Honors Program
Document Type
Thesis
Date of this Version
Spring 3-1-2019
Citation
Miller, A. J. (2019). Escaping Death: Naloxone's Chemical Nature and Potential to Combat the Opioid Epidemic. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Abstract
Naloxone is a life-saving drug with the ability to reverse an opioid overdose. As the opioid epidemic’s death toll rises, we can turn to Naloxone as a tool to combat the crisis. The epidemic, born of corruption, has a wide reach among the people of the United States, with especially firm grasps on middle-aged people, sufferers of chronic pain, white Americans and those living in the eastern portion of the country. Naloxone’s elegant design saves lives by effectively competing for a position on an opioid biding receptor in the brain to almost instantly end an overdose and restore normal breathing. It can be effectively administered through simple mechanisms, so that the lay person is able to save a life. Efforts to increase access across the country have spanned community programs and state legislatures. Increasing access to Naloxone can save more lives and allow the drug to better combat the opioid epidemic.
Included in
Biochemistry Commons, Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons, Biology Commons, Medical Humanities Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons
Comments
Copyright Abigale Miller, 2019.