New Persistent Opioid Abuse and the Brain Reward Circuit

©2020 Zhang L. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. New persistent opioid abuse in peri-operative and periprocedural patients is reported to be ~6% in two large populationbased studies1. In addressing the opioid crisis the CDC has developed three categories. The first is prescription drugs, when legal and approved opioids are prescribed by licensed professionals2. The second and third categories involve illicit drugs, specifically heroin and fentanyl3,4. Over time CDC data indicates a sharp uptick in opioid deaths for heroin and fentanyl, but a flat incidence of overdose with prescription drugs5. Understanding the neurobiology of addiction adds insight to the problem and treatment. In addition, the social and public health issues are integral to the understanding of how the brain reward circuit is activated in the first place.