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Moral hazard refers to a scenario in which a person takes part in a risky activity because they know someone or something will bear the consequences of their actions. A moral hazard can be seen when a person drives a car at a higher speed just because he or she is wearing a seatbelt or when a swimmer chooses to go deep into the sea because a lifeguard is present. CDC stands for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC reported that in 2017, there were about 72,000 deaths caused by drug overdoses (Vedantam, 2019). Tobacco accounts for over 480,000 deaths every year in the United States of America.
Alicia had a back problem which worsened as years went by. She then went to see a doctor in 2014 and they prescribed OxyContin, an opioid drug. She became more dependent on the drug which led to her divorce and consequently shared custody of children. As the addiction to OxyContin increased, Alicia started skipping working days, and finally, they let her go. Moreover, she lost shared custody of her twins. One day when she was allowed to visit her kids at the social services center but the children rejected her toys and would not let her kiss or hug them. This was her breaking point, and that was when she started using heroin.
Naloxone is used as an antidote for overdoses in the United States. The drug is called Lazarus in relation to the miracle performed by Jesus when he raised Lazarus from the dead. Though this is not exactly the case, during an overdose, naloxone causes the breathing to return to regular, lips turn from blue to usual color and skin color changes from white and ash color to normal (Vedantam, 2019). Presently, the drug is administered as a nasal spray and it is called Narcan.
The moral hazard concern raised was that naloxone would lead to increased abuse of drugs such as heroin or fentanyl. To prove this, an experiment was set up in which naloxone was supplied only to some states. Data was collected, analyzed, and the results concluded that naloxone did not decrease drug abuse-related deaths. In fact, in some places, there was an increase in mortality. Other scientists did not agree with this finding; they argued that there is a difference between the availability of drugs and the presence of laws that make the drug more available.
Tiffany argues in favor of Narcon by presenting a scenario of how life would have turned out for addicts if Narcon was prohibited; many people would have died, including her. Even though people become careless and abuse drugs more, it will not be right to let them die because of their negligence.
As I listened to the podcast, the story of Alicia was overwhelming. The idea that every year, over 7200 families have to go through the same ordeal before losing a family member is depressing. It was my first time to hear about Narcon and how it has saved many lives. However, the sad part is how people become careless because they know the antidote will revive them in case of an overdose. In my family including my close friends, we have not experienced a case of drug abuse. However, a few years ago, I had a neighbor whose kid was using drugs. Fortunately, he was taken to a rehabilitation center before turning into an addict.
Reference
Vedantam, S. (Executive producer). (2019). Life, death and the Lazarus Drug: Confronting America’s opioid crisis (No.1). In The brain. NPR. Web.
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