The Opioid Crisis and the Pharmacist's Role

Abstract

Background:Opioid misuse, addiction, and lethal overdoses have emerged as a major concern in public health on a worldwide scale in recent times. Synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, and opioid drugs have been increasingly accessible and abused due to their excessive prescription rates. Because of their work with potentially impacted patients and observation of prescription trends, chemists play a crucial role in the battle against opiate misuse and addiction. They provide information on safe opiate use as well as alternatives to opiates. In order to ensure that they are not breaking the law, chemists can monitor their patients' medication usage using prescription drug monitoring programs and other regulatory systems. The role of chemists in the fight against the opioid epidemic is rapidly expanding since they are primarily concerned with opioid stewardship, harm reduction initiatives, and patient counselling to promote safer drug use.