What You Need to Know About the Risks of Opioids

Opioids like oxycodone (OxyContin®) 和 hydrocodone (Vicodin®) are commonly prescribed to construction workers to treat pain caused by on-the-job injuries. 几十年来,, drug companies presented misleading information to doctors 和 patients about the effectiveness 和 safety of these medications, leading to increased opioid prescribing at higher doses, 上瘾, 过量死亡.

这些风险, coupled with the dem和s of the building industry 和 a workplace culture where workers do what it takes to get the job done, have increased the risks 和 harms of opioid 上瘾. Workers often return to work soon after an injury, despite still being hurt. Many people who become addicted to opioids, including heroin, are hard-working people with families. 阿片类药物成瘾可能发生在任何人身上. Increasing your knowledge about opioids can help reduce some of the risks.

在你服用阿片类药物之前，先了解一下事实!

阿片类药物和建筑工人

• The construction industry has a high injury rate, resulting in many people working hurt to avoid missing paychecks while injured.
• Construction workers have some of the highest rates of opioid misuse 和 abuse in all occupations.
• An estimated 15% of construction workers have misused or abused drugs.
• Construction workers who became addicted to opioids were prescribed pain medications for at least 6 months, 平均.
• Construction workers have among the highest risk of opioid-related death of any occupation.
• Overdose fatalities among construction workers are 8 times higher than for the general population.

人们是如何对阿片类药物上瘾的?

Addiction is an illness, not a sign of weakness or poor character. 这是一种有许多因素的复杂疾病, but physical dependency develops quickly 和 can lead to 上瘾.

• A person takes an opioid for pain 和 immediately begins to develop tolerance.
• The person needs increasing doses of opioids to get the same relief from pain.
• In a matter of days or weeks, opioids start to alter the brain’s reward center.
• The brain begins to adapt to the effects of opioids 和 no longer functions normally without them.
• A pattern of addictive behavior develops where the person starts to seek the drug by any means 和 continues to use it despite increasingly serious consequences.

长期使用的益处有限

• The longer prescribed opioids are used to manage pain, the less effective they become.
• Sometimes people taking opioids become more sensitized to pain when they take them.
• Tolerance develops, requiring higher doses of opioids to get the pain-relieving affects.
• Construction workers who take prescribed opioids for long periods to manage pain actually end up less able to continue to work.

处方阿片类药物使用的后果

When opioid pain medications are used for short periods for acute pain, the risks are lower. Long-term use of opioid medication for ongoing chronic pain carries much higher risks 和 offers fewer benefits.

• Until 2016, prescription opioids were involved in more deaths than heroin or illicit fentanyl. Now fentanyl is involved in the most deaths, followed by prescription opioids, then heroin.
• A majority of people who died as a result of an opioid overdose were diagnosed with chronic pain within a year of their death.
• Chronic pain 和 opioid 上瘾 have always been connected.

Risk of Misuse, Physical Dependence, 和 Illicit Opioid Use

• Even when opioids are taken as directed, physical dependence can result. Some patients can taper off their medications with minimal discomfort, 但对其他人来说, 严重的困难开始了.
• Tolerance can result in higher doses of prescribed pain medications 和 misuse when people take more than directed.
• Misuse 和 physical dependency can lead to 上瘾, use of illicit (illegally produced or obtained) opioids, 和过量.
• llicit opioids are more potent 和 unpredictable than ever before 和 are killing people every day.

阿片类药物在工作中的使用

• Returning to work after an injury while taking opioids for pain can aggravate the injury 和 extend the duration of the pain, create a need for more medication, 和 lead to missing more work. It also increases the risk of other injuries.
• 阿片类药物的使用 slow reaction time, interfere with operating machinery, 和 jeopardize job safety, which increases the risks of injury 和 can threaten the safety of everyone on the job site.

阿片类药物使用问题是可以治疗的. 人们越早寻求帮助越好. To locate help in your community for yourself, 一个同事, 或者你爱的人, visit the Substance Abuse 和 Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) website at www.samhsa.gov or call SAMHSA’s free, confidential, 24/7 National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

This program was developed in conjunction with the 工地安全学会 和 倡导人的潜能.