Who "Gets" An Opioid Addiction

Opioid addiction can affect anyone, even a doctor with knowledge on the subject, but it seems that even adolescents are feeling the brunt of this epidemic. A common way to abuse, and eventually become addicted to opioids, is to be prescribed them after a surgery by a doctor.

According to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, one in twenty young adults continue to take opioids long after the pain of surgery was meant to end. It was thought that the opioid crisis wasn’t affecting young adults significantly but this study proves differently. It’s a serious problem for the community even if the kids aren’t taking the opioids themselves. They could also be giving them away to peers or saving them for later use.

Either way, the opioids are then on the street for someone to abuse. That’s another possible way adolescents could take advantage of opioids; many find the stashes from past surgeries of friends or family. Thinking prescription drugs are less dangerous than others like heroin, adolescents begin using the opioids, leading them down a dangerous road.

Just think of the celebrities who have become addicted and died in this crisis. Famous people with everything to live for that are now gone; Prince (April 2016), Heath Ledger (2008) and Tom Petty (2017)