Lately, there has been an increase in Netflix documentaries or docudramas surrounding the opioid crisis in the United States. It has been about 30 years since the first wave of the opioid crisis began, so there is plenty of information about the impacts and effects the drug has on society and individuals. Researchers and the media describe the opioid epidemic in waves. The first wave in the 1990s predominantly involved prescription opioids such as Vicodin (hydrocodone), OxyContin and Percocet (oxycodone), and Opana (oxymorphone); the second wave in the 2010s was focused on heroin use, and the third wave, beginning in 2013, involves synthetic opioids like fentanyl and carfentanyl. However, when OxyContin was first prescribed in the 1990s, there was less information about the drug that would lead to nearly 645,000 deaths.
Painkiller, a limited series on Netflix based on the 2003 book of the same name, is a 2017 article about the pharmaceutical company that created OxyContin. It discusses the social impacts families and individuals experience because of the opioid oxycodone. Each episode opens with a vignette from a family member or person affected by opioids. This varies from divorce and loss of custody of children to murder and overdose deaths. The Pharmacist is another Netflix Original that follows a similar structure with a micro-level perspective and more personal interviews.
Divorce and loss of custody of children are negative effects of drug use and abuse that the docuseries highlight. According to the Life Change Index Scale, a stress test that gives life events scores from 11 to 100, many of the outcomes of unhealthy opioid use are 40 or above. Change in a family member’s health is 44; many of the individuals in the first wave of the opioid epidemic were prescribed to people with pain from injuries sustained at work or in accidents. This life change score would differ for the hurt individual because personal injury or illness is given a 63 impact score. Similarly, the death of a close family member, like parents losing their children or a person losing their sibling to drug use, is ranked just above personal injury with the same score of 63. The highest-ranked event with a 100 impact score is the death of a spouse, which is the case for about 15 percent of documented opioid deaths.
Opioid use and misuse also have a large impact on economics. The workforce is categorized as any civilian, not institutionalized, between the ages 16 and 65, who is employed or unemployed but looking for a job. In 2018, the prevalence of opioid misuse for ages 18 to 25 was 1.9 million people, or about 5.6 percent of young adults. The study concluded that 7.7 million, or about 3.6 percent of those 26 or older, misused opioids. This is a significant portion of the workforce that has misused prescribed drugs. Workers who use substances and drugs are more likely to take unscheduled days off and leave are fired about 40 percent more often than the rest of the workforce; they are also more likely to sustain occupational injuries that lead to more time off and increase opioid (painkiller) use.
In the second and third waves of the epidemic, when illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl use increased, there were economic pressures. In addition to reduced participation in the labor force and increased unemployment, there has been an increase in applications for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Both of these social welfare programs provide monetary and non-monetary support, such as health insurance to people with disabilities. Individuals with substance use disorders — like Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) — fall under the category of “people with disabilities.” In 2017, 12.7 million people received disability benefits from either or both programs. While not all of these people will have a substance use disorder, one study concluded that about 3 to 5 percent of these individuals receiving disability benefits are also misusing substances. This percentage of the increased application and distribution of benefits accounts for a 2 percent higher rate of beneficiaries.
The opioid epidemic disrupts lives in a number of ways. Some of the social impacts of drug use negatively affects marriage and family. Divorce, the death of a family member, and the death of a spouse are all effects of drug misuse and abuse. The economy and workforce also continue to change because of the opioid epidemic. Netflix documentaries like Painkiller and The Pharmacist shed some light and garner empathy for those affected by opioid misuse, but the docuseries have not resulted in policy change or healthcare impacts yet. There has been little to no improvement in preventing opioid use and overdose deaths, so these social factors will continue to impact the U.S. until prescription and illicit drug use of opioids decreases.
Mortimer is a guest blogger at UITAC Publishing. UITAC’s mission is to provide high-quality, affordable, and socially responsible online course materials.
Images used in this blog:
- “Browsing Netflix” by charlesdeluvio is licensed by Unsplash. This image has not been altered.
- “Figure 1” by Nina C Christie is licensed under CC BY 4.0. This image has not been altered.
