Karlee Trickel
ENG 101
Mr. Cook
5 December 2017
Opiate-Addiction Treatment: Medical Marijuana
In 2016 alone, 64,070 American lives were relinquished by a chronically relapsing
disease: drug addiction (CDC). Drug addiction has indeed been addressed in the past, however,
the unprecedented surge of opiate-related fatalities over the last decade is now recognized as an
epidemic and demands attention. Opium in an addictive narcotic found in heroin and prescription
pain relievers that continues to be the leading cause of the proliferating deaths nationwide.
Falsely and aggressively advertised by corrupt pharmaceutical companies, opium-potent
painkillers have been blindly written and dispensed at an alarming rate, resulting in a nationwide
crisis. In effort to aid those enduring the mental and physical distress that accompanies
detoxification, modern rehabilitation suggests the counterintuitive admission of yet another
narcotic: methadone. Methadone treatment is supplemental to the opioid crisis and is not a
suitable solution; whereas the administration of medical marijuana eases the withdrawal
symptoms of those afflicted by this disease and is ultimately the safest alternative.
While opium is illicitly found in the notorious street drug, heroin, opiate dependence
often surfaces from the misuse of legal prescriptions commonly referred to as Vicodin and
Percocet. Dr. Derek Sulak describes the relationship between the heroin and opiate epidemic, “In
2014, for example, there were around 19,000 overdose deaths from opioid prescriptions and
around 11,000 overdose deaths from heroin… Nearly 80 percent of heroin users in the United
States reported using prescription opioids before initiating heroin use. And 45 percent of heroin
users are currently addicted to prescription opioids,” suggesting that this lethal outbreak was
ignited by the inordinate distribution of opiate drugs. In fact, the environmental availability of
prescription narcotics has expanded to such an extreme that almost 100% of the world’s
hydrocodone and 81% of oxycodone are found in America alone (NIDA). Properly addressing
this epidemic requires the societal recognition of addiction as a disease. Dr. Dan Lonergan is
quoted: “But to stigmatize addiction as a moral failing rather than a brain disease is wrong… To
not offer medicine as a treatment would be like withholding insulin from a diabetic,” reinforcing
the nation’s dire need for medicinal addiction treatment (Tanner, Lindsey).
Detoxifying from opium is a strenuous process, requiring the user to endure withdrawal
