Opening Statement

○ Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin, synthetic opioids such
as fentanyl, and pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone,
hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, and many others. ~ National Institute On Drug Abuse~

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in 2017, more than 70,000
people died from drug overdoses in the United States. Of those deaths, almost 68% involved a
prescription or illicit opioid. Opioids are prescribed as painkillers to those who have severe pain,
however, the addiction that comes with the drugs outweighs the pain relief that patients feel in
the short-term. I do not believe that pain relief is reason enough to overlook the addictive effects
of opioids. The use of opioids must be criminalized in order to bring the number of deaths and
addiction rates down.

Arguments
My opponent would like you to believe that opioids have no replacement as a painkiller, the truth
is that there are active treatments that act on the same brain structures and processes as
addictive opioids. These include medications such as methadone, LAAM, buprenorphine, and
naltrexone which have protective or normalizing effects to prevent addiction and are used with
appropriate psychosocial treatments.

My opponent fails to address that long-term opioid use, changes the way nerve cells work in the
brain and the abnormalities resulting from addiction to this drug, can produce cravings that lead
to relapse months or years after no longer depending on the drug. According to the NIH,
2 million people are suffering from addiction which, medical professionals agree, is a chronic
and life-threatening disease.

Francis Collins, director of the NIH (National Institute On Drug Abuse) in the Washington Post
recognized that opioids are the most effective drugs for acute pain, but it has a terrible side
effect: addiction. He states that 80% of people addicted to opioids started with prescription
drugs. By banning the use of opioids, the number of reported addictions and deaths will surely
decrease.

Of those who began abusing opioids in the 2000s, 75 percent reported that their first opioid was
a prescription drug ~NIH

Every day 91 Americans die from an opioid overdose. Legalizing this drug would not only be
irresponsible but also an insult to the families that have lost their loved ones to opioids. To
parents like Foster whose 34-year-old daughter, Ahmyee Lamoureux, died May 3 after a 10-
year opioid addiction that Foster said was sparked by back surgery. Addiction cannot continue
to be the cost of pain relief.

Other risks of using prescription opioids include dependence and addiction. Dependence means
feeling withdrawal symptoms when not taking the drug. Addiction is a chronic brain disease that
causes a person to compulsively seek out drugs, even though they cause harm. The risks of
dependence and addiction are higher if you misuse the medicines. Misuse can include taking
too much medicine, taking someone else's medicine, taking it in a different way than you are
supposed to, or taking the medicine to get high. ~ Medline Plus which uses info from the NIH

Closing Statement
Opioids have an overall negative impact on our society. Even though they might relieve pain,
the addiction caused by long-term use is far too great of a price to pay. There are other options
available to treat chronic pain which are nonaddictive and safer in the long run. To decrease the
number of deaths caused by an overdose of opioids we must ban its distribution in pharmacies
and places that are easy to access. Opioids must be criminalized.