Question

So, I am trying to do a research about Economic and Social Cost of the Opioid Crisis in the US , So I need to write

• background on this issue( typed please)

• policy question and maybe a couple of paragraphs on that background and policy question and then the research question.

Please help and type it, Thanks

Answer 1

Background: -

The Opioid Crisis began in the United States primarily in the early 1990's, when companies sold to the government this idea that these medications were not addictive in nature and would do no or negligible long-term harms to the patients. The resultant was that it was over prescribed and till date, thousands of people lose their lives in the United States due to the Opioid misuse and over dose.

As of early 2017, about 45 thousand people died in the United States due to its administration. These are not limited to prescription medicine alone, but extend to illicit drugs such as heroine, fentanyl etc.

The idea behind prescribing this as a medicine is to relive pain among patients who go through chronic inflammations in their body. However more than often it is seen that misuse rates could be much over 20 percent of the overall prescribed in the United States alone.

Economic and Social Cost: -

Now that we know that historically, the main problem of opioid is that it was over prescribed and has extended till date, we look at the economic and social aspects of the exercise also.

Economically speaking, opioid prescriptions pose a challenge to the government in the form of illicit transactions as well as the social impact of addicted people is such, that they lose their lives or their ability to work at a very young age.

Once hooked to the medicines, the side effects begin to show, and people lose their interests in normal works of life such as completing a formal education or taking up a job. Due to this, the economy does not operate at full levels, and a major chunk of the population which could have otherwise contributed to the success of the United States goes waste, reducing the potential gross domestic product of the country.

Further, most opioid medication is sold in illicit manners which leads to the generation of black money in the country. This black money is often not part of the formal system and creates a negative return for any government as it is not a part of the formal structure of any economy. Social problems such as increasing crime rates are much attributed to the addiction even further and these have both economic as well as social costs and reduce the final output for any country respectively.

Please feel free to ask your doubts in the comments section.