Question

What are the economic and social consequences of the opioid epidemic among young people in Canada?

Answer 1

Opioid is a morphine like drug used as a pain reliever for mild to medium pain. The outbreak of a nationwide opioid overuse and deaths has socio-economic consequences. What was created as a pain relief medicine soon began to be used as a go-to medicine for every type of pain. The increase of opioid shot drastically in the mid 2000's among young people. The excessive drug abuse led to physical and psychological changes. People started using opioid with heroin that increased deaths due to overdose.

The economic consequences include rapidly falling life expectations. Substance abuse pushed people to poverty. The large scale deaths and poverty increased income inequality in Canada. The young people are unemployed as they force their way into unskilled and low paying jobs that include huge physical work that further fed into their addiction. The overuse of opioid created tolerance of the drug to the point that it was no longer useful. It created a Public health crisis in Canada.

The social consequences include depression, anxiety, stress, chronic fatigue, sleepiness and pain that hinders capabilities to work. In many cases, individuals with severe drug abuse opted for suicides as they were publicly humiliated and ashamed. The drug made them addicts, they faced severe neurological disabilities.