1. Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs (ASPA). (n.d.). What is the U.S. opioid epidemic? HHS.gov. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html

Background: This report posted by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, and it discusses what the Opioid Epidemic is. This includes facts about when and how it started, deaths from overdoses, and miscellaneous statistics on different opioids. It also discussed the consequences opioids are having on overdoses and how babies are experiencing withdrawal syndrome due to them.

How I Used It: I used this report to provide context and background to the reader on what exactly the opioid epidemic is. I discussed how the epidemic started in the late 1990s which sets up a later point in the proposal that the pharmaceutical companies are at fault.

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, November 17). Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. top 100,000 annually. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm

Background: This report gives the most recent statistics on the opioid overdose death rates. It also provides a map of overdose rates in different states in the United States.

How I Used It: I used this report to provide the most recent statistics on drug overdose deaths. Seeing the map also prompted me to research further into the states that had high overdose death rates to see exactly why that was happening.

3. Ltd, All Answers. “R v Kennedy – 2007.” Law Teacher, LawTeacher, 26 Aug. 2021, http://www.lawteacher.net/cases/r-v-kennedy.php.

Background: This article discussed the court case R v Kennedy. In this court case, a drug dealer was charged with manslaughter for providing drugs to a person that died from an overdose. The court ruled in favor of the dealer and established that if a “responsible” adult takes drugs and die, the dealer cannot be held accountable.

How I Used It: I used this to show a court case to discuss a rule established by the court case. The case falls under the counterargument of my paper, so I proved why the ruling in the case was incorrect. Drug users can’t be considered “responsible” so they should have charged the dealer with manslaughter.

4. Kosten, Thomas R, and Tony P George. “The Neurobiology of Opioid Dependence: Implications for Treatment.” Science & Practice Perspectives, National Institute on Drug Abuse, July 2002, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851054/.

Background: This article discussed how opioids affect your brain. They damage different parts of your brain which make your brain tired and decrease its vigilance. They also trick the brain into thinking that the drug isn’t that bad for you and that you need to get more of it.

How I Used It: I used this article to explain the harmful effects of opioids. I needed to provide evidence that opioid abusers are not “responsible,” and the fact that their brain was taking damage was evidence enough to prove this.

5. “21 Million Pain Pills Flood into Small Town of 3,200.” Column Health, https://columnhealth.com/blog_posts/21-million-pain-pills-flood-into-small-town-of-3200/.

Background: This article discusses a small town in West Virginia that was delivered 32 million pills in the last decade. The town only has two pharmacies which means that all these pills were delivered to just them. The article gave statistics on how many pills were given over the course of different time periods to give a better understanding of how many drugs were received.

How I Used It: I used this article to provide evidence of how pharmaceutical companies over deliver opioids to places. I used the statistics that the article provided to explain just how many drugs were delivered to the two pharmacies.

6. Guardian News and Media. (2019, October 2). Why were millions of opioid pills sent to a west virginia town of 3,000? The Guardian. Retrieved May 7, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/02/opioids-west-virginia-pill-mills-pharmacies

Background: This article discusses a small town in West Virginia that was delivered 32 million pills in the last decade. This article gave more details on the pharmacies such as their names and gave a report by a local law enforcement officer.

How I Used It: This article was necessary to use because I needed the name of the pharmacies and proof that they were corrupt. The statement made by the officer was proof enough because he called the pharmacies a “cartel.”

7. “San Diego Doctor Pays $200,000 to Resolve Allegations That He Wrote Illegitimate Opioid Prescriptions.” The United States Department of Justice, 2 Sept. 2021, http://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/san-diego-doctor-pays-200000-resolve-allegations-he-wrote-illegitimate-opioid.

Background: This article discussed a doctor that illegally distributed opioids to his patients for 5 years. There were no reports of any deaths that were caused by the doctor so he couldn’t be held liable for anything. Instead, he received a $200,000 fine and got his license revoked.

How I Used It: I used this article to show that even though these doctors are getting prosecuted with charges, the damages they cause are much more severe. This doctor could have led to several people overdosing on drugs, yet he received such a light charge.

8. Hirsch, R. (2017). The opioid epidemic: It’s time to place blame where it belongs. Missouri medicine. Retrieved May 4, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6140023/

Background: This article provided insight on exactly how Purdue Pharma started rolling out Oxycontin, and how they marketed it. It exposed several US organizations that passed the drug through, and exactly what they did to help pass it through. The article calls for all these organizations to be held responsible for their actions. They also briefly discussed the contributions doctors had on the opioid epidemic.

