THREE REMAINING ASPECTS

[Note:  This posting is a continuation of a report on the development of a civics unit of study.  This unit is directing students to formulate informed positions on the opioid epidemic.  It is being developed in real time.  Writer wants to express gratitude to Wikipedia for identifying the bulk of the research this blog has used in the development of this unit.[1]]

The development of this unit of study has already determined that it should last five periods (assuming each period consists of fifty to sixty minutes).  To this point, the development has accounted for three periods, leaving two.  One of those remaining periods is already dedicated to administering the unit’s overall evaluation.  The challenge is to provide instruction for three more aspects of the problem area:  production and distribution, demographics, and governmental reactions.

          This posting, in the main, provides a lesson plan to meet that challenge.  But first, it shares an insight of which the writer has become aware.  On TV, MSNBC reports the following relationship:  the opioid crisis, where it has been experienced to heightened levels, has correlated with children’s lower probability of attaining higher education opportunities.[2] 

Whether consumption of opioids is by young people or by young people’s parents or care givers is not made clear.  The TV feature highlights a case where a low-income mother is the consumer while her son is attempting to start a program to meet the needs of young people who find themselves in this type of family situation and are trying to advance their education.

For purposes here, an association can be made:  children, who come from households where opioid use is a problem, experience significantly lesser levels of success in attaining higher educations.  Cause and effect?  Hard to say, but intuitively, one can imagine, an addiction problem deters one from attaining a good education and that goes for the effect other household members might have on the young person in question.

But now back to the main purpose here.  To cover the last three aspects, it is suggested that the class be divided into three equally (or as close to equally) populated groups.  Each group is assigned one of the remaining aspects.  The teacher can distribute a reading in which an entire listing of all factoids and insights is included.[3]  The teacher requests that each student look at that portion of the handout that refers to the aspect he/she has been assigned.

This fourth-class period of the unit can be dedicated to having students work on their assigned aspect by researching the literature.  They are to go online, assuming they have access, and look at the sites their listing identifies – in the form of footnotes – and see what information those sources supply in relation to informing their unit assignment regarding local counter measure facilities – the assignment given to them earlier in the unit.

The teacher instructs the students to look at the information available and see how it affects their research over local opioid fighting resources.  They are also going to be given, in the next class period, an opportunity to express any opinions they wish to express in a limited opportunity.  Each group is going to have, in total, ten minutes to express those opinions.  They should also be able to support their opinions with evidence they glean from the information sources they have.

Teacher allows students to conduct their initial research with the information given them.[4]  They should be encouraged to access, through the identified footnotes, the sources from which the factoids and insights have been derived.  As students conduct their research, the teacher can roam the classroom and assist students – he/she can answer any questions students might have as to the meaning or significance the information reveals.

Students continue their research at home with knowing that the next day, beyond their “opinion session,” they will begin writing their reports on local, counter measure resources.  They also know that they will be allowed to use any notes or computer assistance they can bring to bear.  They will have roughly twenty minutes to write their one sheet report – no more, no less than the one sheet.

Teachers, for this last class period, might work out an extra credit arrangement for the “opinion session” and consider giving students extra time to finish their report.  The teacher can collect students’ products at the beginning of the next class period.  However, the teacher handles this assignment, the suggestion here is for the reports to be considered comparable to a unit test.

What remains for this posting to report is the sampling of examples of factoids and insights for the remaining aspects.  Below is that sampling divided according to each aspect.  Since there are three remaining aspects, each aspect will be described here by sharing one factoid and one insight each.

·        Related production and distribution factoid – the Drug Enforcement Administration reports that an interested party can purchase one kilogram of fentanyl for $3,000 to $5,000 in China and smuggling it into the US can be accomplished by merely mailing it there.  That smuggled kilogram can mean a million and half dollars in sales.[5] 

·        Related production and distribution insights – Florida has made a concerted effort at distribution systems.  In the year 2015, the authorities there closed 250 pill mills.[6] The state has altered its regulations to prohibit clinics from issuing opioid prescriptions and this, in turn, has notably lowered the dispensing of prescription opiates.[7] Florida’s efforts have garnered it some attention.

·        Related demographic factoid – American incidence of overdosing mostly affects whites, Native Americans, and working-class residents.[8]  For example, Native Americans have witnessed a 500% upsurge in opioid induced overdose fatalities between the years 1999 and 2015 – this reflects the highest increase of any identifiable demographic group.[9]

·        Related demographic insight – researchers hypothesize that the reason doctors from various states prescribe opioids at different rates of frequency is due to a lack of agreement among medical professionals as to the appropriate amounts of medication patients need.[10]  This writer would add that there does not seem to be evidence that this variance is contingent on geographic location.

