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The Opioid Crisis Examined, Anatolly Zekhtser

BIO4960: Practicum in Biology I

The Opioid Crisis is a national crisis affecting public, social, and economic healthcare. Nearly 50,000 deaths were caused by opioid overdoses in 2017. Current treatments of opioid addictions include the use of methadone and buprenorphine. These medications have been known to reduce opioid dependency, lower tolerances, increase the opioid overdose threshold, and lower overdose mortality. An analysis was conducted on prominent research studies investigating the effectiveness, safety, side effects, and influence of Methadone and Buprenorphine. The meta-analysis confirmed that both drugs are effective opioid agonists that contribute to decreased opioid dependence and increased opioid abstinence. Due to a series of …