Why is Opiate Addiction so Difficult to Quit?

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Why is Opiate Addiction so Difficult to Quit?
www.blvdcenters.org
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America is in the midst of an opioid epidemic
that has affected communities throughout the
nation without regard to racial or socio-economic
status. Opioid overdose deaths have skyrocketed
in the last several years and our state and
federal governments have begun to treat the
opioid epidemic as a public health concern,
focusing on treatment rather than criminalization
and incarceration.
However, opiate addiction is extremely difficult
to treat because opiates hijack the brains
pleasure center, changing the structure of the
brain, and creating a life-or-death need for the
drug. Without the use of Medication-Assisted
Treatment (MAT), an overwhelming majority of
opiate addicts will relapse and a significant
number of those folks will overdose and some will
die.
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Opiates Hijack the Brains Pleasure Center
Creating a Powerful Addiction
Opiates activate opioid receptors in the brains
pleasure center that regulate pain, reward, and
pleasure. When activated these receptor cells
release the neurotransmitter dopamine creating an
intense sense of pleasure (Effects of Specific
Drugs on the Brain Heroin, National Institute
on Drug Abuse (NIH), www.drugabuse.gov/publication
s/research-reports/heroin).
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According to Dr. Seddon Savage, an addiction and
pain specialist at Dartmouth College, the brains
pleasure center, the limbic system, connects
areas of the brain that control emotions such as
pleasure of eating, drinking, and sex (Anatomy
of Addiction How Heroin and Opioids Hijack the
Brain, Rodolico, Jack,
http//www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/01/1
1/462390288/anatomy-of-addiction-how-heroin-and-op
ioids-hijack-the-brain, January 11, 2016). The
limbic system is a very ancient part of the
human brain thats necessary for survival, says
Dr. Savage, and opiate addiction hijacks it into
believing the drug is needed for survival (Id.).
Furthermore, long-term opiate use can actually
cause physical changes in the structure and
physiology of the brain creating neurological
imbalances that are difficult to reverse (Id.).
Opiate addicts will go to any length to secure
the drug because the limbic system becomes
hardwired to seek opiates for survival.
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Opiate Treatment in the United States is Highly
Ineffective Only Works for 10 of Addicts
Stripped of his or her will to say no to opiates
because taking the drug is a matter of life or
death, the addict requires medication and
counseling as the most effective form of opiate
addiction treatment according to the medical
establishment (Dying to be Free, Cherkis,
Jason, http//projects.huffingtonpost.com/dying-to
-be-free-heroin-treatment?utm_sourcescoopinion).
However, most addiction treatment in the U.S.
stubbornly adheres to the outdated 12-step model
and eschews fact-based, scientific treatment
practices.
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Given the powerful nature of opiate addiction,
with its record levels of overdose deaths across
the country, government at all levels has begun
to pay attention to the problem. And, some
inpatient treatment centers have recognized the
efficacy of MATs and changed long-standing
policy.
U.S. Could be Years Away from Addiction Treatment
Reform
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However, it may be years before adequate opiate
treatment is available for most addicts because
current abstinence-based 12-step treatment
programs are deeply entrenched and stand to lose
billions of dollars in treatment revenue.
Moreover, if the Affordable Care Act is
repealed, there is no indication whether
addiction treatment will be covered by insurance
companies. The next few years will determine the
direction the U.S. takes in dealing with the
opiate epidemic. Opiate addicts could be facing a
catch-22 get ineffective treatment now or no
treatment in a year or two.