·        Related governmental reactions factoid – governors of 45 states and 3 territorial governors organized themselves, in July 2016, to draw up an agreement, “Compact to Fight Opioid Addiction.”  The compact calls on the governors to coordinate their actions to help end the crisis.  This includes policies to address both governmental and private activities and protocols.  Special attention should be given to how the compact focuses on opioid producers and doctors.[11]

·        Related state government reaction insight – state governments have been moved to act, including the legislating of laws, by the numbers of overdoses, deaths, and costs their citizens have suffered because of the increased prescribing and consuming of opioid drugs.  Illustrative example is that of Arizona that suffered in the Phoenix area 3,114 overdoses from mid-June 2017 to the end of January 2018.  That situation led to the enactment of the Arizona Opioid Epidemic Act.[12]

·        As for national policy the following factoid is offered – the journalist, George Lopez, summarizes the Trump’s Administration’s policy to meet the opioid crisis with the following:

In 2017, the President said:  “I made a promise to the American people to take action to keep drugs from pouring into our country and to help those who have been so badly affected by them.”  The Administration has taken a number of significant actions to address the crisis.  The President created the Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis and the Administration declared the opioid epidemic a nationwide public health emergency.  The Administration provided nearly $500 million in new resources to States to prevent and treat opioid abuse and addiction in 2017, in addition to last year’s Budget that requested another $500 million.

At first read, this might sound impressive.  Trump not only created a commission to address the crisis head-on, but reportedly added $1 billion in funding to combat the epidemic.

But this paragraph is extremely misleading.  Trump’s commission?  The administration has only implemented less than a handful of its dozens of proposals.  The extra $1 billion?  That money actually comes from the 21^st Century Cures Act – signed into law not by Trump but by President Barack Obama in 2016.[13]

Hopefully, from this sample, the reader can get a sense of the type of information the entire list of factoids and insights provides. 

That completes this posting’s suggestions on how to conduct a unit of study dedicated to having students form informed positions on the opioid crisis.  If successful, the student will be well-positioned to take an active role in his/her community to address its battle with this epidemic.

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[1] The writer also wants to state that where possible, he has checked the sources and has at times added to the listed research.

[2] Kate Snow, “One Nation Overdosed,” MSNBC Live – TV broadcast, 10:45 EDT, September 3, 2018.

[3] As has been pointed out previous postings, soon, this blog will post a special posting with a listing of all the factoids and insights this blog has identified as relating to the opioid crisis.

[4] The information can be distributed in the form of a handout or the students, if they have access to computers or smart phones, go online to access the site containing the lists of factoids and insights.

[5] “Addressing America’s Fentanyl Crisis,” National Institute on Drug Abuse/Advancing Addiction Science, April 6, 2017, accessed on July 4, 2018, https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2017/04/addressing-americas-fentanyl-crisis .

[6] “America’s Pill Mills:  A Look into the Prescription Opioid Problem,” DrugAbuse.Com, n.d., accessed July 8, 2018, https://drugabuse.com/featured/americas-pill-mills/ .

[7] “More ‘Pill Mill’ Doctors Prosecuted Amid Opioid Epidemic,” Healthline, May 19, 2016, accessed July 8, 2018, https://www.healthline.com/health-news/pill-mill-doctors-prosecuted-amid-opioid-epidemic#1 .

[8] Dan Nolan and Chris Amico, “How Bad Is the Opioid Epidemic?” Frontline, February  23, 2016, accessed July 12, 2018, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-bad-is-the-opioid-epidemic/ .

[9] “Native American Overdose Deaths Surge Since Opioid Epidemic,” R and D, March 15, 2018, accessed August 2, 2018, https://www.rdmag.com/news/2018/03/native-american-overdose-deaths-surge-opioid-epidemic .

[10] Dan Nolan and Chris Amico, Frontline, February 23, 2016, accessed June 15, 2018, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-bad-is-the-opioid-epidemic/ .

[11] “A Compact to Fight Opioid Addiction,” National Governors Association, July 13, 2016, cite no longer on-line AND Gale Pryor, “6 Ways States Are Fighting the Opioid Epidemic,” Athenainsight, May 19, 2017, accessed August 6, 2018, https://www.athenahealth.com/insight/6-ways-states-are-fighting-opioid-epidemic .

[12] Joan Magtibay, “Ducey Signs Sweeping Law to Confront Arizona Opioid Crisis,” Cronkite News, January 26,2018, accessed August 7, 2018, https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2018/01/26/ducey-signs-sweeping-plan-confront-arizona-opioid-crisis-law/ .

[13] George Lopez, “Trump’s Budget Could Help Fight the Opioid Crisis – If It Didn’t Try to Repeal Obamacare:  One Big Step Forward, One Bigger Step Back,” Vox, February 13, 2018, accessed August 25, 2018, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/13/17004656/trump-budget-opioid-epidemic .