History of the Opioid Crisis

The Harrison Narcotic Control Act was passed in 1914 due to increasing Heroin and Opioid abuse.

After it was passed patients who came to a provider with inexplicable pain were thought to be abusers and cancer patients were encouraged to ween off narcotics until they only had a few weeks to live.

In the 1990s the pharmaceutical companies assured health care providers that opioid pain relievers were not addictive.

In 1995 the American Pain Association initiated a campaign that advocated for pain as the fifth vital sign.

After the standards released in 2000 by the Joint Commission encouraging thorough pain assessments, physicians began to prescribe opioids at higher rates in fear that if they did not adhere to the Joint Commission standards the hospital would not receive funds. 

In the 2000s Big Pharma released an extended-release form of OxyContin which was perceived to not be as addicting so physicians began to prescribe more.

From 1997 to 2002, OxyContin prescriptions increased from 670,000 to 6.2 million (Jones et al., 2018). 

The opioid overdose rate began to increase and in 2017 more than 47,000 people died from an overdose. 

In 2017 the US government declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency (Jones et al., 2018). 

Big Pharma assured the physicians that patients would not form addictions to opioids.

The Big Pharma companies also marketed their products as humane treatments for pain. This led to an increase in opioid prescriptions. Physicians did this so they would not appear to be inhumanely treating patients.