Heather Sharp Sharp 1

Kim Strickland

English 1010

March 5, 2017

Rhetorical Essay

Americans Consume the Vast Majority of the Worlds Opioids

In the report from Dina Gusovsky, a reporter and producer of CNBC, Americans

consume approximately 80 percent of the global opioid supply. (Gusovsky) She claims

that Americans consume the vast majority of opioids in the world because of the easy

access of getting painkiller drugs. Also, she makes the claim that Americans are in more

pain. She attempts to get the attention of lawmakers and pharmaceutical companies

because Americans are being impacted by laws, which are behind the times.

In an article dated on April 27, 2016, Dina Gusovsky interviewed several people

of interest to her, including the assistant professor of medicine and pancreatitis center at

John Hopkins. She sought out politician Senator Pat Toomey, Republican of

Pennsylvania, to see the progress of lawmakers. She interviews pharmaceuticals and the

Center of Disease Control (CDC) to gather data and statistics. She produces a video to go

along with her report, which takes place inside a facility for treatment of the opioid

addiction.

In the beginning of her reporting she states many facts. Such as, 300 million pain

prescriptions equal a $24 billion market in 2015. She speaks with emotion (ethos) saying

there is ramant use of opioids is in the United Sates. (Gusovsky) In 2015 the top five

opioid products were made by Purdue Pharma, Johnson and Johnson, Insys
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Therapeutics, Mylan and Depomed. In an interview with Purdue Pharma, they explain

that they are supporters of prescription drug monitoring. (logos)

The bigger picture is beginning to emerge as Gusovsky speaks with law makers

and physicians. She learns the reasons for the current epidemic.

They include doctors who prescribe these medications to patients without fully

explaining side effects; payments to physicians from pharmaceutical companies;

aggressive marketing by drug companies downplaying addiction risk; and patient

advocate groups that insist people with chronic pain get the medications that

relieve their symptoms right away. (Gusovsky)

She is trying to capture the attention of all Americans, Doctors and Pharmaceutical

companies to raise awareness and prompt action for change. Surgeon General Murthy

explains that the misuse of the prescription drug is usually a legally written prescription.

Gusovskys warning is timely in that the time to act is now. She brings in the

guidelines of the CDC of when to take Opioids. But thats just it, she explains further that

they are only guidelines and not mandated, meaning they are not laws but rather a tool

that primary-care providers can use for reference. (Gusovsky) She is concerned that the

guidelines arent enough to stop this epidemic. She also describes a tool called Lock-

In. It is a tool that locks you into a specific doctor and pharmacy and is currently being

used by Medicaid. Lock in will help stop patients from doctor shopping. In just a single

year, it was reported that about 170,000 Medicare beneficiaries were doctor shopping.

Doctor shopping is when patients are going to several doctors getting the same

prescriptions. She believes that there needs to be more action taken. Senator Pat Toomey,
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Republican of Pennsylvania, explained When a problem is moving quickly congress is

always going to be a little bit behind. Toomey addresses the issue with Gusovsky in a

light manner.

Dina Gusovsky gives the audience issues to think about and hopefully to respond

to. She is a reporter on a high ranking network that would like to keep the audiences

captive in the stories that are reported. But she is not only a reporter but is producing

articles and video segments for CNBC. Gusovsky looks for many sources of information,

as she seeks to find the facts.

She speaks about the average Americans, and she continues to take us through a

facility that helps American addicts. Vice president of clinical services at Pennsylvania-

based Clearbrook Treatment Centers Richard Canaboy, speaks about the kind of people

that he sees come through the facility, like union people and truck drivers. Gusovsky

summarizes her visit with Canaboy by saying that patients who started with pain pills

and then stepped down to heroin because the pills became more expensive, which sounds

ridiculous, but heroin is less potent than these opioids. (Gusovsky) She is shocked by

the notion that it is a step down to go to heroin.

In the article she shows that doctors, pharmaceutical companies and lawmakers

are to blame. She ends with a statement that doctors are turning to a drug called

Suboxone, a pill that treats addiction to painkillers, but that the doctors are leaving the

patient on these meds too long, up to 2-3 years. The authors conclusion is echoed by the

belief of the facility manager, that he will have job security for a very long time.
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This is a persuasive and informational article that offers many facts and brings

many people of importance to the conversation. Gusovsky thinks that the power lies in

the hands of companies that would like profit, the doctors who over prescribe the pain

killers, and lawmakers who are behind in updating laws. She puts the spotlight on these

people and causes the conversation to be a topic of interest. This concludes the main

claim that Americans are in pain and consume the vast majority of opoiods in the world.

I believe that the tone of the article is convincing. She brings many facts to the

table. It is too easy to work the opiod system. Dina Gusovsky, CNBC reporter and

producer, shows some emotion but uses authority and a logical voice throughout.

Works Cited

Gusovsky, Dina. Americans Consume Vast Majority of the Worlds Opiods. 27 April

2016. CNBC. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/27/americans-consume-almost-all-of-the-

global-opioid-supply.html