A Holistic & Practical Approach for Addressing Opioid Substance Use Disorder-Samuel

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The presentation reviews the history of opioid use, its medical purpose, and its role in the opioid epidemic. Opioids work by binding to mu, kappa, and delta receptors to block pain signals, but they can also cause euphoria, dependence, respiratory depression, and death. They are used medically for acute and chronic pain, palliative care, cough, and diarrhea, but also misused to relieve emotional distress or avoid withdrawal.<br /><br />Historically, opioid use moved from little regulation before the 1800s, to control under the Harrison Narcotic Control Act in 1914, to “opiophobia” in the mid-1900s, and then back toward broader prescribing in the 1990s after pain was labeled the “fifth vital sign.” Misleading pharmaceutical marketing, patient satisfaction pressures, and limited provider training helped drive overprescribing.<br /><br />The result has been a major public health crisis: more than half a million opioid overdose deaths since 1999, with later waves driven by heroin and illicit fentanyl. Efforts to respond include buprenorphine treatment, CDC prescribing guidelines, PDMPs, naloxone access, abuse-deterrent formulations, and multimodal pain management. Prescribing has declined, but overdose deaths remain high, so prevention, treatment access, education, and stigma reduction remain essential.

Asset Caption

Dr. Samuel History Recording

Keywords

opioid epidemic

pain management

opioid receptors

overprescribing

fentanyl overdose

buprenorphine treatment

naloxone access