In 2016, opioid addiction killed more people than car crashes did. Why are opioids so dangerous? The story starts with the discovery of a chemical made by the brain that is essentially morphine. This natural chemical can cause the same type of opioid overdose in infants as heroin causes in adults. Incredibly, children whose brains make too much of this chemical and addicts can both be brought back from the edge of death with the same pharmacological treatment. This lecture and PowerPoint presentation will discuss the basics of how opioids produce pain relief and death, and what civilians can do to arm themselves against the opioid epidemic.
Julie Meade is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. An awardee of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship, her dissertation work focuses on the neuroscience and pharmacology of drug use, depression, and chronic pain.