Understanding the Opioid Crisis

An addiction medicine professional who recently worked with Conifer Park, Dr. Kathleen Whaley earned her MD at Indiana University and holds board certification from the American Board of Addiction Medicine. Dr. Kathleen Whaley's areas of clinical concern include the opioid crisis.

Declared a public health emergency in 2017 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the opioid crisis arose as the result of an increase in prescription of opioids for controlling pain. The increase followed reassurance from the pharmaceutical companies that addiction would not be a concern.

That prediction has proved contrary. Somewhere between 21 percent and 29 percent of those who receive prescriptions for opioids misuse them, and every day in the U.S. approximately 116 people die from opioid drug overdose.

Opioids become so highly addictive because they affect not only pain, but also the emotions by increasing levels of dopamine in the brain's reward center. That increase in dopamine creates strong positive emotions. However, as the brain becomes adjusted to the effect, it requires larger and larger doses for the same result, causing dependence and then addiction.