[Music]
crisis is beginning to feel like an
understatement
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top five
things you need to know about the opioid
fentanyl epidemic before we begin we
publish new videos every day so be sure
to subscribe for more great content for
this list we’re taking a deep dive into
the issue of opioid addiction and the
recent surge of deadly overdoses
relating to this dangerous family of
drugs number five what is an opioid in
order to understand the gravity of the
situation we first need to get a handle
on what constitutes an opioid dating
back to prehistoric times people have
harvested the latex from opium poppies
for the sake of its euphoric and pain
killing properties over the years this
natural product has been refined into a
number of natural opioids known as
opiates like morphine and codeine and
heroin opium has also inspired a wide
range of synthetic and semi synthetic
opioids like oxycodone and fentanyl
opioids go by many brand names like
percocet Demerol vicodin and oxycontin
though opioids vary in terms of their
intensity they all share one thing in
common they’re incredibly addictive
number four how the crisis began to be
clear the world has a long history of
opioid addiction that far predates the
creation of the word addiction there was
opium then laudanum then morphine then
heroin in fact as far back as 1911
Americans were already being called
quote the greatest drug fiends in the
world by their own government but we’re
now facing an epidemic of unprecedented
proportions though the result of many
factors the surge in opioid addiction
seems clearly linked with the over
prescription of painkillers in the
medical system given the highly
addictive nature of opioids many people
find themselves incapable of getting off
of them and when the prescription runs
out they turn to illegal often unsafe
sources
number three the fentanyl factor
arguably the biggest game-changer has
been the introduction of fentanyl a
highly concentrated substance it’s been
used in the medical profession to treat
pain in opium resistant individuals like
palliative cancer patients and as
surgical anesthetic 50 to 100 times
stronger than morphine or 30 to 50 times
stronger than heroin it is highly
effective for dealers it’s a low-cost
way to deliver a strong high for drug
users it’s a game of Russian Roulette
unlike in a medical setting street drugs
are typically cut by the batch when
fentanyl is added to the mix you wind up
with inconsistent dosing there are
certain areas like this entire white
patch here has virtually none of the
blue coloring sugar to represent the
fentanyl
but certain areas have higher
concentrations unfortunately with
fentanyl a few extra grains can be a
deadly difference number two it’s been
called a nationwide public health
emergency in the United States the thing
is fentanyl isn’t just in heroin it’s
found its way into most opioids and to
make matters worse has increasingly been
identified in non opioid drugs like MDMA
and cocaine with many individuals
addicted to painkillers and even more at
risk due to their use of illegal opioids
and party drugs America is facing a
devastating drug problem in October 2017
President Donald Trump declared the
opioid crisis to be a quote nationwide
public health emergency that is why
effective today my administration is
officially declaring the opioid crisis a
national public health emergency under
federal law though this measure is a
step in the right direction many have
called it far too little to bring about
serious change arguing that the
situation calls for a national emergency
as Trump initially promised which would
actually see substantial federal funding
put towards the issue number one the
death toll is unprecedented
the statistics make it painfully clear
that we’re facing the deadliest drug
crisis in the history of America
according to the National Institute on
Drug Abuse
as of 2017 an average of ninety-one
opioid related deaths occur every day in
America according to the New York Times
fatal overdoses are officially the
biggest killer of Americans 50 years old
and younger between 2002 and 2016 heroin
related deaths have skyrocketed a
staggering 533 percent and unfortunately
over-prescription is producing new
heroin converts daily of the over 12
million Americans who misuse
prescription opioids between 4 and 6
percent will switch to heroin in 2016
drug overdoses claimed 64 thousand
American lives and the epidemic shows no
sign of slowing do you agree with our
picks check out these other great clips
from WatchMojo and subscribe for new
videos every day
crisis is beginning to feel like an
understatement
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top five
things you need to know about the opioid
fentanyl epidemic before we begin we
publish new videos every day so be sure
to subscribe for more great content for
this list we’re taking a deep dive into
the issue of opioid addiction and the
recent surge of deadly overdoses
relating to this dangerous family of
drugs number five what is an opioid in
order to understand the gravity of the
situation we first need to get a handle
on what constitutes an opioid dating
back to prehistoric times people have
harvested the latex from opium poppies
for the sake of its euphoric and pain
killing properties over the years this
natural product has been refined into a
number of natural opioids known as
opiates like morphine and codeine and
heroin opium has also inspired a wide
range of synthetic and semi synthetic
opioids like oxycodone and fentanyl
opioids go by many brand names like
percocet Demerol vicodin and oxycontin
though opioids vary in terms of their
intensity they all share one thing in
common they’re incredibly addictive
number four how the crisis began to be
clear the world has a long history of
opioid addiction that far predates the
creation of the word addiction there was
opium then laudanum then morphine then
heroin in fact as far back as 1911
Americans were already being called
quote the greatest drug fiends in the
world by their own government but we’re
now facing an epidemic of unprecedented
proportions though the result of many
factors the surge in opioid addiction
seems clearly linked with the over
prescription of painkillers in the
medical system given the highly
addictive nature of opioids many people
find themselves incapable of getting off
of them and when the prescription runs
out they turn to illegal often unsafe
sources
number three the fentanyl factor
arguably the biggest game-changer has
been the introduction of fentanyl a
highly concentrated substance it’s been
used in the medical profession to treat
pain in opium resistant individuals like
palliative cancer patients and as
surgical anesthetic 50 to 100 times
stronger than morphine or 30 to 50 times
stronger than heroin it is highly
effective for dealers it’s a low-cost
way to deliver a strong high for drug
users it’s a game of Russian Roulette
unlike in a medical setting street drugs
are typically cut by the batch when
fentanyl is added to the mix you wind up
with inconsistent dosing there are
certain areas like this entire white
patch here has virtually none of the
blue coloring sugar to represent the
fentanyl
but certain areas have higher
concentrations unfortunately with
fentanyl a few extra grains can be a
deadly difference number two it’s been
called a nationwide public health
emergency in the United States the thing
is fentanyl isn’t just in heroin it’s
found its way into most opioids and to
make matters worse has increasingly been
identified in non opioid drugs like MDMA
and cocaine with many individuals
addicted to painkillers and even more at
risk due to their use of illegal opioids
and party drugs America is facing a
devastating drug problem in October 2017
President Donald Trump declared the
opioid crisis to be a quote nationwide
public health emergency that is why
effective today my administration is
officially declaring the opioid crisis a
national public health emergency under
federal law though this measure is a
step in the right direction many have
called it far too little to bring about
serious change arguing that the
situation calls for a national emergency
as Trump initially promised which would
actually see substantial federal funding
put towards the issue number one the
death toll is unprecedented
the statistics make it painfully clear
that we’re facing the deadliest drug
crisis in the history of America
according to the National Institute on
Drug Abuse
as of 2017 an average of ninety-one
opioid related deaths occur every day in
America according to the New York Times
fatal overdoses are officially the
biggest killer of Americans 50 years old
and younger between 2002 and 2016 heroin
related deaths have skyrocketed a
staggering 533 percent and unfortunately
over-prescription is producing new
heroin converts daily of the over 12
million Americans who misuse
prescription opioids between 4 and 6
percent will switch to heroin in 2016
drug overdoses claimed 64 thousand
American lives and the epidemic shows no
sign of slowing do you agree with our
picks check out these other great clips
from WatchMojo and subscribe for new
videos every day
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