Opioid Crisis in the USA and its relevance to the Czech opioid situation

The bachelor thesis focuses on the topic of opioid abuse in the United States of America and in the Czech Republic. The current situation of opioid abuse in the USA is called the "Opioid Crisis". The thesis describes the historical development of the problem, including its division into three main phases, in each of which a different opioid is the most abused. In the first phase, it is prescription opioids that are most commonly abused, while the last two stages are dominated by illicit opioid abuse of heroin and fentanyl. The identification of the primary causes of the Opioid Crisis is an important part of the thesis. Purdue Pharma is explicitely mentioned as having manufactured opioids that have directly contributed to the widespread abuse of opioids. Within the thesis, a typology is created in order to clarify which social groups in the USA are the most susceptible to becoming addicted to opioids. In the part of the thesis dedicated to the situation in the Czech Republic, a historical and current perspective of national opioid abuse is provided. Potential present and future threats that could lead to a worsening of the situation are also identified