Opioid Use in Sonoma County

The Opioid Epidemic and the Age Groups Most Commonly Affected

The opioid crisis has become a national epidemic, affecting more and more communities through misuse and addiction each year. Especially in areas in the United States such as Sonoma County, overdose and addiction rates of individuals ranging from adolescent to elderly has continuously risen as the crisis has continued. In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured patients and those within the medical community that prescription opioids or pain killers were non-addictive. In current studies and due to the rise in addiction of these pain killers, as recently as 2017, it was stated that nationally, more than 47,000 citizens in the United States have died as a result of overdose and that the rate of those who develop an opioid use disorder lies between 8% to 12%.

opioid misuse has
shifted from older
individuals to younger

In Sonoma County, there has been a spike in opioid addiction and overdose. Studies indicate that between 2010 and 2017, the rate of hospital visits due to prescription opioid overdose in Sonoma county increased to 50%. In comparison to the rate of emergency room visits regarding opioid misuse in California as a whole, Sonoma County is currently 80% higher. As of recently, the age groups primarily affected by opioid misuse has shifted from older individuals to younger. Studies show that the number of emergency room visits is currently up 40% for individuals aging between 15 to 19 and 64% for those aging around 25 to 29. Misuse and the number of death rates has also increased for older individuals from 55 to 64 year olds, but not as rapid as younger generations.

As a result, it was indicated in 2018 that a growing majority of those affected by opioids are the younger generations. Some within the medical community believe that it is due to the legalization of the painkillers and due to the cultural shift around substance use that more and more adolescents are beginning to believe that the use of painkillers are fine due to the fact that they are legal within the United States. It has also been found that adolescents and young adults are commonly prescribed opioids after medical or dental procedures, some of which relating to wisdom teeth removal or sports injury related surgeries. Some are usually left with extra painkillers, leading to the possibility of later use or the possibility of passing the pills around.

In relation to older individuals, it has been reported in 2011 that over 50% of the elderly population are regularly affected and depend on opioids due to chronic pain. Studies have also found that opioid use is highly common and more frequently distributed to older adults in nursing homes in comparison to those who may live in a more community setting. It was also found that older individuals, older women in particular, have a lower risk of opioid misuse, but that they fall vulnerable to the unfavorable effects of opioid use, some of which may consist of accidental overdose, constipation, respiratory depression, and sedation. Overuse has also led to hospitalization among older adults. Though misuse among some individuals may not be as common, the aftermath of opioid use has its negatives that may affect the individual in the long-term.

According to The National Institute on Drug Abuse the main driver of drug overdose deaths in California were those involving prescription opioids with 1,169 deaths in 2017. The opioid epidemic is destroying large parts of the American population and has been called the worst drug crisis in American history. But some races are being hit harder than others. The numbers show that white communities seem to be suffering and are impacted

this epidemic is
overwhelmingly white...
why is this?

the most by the opioid epidemic. For example, in the poorest and whitest communities in California analyzed by researchers, 44.2% of adults, defined as those 15 and older, received at least one opioid prescription per year on average, compared with 16.1% of adults in the richest, most racially diverse communities. Whether you're looking at overdose deaths or emergency room visits for opioid use problems or treatment admissions for opiate addiction, it's very clear that this epidemic is overwhelmingly white. So, we must ask the question, why is this?

In study after study, doctors in primary care, emergency rooms, and orthopedic care have been found to prescribe less medication, and less potent medication, to minority patients who describe the same symptoms and intensity of pain as do white patients. Medical professionals bring an unconscious bias with them to work. While discrimination, hopelessness, and poorer health are widely believed to make chronic pain a more common condition among minorities than among white patients, this bias leads doctors to mistrust or minimize a minority patient reporting of physical and mental distress. Their doubt maybe be unconscious, but many studies have documented it.

Therefore, there are more opioids prescribed to white people, so addiction rate is higher amongst white Americans. Sonoma County is 64% white. This is one of the reasons why the misuse of opioid prescriptions is so high in Sonoma county because white people make up most of the population. In all my interviews conducted throughout my research for opioid misuse in Sonoma County they say White, non-Hispanics are where most overdose deaths are observed in Sonoma County. Also, in a conducted survey done at Sonoma State University showed that the population is over 50% White and they had easy access to prescription opioid pills if they wanted them.

