Tag: opioid epidemic

Fighting Fentanyl

Trump called the opioid epidemic a priority, but fentanyl deaths soar as resources fail to keep pace

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, OHIO — In a dungeon-like jail in the center of this depressed farming town, 18 women in orange-and-white-striped prison uniforms are crammed into a two-story cellblock. Many of them are withdrawing from fentanyl.

The jail, built in 1884 to hold 24, now houses 55 men and women, a number that can swell to as many as 90. The inmates are sprawled on metal bunk beds and mattresses that line the floors as they wait for court appearances or serve time on low-level drug offenses.

The medical exam room, used to treat minor ailments, is tucked into a broom closet beneath a concrete stairwell. With few drug treatment options, prisoners strung out on fentanyl go through days of withdrawal with little help, shivering and curled up on the beds and floors of the jail.

View the complete May 22 article by Sari Horwitz, Scott Higham, Steven Rich and Shelby Hanssen on The Washington Post website here.

Opioid experts share factors and solutions in epidemic hitting Hennepin County

SHOREWOOD — At the outset of an event centered on the opioid crisis, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, DFL, asked attendees to raise their hands if they had been personally impacted by the epidemic.

Rows of hands went up across the audience.

“We’re here tonight, not because it’s getting better, but because it is truly getting worse,” he said. “We are here tonight to do something about it.”

View the complete April 30 article by Lara Bockenstedt on The Lakeshore Weekly News website here.

Bipartisan Opioids Bill Sen. Smith Helped Write Signed Into Law

Senator Smith continues to get the job done for Minnesotans. Yesterday, President Trump signed into law the bipartisan Opioids Bills that Sen. Smith helped write, which will bring $1.5 billion in funding for states, tribes, and communities to bolster their prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts. The bill signed into law also includes provisions from a bill that Sen. Smith wrote with Republican Lisa Murkowski – the Improving Access to Mental Health Services Act — that expands mental health services for schools and local communities.

Karin Housley Sides With Opioid Manufacturers Over Minnesota Families

That’s in stark contrast to Karin Housley, who has repeatedly chosen to side with powerful opioid manufacturers and special interests instead of helping families affected by the crisis.

In May, Housley was one of only six people to vote against overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation (60-6) to hold opioid manufacturers accountable and require them to help pay for treatment programs. During debate on the floor, Republican lawmakers urged their colleagues to “have a spine” and vote for the bill, and said the pharmaceutical companies had “lied to the public.” Housley remained unmoved and voted to line the pockets of Big Pharma over helping Minnesota families.

President Trump’s Agenda Undermines His Rhetoric on Opioid Misuse

The following article by Eliza Schultz and Lea Hunter was posted on the Center for American Progress website November 2, 2017:

AP/Susan Walsh
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), center, chairman of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, speaks at the beginning of the first meeting of the commission, June 16, 2017, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House complex in Washington. From left are Dr. Bertha K. Madras, a Harvard Medical School professor who specializes in addiction biology; Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R); Christie; North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D); and former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D).

It’s no secret that opioid misuse has risen to the level of an epidemic. On November 1, 2017, the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, appointed by President Donald Trump last March, released its long-awaited recommendations on how best to tackle the nation’s opioid crisis.

The stakes have never been higher. Preliminary data indicate that in 2016, 64,000 people—more than the combined number of people killed by gun homicide and in car accidents in 2015—succumbed to drug overdoses. In most of these cases, opioids were involved. Natural and semisynthetic opioids were linked to more than 14,400 overdose deaths, while synthetic opioids other than methadone, which is often used in treatment, contributed to more than 20,100 fatalities. Heroin contributed to roughly 15,400.

Even so, President Trump drew sharp criticism last Thursday when he declared the opioid epidemic a nationwide public health emergency—a designation that does little more than shift grant money away from other public health needs, such as combating HIV/AIDS, and lift some red tape. Indeed, the declaration freed up just $57,000 from the Public Health Emergency Fund to go toward tackling opioid misuse, which is half the amount that the city of Middletown, Ohio, could spend on naloxone—a life-saving opioid antagonist that reverses overdoses—in a single year. Trump also highlighted a discredited tactic—essentially telling people to “just say no” to drugs—that has historically failed to mitigate drug use, betraying what is at best his own ignorance around the risk factors that lead to substance misuse.

Continue reading “President Trump’s Agenda Undermines His Rhetoric on Opioid Misuse”

Senate’s Opioid Fund Cannot Substitute for Health Coverage

The following article by Emily Gee and Richard G. Frank was posted on the Center for American Progress website June 20, 2017:

AP/David Dermer — Paul Wright smokes a cigarette, Thursday, June 15, 2017, at the Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic in Youngstown, Ohio.

The concerns of some Senate Republicans about making the opioid epidemic worse have spilled out of their secretive negotiations for repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in the form of a fund to combat opioid addiction. A $45 billion fund in the Senate bill would reportedly be aimed at helping people with dependence on prescription opioids and illicit forms of the drug, but it would provide scant resources to address the epidemic. The fund also would not be able to undo the true costs of the repeal bill, would result in millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage, and could cause those still insured to lose access to substance use disorder treatment.

There were 2.66 million people in the United States with an opioid use disorder (OUD) as of 2015. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 33,091 people died from an opioid overdose in 2015. West Virginia had the highest opioid overdose death rate; about 36 out of every 100,000 people in the state died from an opioid overdose that year. Continue reading “Senate’s Opioid Fund Cannot Substitute for Health Coverage”

How Republican Budget Cuts Would Make the Opioid Epidemic Even Worse

The following report by Eliza Schultz and Katherine Gallagher Robbins was posted on the Center for American Progress website January 12, 2017:

In 2015, opioid-involved overdoses claimed more than 33,000 lives—a fourfold increase from 1999. Opioid overdoses caused nearly as many deaths in the United States as traffic accidents and twice as many as homicides. The toll of the epidemic is tremendous for those who struggle with addiction, as well as families, communities, and the economy. But while some Republican officials have promised to address addiction and support at-risk populations—President-elect Donald J. Trump pledged in October to provide every individual with addiction “access to the care and the help that he or she needs”—the House Republican agenda will hardly abate the opioid crisis. Instead, it is poised to do immense damage. Indeed, new analysis shows that repeal of the Affordable Care Act alone would strip 222,000 people with an opioid addiction of some or all of their health insurance coverage—and that is not the only way that House Republicans could do damage. Continue reading “How Republican Budget Cuts Would Make the Opioid Epidemic Even Worse”