addiction can lead to heroin usage, one of the deadliest opioids. 80% of people who use heroin transitioned from prescription opioids. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, has become more frequently used in the past decade, leading to more deaths because of its high fatality rate. Oxycodone, one of the most commonly prescribed opioid painkillers, saw a 500% increase of usage from 1999-2011. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) has added opioid overdose prevention to its list of the top five public health challenges as of 2014. One thing fueling the addiction that feeds the Cartels pockets is the multitude of ways for them to smuggle it into the country. Previously cartels were well known for using small aircrafts to fly drugs into the United States. More recently however authorities have discovered several new innovative ways that traffickers have been using to smuggle drugs across the border. Back in 1990 authorities discovered the first of what has become many underground tunnels used by smugglers. Many of these tunnels were still unfinished but the ones that had been completed featured full lighting systems, air flow systems, rail systems, and pulley or level systems to retrieve the drugs from the tunnel. Authorities have also recovered drones, catapults and even modified cannons near the border all for the purposes of shooting or flying drugs from Mexico into the United States. Authorities more importantly fear that cartels are moving closer to creating fully submersible vessels as they have already captured partial submarines used for smuggling purposes.