Opioid addiction can have devastating consequences for a person with an addiction and their loved ones. The family and friends of someone displaying opioid addiction symptoms or struggling with opioid use disorder (OUD) may wonder how the opioid addiction starts and why it feels like they can’t stop using the drugs.
The fact is, addiction is a complex disease, and stopping is not a simple, cut-and-dried task.
According to Dr. Mark S. Gold, M.D. and addiction researcher via “Psychology Today,” “Addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition driven by changes in brain circuitry, particularly in areas controlling reward, stress, and decision-making.”
These changes in brain chemistry spur an addict’s need for more opioids. They also mean addiction is not a “bad choice” or a moral failure of some kind. Genetic and environmental factors, as well as trauma and life experiences, also play a role in developing substance use disorder (SUD).
Take a deep dive
This deep dive into opioid addiction explores statistics, causes, common misconceptions, contributing factors, and harmful effects. Opioids are highly addictive. So, anyone who takes them — especially for a prolonged period — is at risk of developing opioid dependence and addiction.
Data shows a 4% national decline and an 8% Minnesota statewide decline in opioid-related deaths from 2022 to 2023. In Hennepin County, provisional opioid-related death data shows a 1% decrease.
Despite these gains, opioid addiction remains a nationwide crisis. And disparities have substantially increased locally for African American, American Indian, and Hispanic populations in Hennepin County. Local data shows:
- In 2023, the number of Black deaths was higher than all other races.
- Opioid-related Black deaths rose more than 14% from 2022 (129 deaths) to 2023 (148 deaths).
- The highest disparity for opioid-related deaths is still among the American Indian population.
- Deaths among Hispanics of any race increased by more than 56% from 2022 (23 deaths) to 2023 (36 deaths).
Furthermore, annual opioid-involved emergency and hospital visits in Hennepin County increased from 10,179 in 2022 to 10,819 in 2023. It’s a pandemic that has many in the county fearful and ready to learn what’s causing it and how the community can make an impact. That starts with understanding.
Opioids block pain signals and release large amounts of pleasure-boosting dopamine in the body, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. When used correctly, prescription opioids can relieve pain following a severe injury or surgery. Opioid misuse and addiction start when someone develops a tolerance for the medication and needs higher, more frequent doses to trigger its feel-good effects.
Drug addiction causes long-lasting changes in a person’s brain that produce compulsive, uncontrollable drug-seeking and use despite the risk of physical harm and death. Some people turn to illegal opioids like heroin and illicit fentanyl when medical refills run dry.
Alleviating harsh opioid withdrawal symptoms like severe muscle and bone pain, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, anxiety and sweating can also drive opioid addicts to start using the substance again.
Common misconceptions
Many common misconceptions exist about addiction. The top among them is that a person experiencing addiction can quit using a substance any time they want, and they lack willpower. Neither is true.
As a chronic illness, opioid addiction alters someone’s brain in such a way that they can’t control their cravings or their desperate need to use a substance. As “Psychology Today” notes, they will go to great lengths to obtain drugs, and the only effective way to stop is to get professional help, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
Other addiction misconceptions include thinking relapses mean treatment failure and only certain types of people get addicted to substances. Once again, neither is true.
Just as with other chronic illnesses, relapses can (and do) occur. “Psychology Today” notes that “In many ways, relapse is the consequence of treatments that don’t (or can’t) reverse the brain changes to the pre-use state,” and “addiction happens to people across all demographics, from all walks of life, and no one is immune.”
Contributing factors
Multiple studies have explored how genetic, psychological, and environmental factors can contribute to opioid addiction. For example, researchers using classical genetic approaches have shown that “addiction is heritable.” An “International Journal of Molecular Sciences” review shows that molecular genetic approaches suggest that specific addiction-related behaviors are associated with particular genes.
“Harvard Health” notes that a family history of opioid and substance use disorder presents an OUD risk factor, as well as a family environment that allows for substance misuse. Traumatic experiences, psychiatric disorders, and socioeconomic factors that play a role in OUD include:
- Childhood physical, sexual, or emotional abuse/neglect.
- Major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Unemployment stress and living below the poverty line.
- Low educational attainment (such as not finishing high school).
- Being a teen or in the early 20s.
- History of criminal activities or legal trouble.
- History of problems with family, friends and work.
The harmful effects
Opioid addiction can have harmful, devastating and lethal effects on individuals, their families and loved ones. Research shows that long-term opioid use can cause adverse effects on someone’s cardiovascular, immune, endocrine and respiratory systems. It also increases the risk of infections, fractures, sleep-disordered breathing, overdose and death.
Drug addiction can also damage or destroy relationships with family members, friends and coworkers. It can cause performance issues at work and endanger, seriously injure, or kill others if someone drives under the influence of opioids.
Opioid mental health issues also affect families who try to cope with a loved one’s erratic, unpredictable behavior due to OUD. Stress and strain increase within the family; in some circumstances, people feel they must cut ties with their loved ones. However, most families try to stay connected.
Opioid addiction is treatable
Opioid addiction and substance use disorders are treatable, and recovery is possible. Hennepin County offers several programs to help residents who are struggling with addiction.
For more information, call Hennepin County’s Addiction and Recovery Services Unit at 612-879-3671 or visit the Minnesota Department of Human Services for ways to get help.
