![Opioid drugs: a dangerous addiction](https://img.passeportsante.net/1000x526/2019-09-30/i91937-medicaments-antidouleurs.jpeg)
September 30, 2019
Still too little known, addiction to opioid drugs has become a real public health problem in France. Each year, 12 million French people consume painkillers to deal with chronic pain. At the same time, the number of poisonings and deaths is also on the rise.
More and more poisoning
As the United States faces a health crisis over pain medication, the ANSM (National Medicines Safety Agency) records four deaths per week due to an opioid overdose in France. In France, hospitalizations related to the consumption of painkillers have jumped 146% in fifteen years.
To prevent excess, since July 2017 regulations have banned so-called “weak” opioids such as codeine or Tramadol, which must now be prescribed by prescription. Strong opioids like morphine come with a safe prescription. Nevertheless, their consumption has increased by 120% over the past three years.
Dangerous drug combinations
Opioids can cause nausea, dry mouth, and drowsiness. Overdose may manifest as disturbances in attention, muscle twitching and difficulty breathing, the main cause of death in case of overdose. To avoid overdose, it is essential not to take other drugs which have the same effects such as benzodiazepines such as Valium®, paracetamol in high doses or anxiolytics.
This is what caused the death of Joseph, an 18 year old teenager who died on December 29, 2016. The young man was the victim of an opiate overdose by swallowing pain pills and anxiolytics. Faced with these overdoses, it is necessary to inform patients as well as possible and to remain vigilant in order to avoid addictions. The ANSM has set up monitoring of these drugs through its addictovigilance network. To prevent the health crisis, an antidote, naloxone, can also be injected in the event of an overdose to stop the action of opioids.
Stephanie Haerts
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