By Oluwafunmilayo Minett
Society is more technologically advanced now than it has ever been. The human race has put countless resources into furthering knowledge about the unknown void above our heads, about the unfathomable depths beneath our feet, about the unthinkable beings living in the deep. The list goes on and on.
Humanity puts its everything into furthering the knowledge we have for one purpose. Not even to put ourselves ahead, as it’s not like we are competing against a known alien race. No, instead our only reason behind the research we do is to satiate the never ending hunger humanity has to know everything.
If we put so much research and effort into developing the knowledge we have for topics that are less impactful to society, what is stopping us from prioritizing learning more about concepts that appear in daily life?
There are countless aspects of human life that should take a clear priority in what should be researched, such as mental health and ways to ease the pain during women’s menstrual cycles.
Humanity should be researching topics that can potentially impact our entire population, something that many people experience or use. For example, one in five adults are dealing with poor mental health, and approximately 1.8 billion women are told to simply take some medicine when they are facing menstrual pain. For that many lives to be affected, with little to no research being done, is unfathomable.
With opioids being the second most illegal drug used worldwide, impacting many lives, researching these drugs should be of a high importance.
An opioid addiction starts from the pain-free feeling it provides. It activates the opioid receptors throughout the body. which dulls any pain one would be feeling. People commonly are introduced to the effect by being prescribed opioids by a physician. Once an individual begins repeated use, the brain starts to associate whatever medicine containing opioids with positive feelings.
That begins the craving of opioids.
The more the brain craves opioids, the more it asks for it, the more the body wants to give into what the brain is asking, and from there, the more opioids are being used, the less and less effective it becomes. From there, the more the body needs in order to achieve that same positive feeling, in order to reach that high.
And that is the process of the infinite cycle known as an opioid addiction.
And to further worsen this sentiment, overuse of opioids can cause damage to organs and their systems.
Yet, alternatives to the opioid remedies are not common knowledge and there is no true effort to take these unsafe products off the market.
With how scientifically advanced society has become, especially since the beginning of the 21st century, there is no reason humanity’s brightest minds cannot find some type of natural supplement. An alternative that wouldn’t be harmful due to constant use, or destroys the body’s ability to develop resistance to substances it commonly experiences can be found.
While not widely known, Antheia, a company in Menlo Park, California, is dedicating themselves to furthering what humanity knows about drugs and supplements. Antheia is working to assist in the overall declining health in humanity, along with ending the drug shortage.
However, what if they looked into healthier alternatives? Antheia is already attempting to synthesize drugs from plants, and they have already made comments mentioning how their research process will produce safer alternatives as a byproduct.
The National Institute of Health has a budget of almost $48 Million for medical research, with around 90% of that being given to research on how drugs can impact the human body. The rest is being given to institutions.
However, not enough is being done. Two companies cannot, by themselves, pave a pathway to safer remedies.
If money was shifted to create new drugs, and scientists were able to find a plant that had the same effects as opioids, it could solve the shortage of medicinal drugs. Especially if that plant was able to reproduce.
There may be a high likelihood of that plant being harmful during long-term use, but even then, biochemists could easily breed the gene out. It would be similar to what they did to cassava, which used to be filled with cyanide, but is now a globally consumed, and safe, root vegetable.
While there cannot be a shift in every scientific research effort to gain information about drugs, seeing a gradual shift of more being done to support the drug research effort, more being done to learn about what impacts all of society, may very well act as a guiding light for the future of human kind.
Humanity has to start prioritizing research that will be beneficial to more of society, especially when it has become a reflex to further our knowledge whenever we can, and with everything that is happening in the drug department, this is one topic we cannot allow to let go as we rest on our laurels.
This article was written as part of a program to educate youth and others about Alameda County’s opioid crisis, prevention and treatment options. The program is funded by the Alameda County Behavioral Health Department and the grant is administered by Three Valleys Community Foundation.
