Dear FDA,
Food is a broad subject of supplements that are supposed to heal and nourish the body. Therefore I include medication and prescription drugs as a form of food since they are to be consumed. The issue with the FDA is their lack of ability to regulate opioid medications to the public. For example, the legal supply of oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, and codeine are prescribed as pain killers to those in need. The synthetic opioids within these drugs have the same addictive properties as the number one fatality drug in the country which is heroin. With the FDA allowing pharmaceutical companies to provide this drug, they are providing American's with a lifetime of addiction.
The fentanyl properties within these prescriptions cause a rewiring of the brain and a sense of dependence on the drug. Once the 50 hydrocodone pills you were initially prescribed run out your brain believes your body is dependent on those drugs. So most will turn to the streets to find an opioid source which happens to be heroin. This is dissatisfaction to the public health for over 100 American's die due to opioid overdose every day and 37,814 Americans die annually every year.
The push for these pain killers seem to be at an all-time high and the pharmaceutical companies are willing to supply these drugs to virtually everyone. My sister, for example, a 16-year-old child had a hurt shoulder and went to the doctor because of it. Within 30 minutes she was prescribed 100 oxycodone by the doctor and instructed to take two a day. This unnecessary supplement caused my sister to break out into uncontrollable tears every time she would take a pill. She quickly realized that the pills were only harming her emotional state and my dad dumped them down the toilet. The FDA should not have allowed the doctor to prescribe her with such a high amount of oxycodone because a pain killer that is given by the hundreds is not meant to heal you it is meant to hook you.
With the number of overdose fatalities, every year from these drugs, the regulation needs to be made that only those with serious surgeries can be prescribed. And even in that situation, a small dose needs to be supplied so that the well being of the American people do not become addicted to this aggressive chemical. I hope to see a complete removal of this substance from the pharmacy's in the future because there are over the counter medications for pain killers that don't create an addictive downward spiral.
-Cameron Kygar
I think this is a very important topic especially because if the FDA's information isn't correct about what kind of medications we are putting into our body, then there's no way we'll know what's inside of them and that's a scary idea.
ReplyDeleteCameron, I agree with your opinion on having a regulation to decrease the prescription of pain killers like opioid. I think there should be a regulation to limit the power of doctors prescribing opioid left and right to people with minor pain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your opinion. It's dangerous for us when we don't know what we are putting in our bodies.
ReplyDeleteAs a medical professional, I can tell you that opiods are by far the most effective pain killers utilized by doctors. All extended use of opiods by prescription require an individual to have regular consultations with a pains management specialist (an MD) and prescriptions are given at no more than three months at a time. Opiods aren't for everyone and if you have an adverse reaction to the medication then you should talk to your doctor or go to the ER. I also have personal experience with opiods. My mother takes an opiod based pain killer everyday just so that she can get out of bed and actually live her life. I know that this kind of medication can seem like an evil, but in the end it comes down to individual responsibility and communication with your doctor. The regulations are already crazy enough, but if people keeps pushing for there to be even more, people like my mother will start to loose their meds, and that would be 10 times worse.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you entirely, and far as the flow of your letter goes, it very clear and concise. Good stuff!
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