There are treatment programs in Sonoma County, but not enough. There needs to be treatment on demand, there needs to be consistency. People who go to the emergency department for overdose are given Buprenorphine and then sent off to a district hospital, but then what? If there’s the idea that addiction is a disease, then it needs to be treated like a disease.

Opioid Epidemic Engulfs Sonoma County

By Thomas Lopiparo

Sonoma County ranks among one of the highest opioid addicted counties in California. Prescription pills are becoming widely available in a variety of different community types. From upper-class caucasian communities to low-income communities of color, we are seeing a major increase in the usage of opioids. In 2017, more than 47,000 Americans died as a result of an opioid overdose, including prescription opioids, heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid. That same year, an estimated 1.7 million people in the United States suffered from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers, and 652,000 suffered from a heroin use disorder. Although there seems to be a variety of different variables that play into this epidemic, why are we seeing that Sonoma County has numbers that exceed the national average by a large margin?

why are these numbers
so high in Sonoma County?

From 2010 to 2017, there has been an 80 percent increase in emergency room visits due to opioids, which is 18 visits per 100,000 visits. An even more troubling number shows that from 2005 to 2014, a major increase in visits for persons ages 20 to 24 more than doubled, going from 54 visits a year to 119 visits, an increase of 120 percent. The number of emergency room visits for opioids was up 64 percent for 25-29-year-olds and up 40 percent for teenagers aged 15-19. The question remains, why are these numbers so high in Sonoma County?

Sonoma County is a majority white populated country. Studies show that opioid users and abusers have been higher among the majority white areas due to a larger amount of access to these prescription pills. The amount of prescriptions for opioid drugs is the leading factor to these incidents. In an article written by Laura Hagar, a writer for the Rush Staff Writer, quoted Doctor Dave Anderson stating, “1 in 4 teenagers get started on the road to addiction by taking drugs from their parent’s medicine cabinet,” said Dr. Dave Anderson, a member of the task force who was in the audience”. The problem is in the system and the numbers are showing that. The more prescriptions being handed out by pharmacists, the easier access the drugs become on a street level. All it takes is one pill to become addicted to a substance that has a major effect on your brain function. Addiction is something that is hard to be broken. Our community struggles with many different forms of addiction. From nicotine to alcohol, to drugs; we are constantly reminded in society that addiction is everywhere around us.

When opioids began being prescribed to patients in the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to these prescription pills. This reassurance leads to mass production and prescription overload in America, and patients were being prescribed opioids at a rate in which we had never seen in America. Quickly, due to the mass production and availability of these drugs, we began to see the misuse and addiction that these pills were causing. Opioid overdose rates began to increase. In response to the opioid epidemic, the HHS (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and NIH (National Institute of Health) is focusing on five major priorities that they believe will have large impacts on decreasing the number of opioid users and abusers. These five categories include; improving access to treatment and recovery services, promoting the use of overdose-reversing drugs, strengthening our understanding of the epidemic through better public health surveillance, providing support for cutting-edge research on pain and addiction, and advancing better practices for pain management.

Drawing attention to an issue that has engulfed Americans and people across the globe is a tremendous step in the right direction. It is time to take responsibility for a problem that we as a society have let affect the lives of thousands if not millions. Just like anything, the change will not be easy. It is going to take much time and effort in order to begin to see a change in this epidemic. The sooner that these steps are begun, the sooner we can see results and save the lives of many who struggle from such an addiction.

Personal and cultural bias are rampant in medical/clinical practice... something this young mother (and her milk-toast partner) found out the hard way:

https://youtu.be/uAskbJ7GB0k

(skip to 11:49 for the Cliff Notes summary)

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Posted in reply to the post by brewcrewgrl:

... In study after study, doctors in primary care, emergency rooms, and orthopedic care have been found to prescribe less medication, and less potent medication, to minority patients who describe the same symptoms and intensity of pain as do white patients. Medical professionals bring an unconscious bias with them to work. While discrimination, hopelessness, and poorer health are widely believed to make chronic pain a more common condition among minorities than among white patients, this bias leads doctors to mistrust or minimize a minority patient reporting of physical and mental distress. Their doubt maybe be unconscious, but many studies have documented it.

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