How I Used It: I used this article discuss some of the companies that helped Purdue Pharma rolled out Oxycontin. Particularly Joint Commission and APA because they did the most. I also used a claim he made about doctors overprescribing medications.

9. Lee, C. (2020, March 21). Santa rosa pain doctor acquitted of two murder charges. Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Retrieved May 4, 2022, from https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/jury-acquits-santa-rosa-pain-doctor-of-two-murder-charges-but-hung-on-rema/

Background: This article discusses Doctor Thomas Keller and the results of his court case. Keller’s jury found him not guilty of 4 out of 9 murders, and were undecided in the rest, so they effectively dropped them. Keller’s attorneys for excited about this and said the case was a huge success.

How I Used It: I used this article to show another case the decision of the case and how it was viewed by people involved in the case. This was a big case because it set a bad precedent for overdose cases in the future.

10. Attorney general Becerra announces arrest and charges against Santa Rosa Doctor for overprescribing opioids, second-degree murder. State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. (2019, August 19). Retrieved May 6, 2022, from https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-becerra-announces-arrest-and-charges-against-santa-rosa-doctor

Background: This article discussed more on what happened during the trial than the results. It discussed exactly what Keller’s actions were: prescribing the maximum dosage of pills he could. He would also prescribe the drug along with Soma, a muscle relaxant, which is extremely dangerous when used with opioids.

How I Used It: I used this article to prove that Keller was guilty for sure. The fact that he provided drugs even after he found out that his patients were dying from overdoses constitutes enough for murder in my eyes. The jury let a murderer go.

11. Meier, B. (2018, May 29). Origins of an epidemic: Purdue Pharma knew its opioids were widely abused. The New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/purdue-opioids-oxycontin.html

Background: This article discussed Purdue Pharma and their recklessness in distributing Oxycontin. According to the article Purdue Pharma knew about the dangers of their product yet decided not to care and keep advertising it as safe so that they could make money. They received reports saying that it was addictive and people on the streets were committing crimes to get it. They didn’t care

How I Used It: I used this article to introduce Purdue Pharma’s role in the opioid epidemic. Oxycontin is one of the worst opioids, and the fact that they advertised it anyway was extremely reckless. I didn’t like that their punishment was not hard enough, so I began doing more research on why they should be held more accountable.

12. Robertson, C. (2019, April 17). Doctors accused of trading opioid prescriptions for sex and cash. The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/us/doctor-arrested-prescription-drugs.html

Background: This article discussed 60 health care professionals that illegally distributed millions of drugs. They were from states that had the highest overdose death rates in the entire country. They were all prosecuted with no more than 10 years.

How I Used It: I used this article to prove that there are a lot of corrupt doctors that are illegally distributing drugs. These are the ones that were caught, but there is a lot more out there. I also claimed that the doctors should have received a harsher punishment.

13. Abrams, A.-R. (2021, December 17). A federal judge has overturned Purdue Pharma’s highly contested Oxycontin Settlement. Artnet News. Retrieved May 6, 2022, from https://news.artnet.com/art-world/judge-overturns-purdue-pharma-settlement-ruling-2050562

Background: This article discusses the recent events that took place with Purdue Pharma. They filed for bankruptcy and were forced to pay billions of dollars. The Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, were going to not be held liable until this judge overruled the decision and claimed that the Sackler family also had to pay millions and millions of dollars. This was a big decision.

How I Used It: I used it to show that we are heading in the right direction in terms of holding people accountable. Pharmacies are the biggest contributors to the opioid epidemic so it’s essential to target them first.

14. Kelman, Brett, and Hannah Norman. “Why Nurses Are Raging and Quitting after the RADONDA Vaught Verdict.” NPR, NPR, 5 Apr. 2022, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/04/05/1090915329/why-nurses-are-raging-and-quitting-after-the-radonda-vaught-verdict.

Background: RaDonda Vaught was arrested and charged with manslaughter after accidentally killing one of her patients. She did this by mixing up medications and administering a paralyzer instead of causing them to become drowsy. This was a groundbreaking case that happened recently that was a hot topic.

How I Used It: I discussed how the ruling in this case was justified, and not too harsh like critics say. I also addressed the worries that we had that nurses took it badly and claimed “this could be any of us.” This is a big case because it is one of the few times that doctors, or nurses get this large of a sentence for a mistake. This means that future cases may look back to this one and gauge whether punishments are appropriate or not.