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Journal of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences ›› 2023, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (2): 122-129.DOI: 10.5246/jcps.2023.02.010

• Drug administration and clinical pharmacy column • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The opioid crisis in the United States and the strategies to address the epidemic

Chang Wang1,4,#, Chen Jiang2,#, Jing Chen3,*(), Chengliang Zhang4,*()   

  1. 1 Department of Pharmacy, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou 730030, China
    2 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Computational Chemical Genomics Screening Center, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, United States
    3 Department of Pharmacy Administration and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
    4 Department of Pharmacy, Tongji Hospital Affiliated with Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China
  • Received:2022-10-16 Revised:2022-11-09 Accepted:2022-11-12 Online:2023-02-28 Published:2023-02-28
  • Contact: Jing Chen, Chengliang Zhang
  • About author:
    # These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract:

Opioids can alleviate pain and are the main drugs for clinical analgesic treatment. However, due to poor management or improper application, it may cause drug abuse, social harm, and even public health events. The United States has experienced three opioid crises in the past 20 years, which have not only adversely affected patients’ health, but also caused significant economic losses and resource waste to society. This paper reviewed the process of the three opioid crises in the United States, analyzed the causes, and summarized the strategies to address the national epidemic of opioids and the enlightenment of the opioid crisis on clinical work to provide references for the management and clinical use of opioids.

Key words: Opioid crisis, Drug abuse, Pain management

Supporting: