Website Review and Summary: Opioid Painkillers

Negative consequences associated with the misuse use and overprescribing of the opioid painkiller drug is being seen in urban and suburban areas, rural communities, and the inner cities across the nation. The Centers for Disease Control (2014) states, “More Americans are using and dying from prescription painkillers than from heroin” (para. 2). The CDC reports in 2013  there has been approximately a 20 percent increase in overdose deaths involving opioid prescription painkillers since 2006. In 2010, over 16,000 drug overdose deaths involving prescription painkillers were documented (CDC, 2014). Astonishingly, in the same year there were approximately 3,000 drug overdose deaths involving heroin alone (CDC, 2014).

This website review and summary will address important information pertaining to how the various levels of government are work together to inform the public about public health matters, such as the over­prescribing of opioid painkillers and how a combination of community efforts and enforcement of state and federal regulations can make a difference (DEA 2014). When it comes to public health concerns that effect an entire nation, such as the high rates of deaths that continue to grow due to the misuse of the very addictive opioid prescription painkiller, government and state must collaborate together to establish safer guidelines and tougher penalties for opioid trafficking and continue to help states develop and maintain a prescription monitoring program. This public health pandemic has caught the attention of not only local communities such as, but is also being addressed on both a state and national level as well (CDC, 2014).

Information Overlap

When researching the information on the websites from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and numerous national and state agencies, it is apparent that levels of government has the best interest of the people in mind. When looking at websites on a state level, the information is factual and combines real life stories to depict the problem and educate the people the dangers associated with this particular, newly issued Class II drug (CDC, 2014). On a local level, the information contained consists of mostly stories from real events and or people. Statistics are listed, but sourced from national or state leveled resources. While one writer’s opinion may be depicted in a local website using information from state and national resources, its scope is to reach a much smaller community group rather than the entire population. They focus on the community issues in the immediate and surrounding area. Structures Between Levels of Government

The structures of government collect data from various sources of statistics from the prevalence of opioid painkillers in any given area. It is then compared and shared among various local, state and national levels. The different levels of government share a common mission, which is to provide a safe and healthy environment for every citizen in the community.