The Effect of Policy and Governmental Regulations on the Opioid Epidemic

Ethan O. Bryson; Christine E. Boxhorn

doi:10.1017/9781009256551.007

4 - The Effect of Policy and Governmental Regulations on the Opioid Epidemic

from Part I - The Origins of Addiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2023

Ethan O. Bryson and

Christine E. Boxhorn

Show author details

Ethan O. Bryson: Affiliation:
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
Christine E. Boxhorn: Affiliation:
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Book contents

Get access

Summary

The effect of individual governmental drug policies and regulations has, in many cases, been the main driving force behind the direction the opioid epidemic has taken in the United States and many countries around the world. Unfortunately these policies have sometimes had dramatically different effects than were initially intended. Changes in policy which allowed for increased availability of opioid medications had the unintended consequence of widespread opioid addiction and overdose deaths. Policies which aimed to crack down on the diversion of these medications from legitimate medical use resulted in the spike in heroin use as those people who were now addicted to opioids had to turn elsewhere. As demand for heroin surged, so too did manufacturing and sales, and as law enforcement targeted illicit heroin trafficking, cartels turned to the more potent and easier to hide synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and carfentanil. It seems that every governmental policy change or new regulation intended to stop the opioid epidemic is met with a creative solution by the people profiting to keep the opioid trade open.

Keywords

opioid misuse government regulations policy politics war on drugs incarceration law law enforcement

Type: Chapter
Information: The Opioid Epidemic
Origins, Current State and Potential Solutions
, pp. 33 - 46

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009256551.007 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References and Further Reading

Alawa, J, Muhammad, M, Kazemitabar, M, et al. (2022). Medication for opioid use disorder in the Arab World: A systematic review. International Journal of Drug Policy 102: 103617.Google Scholar

Bridge, J, Ane, M-G (2017). Drug laws in West Africa: A review and summary. West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD) and the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) briefing paper, November 2017. https://idpc.net/publications/2017/11/drug-laws-in-west-africa-a-review-and-summary Google Scholar

Carson, EA, Anderson, E (2016). Prisoners in 2015. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/p15.pdf Google Scholar

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2011). Vital signs: Overdoses of prescription opioid pain relievers – United States, 1999–2008. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 60(43): 1487–1492.Google Scholar

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (n.d.). Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). https://wonder.cdc.gov Google Scholar

Drug Enforcement Administration (2019). National drug threat assessment. Drug Enforcement Administration Strategic Intelligence Section, U.S. Department of Justice. www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-01/2019-NDTA-final-01-14-2020_Low_Web-DIR-007-20_2019.pdf Google Scholar

Eligh, J (2019). The evolution of illicit drug markets and drug policy in Africa. ENACT Observer, June 30. https://enactafrica.org/research/continental-reports/the-evolution-of-illicit-drug-markets-and-drug-policy-in-africa Google Scholar

Felbab-Brown, V, Trinkunas, H, Barakat, S (2016). Breaking bad in the Middle East and North Africa: Drugs, militants and human rights. www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2016/03/22/breaking-bad-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-drugs-militants-and-human-rights Google Scholar

Gladden, RM, Martinez, P, Seth, P (2016). Fentanyl law enforcement submissions and increases in synthetic opioid-involved overdose deaths: 27 states, 2013–2014. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 65: 837–843.CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Gladden, RM, O’Donnell, J, Mattson, C, Seth, P (2019). Changes in opioid-involved overdose deaths by opioid type and presence of benzodiazepines, cocaine, and methamphetamine – 25 states, July–December 2017 to January–June 2018. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 68(34): 737–744.CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Harm Reduction International (2022). The global state of harm reduction. https://hri.global/flagship-research/the-global-state-of-harm-reduction/the-global-state-of-harm-reduction-2022/Google Scholar

James, N (2016). The federal prison population buildup: Options for congress, May 20, 2016. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R42937.pdf Google Scholar

Kariisa, M, Scholl, L, Wilson, N, Seth, P, Hoots, B (2019). Drug overdose deaths involving cocaine and psychostimulants with abuse potential: United States, 2003–2017. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 68(17): 41–43.Google Scholar PubMed

National Institute on Drug Abuse (n.d.). Drug overdose death rates. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates (accessed December 2, 2022)Google Scholar

O’Donnell, JK, Gladden, RM, Seth, P (2017a). Trends in deaths involving heroin and synthetic opioids excluding methadone, and law enforcement drug product reports, by census region: United States, 2006–2015.Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 66: 897–903.CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

O’Donnell, JK, Halpin, J, Mattson, CL, Goldberger, BA, Gladden, RM (2017b). Deaths involving fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and U-47700: 10 states, July–December 2016. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 60: 1487–1492.Google Scholar

Paulozzi, LJ, Jones, CM, Mack, KA, Rudd, RA (2011).Vital signs: Overdoses of prescription opioid pain relievers: United States, 1999–2008. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 66: 1197–1202.Google Scholar

Pew Charitable Trusts (2018). More imprisonment does not reduce state drug problems, a brief from the Pew Charitable Trusts. www.pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets/2018/03/pspp_more_imprisonment_does_not_reduce_state_drug_problems.pdf Google Scholar

RAND Corporation (1993). Comparing Western European and North American drug policies, an international conference report. www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR237.html Google Scholar

Rudd, RA, Paulozzi, LJ, Bauer, MJ, et al. (2014). Increases in heroin overdose deaths: 28 states, 2010 to 2012. The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 63(39): 849.Google Scholar PubMed

Reuter, P, Mathea, F, MacCoun, R (1993). Comparing Western European and North American Drug Policies: An International Conference Report. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.Google Scholar

Snell, TL (1995). Correctional Populations in the United States, 1993, Bureau of Justice Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/correctional-populations-united-states-1993 Google Scholar

University of Albany, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 2003, Table 6.57. www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t657.pdf Google Scholar

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2017). HHS acting secretary declares public health emergency to address national opioid crisis. https://public3.pagefreezer.com/browse/HHS.gov/31-12-2020T08:51/https:/www.hhs.gov/about/news/2017/10/26/hhs-acting-secretary-declares-public-health-emergency-address-national-opioid-crisis.html Google Scholar

U.S. Department of Justice (2016). United States Department of Justice report on prisoners in 2015. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/p15.pdf Google Scholar

Westermeyer, J (1976). The pro-heroin effects of anti-opium laws in Asia. Archives of General Psychiatry 33: 1135–1139.CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed