How the US Is Fighting the Opioid Epidemic

It’s arguably the worst drug crisis in American history. On average,115 Americans are dying from opioid overdosesevery day.

In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies assured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and the number of prescription opioids sold to hospitals, doctors’ offices and pharmaciespractically quadrupledbetween 1999 and 2010.

Widespread use led to widespread misuse, which has fatal consequences. The number of opioid overdose deaths quintupled between 1999 and 2016. As we now know, opioids, including prescription opioids, are highly addictive, but they’re only part of the problem. Prescription opioids pave the way for heroin use, which is cheaper and easier to acquire.

The opioid epidemic was declared a national public health emergency in October 2017.

Federal Response to the Opioid Epidemic

Opioids — including prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl — accounted for more than 42,000 deaths in 2016, more than any year on record. Forty percent of those overdose deaths involved a prescription opioid, such as methadone, oxycodone or hydrocodone.

HHS is spearheading a multi-pronged approach in combating the epidemic, starting with research. The Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee, a federal advisory committee under HHS, was tasked with creating a National Pain Strategy. The comprehensive research strategy aims to identify gaps in research and provide recommendations for new research to reduce chronic pain and establish a system through which all patients receive high-quality, evidence-based treatment for pain.

The National Institutes of Health has joined with private partners to launch a research initiative into three areas: overdose reversal, addiction treatment and pain management. The HHS Healthy People 2020 initiative includes an objective for Medical Product Safety, which focuses on the overall improvement of patient treatment and the appropriate use of prescription drugs in pain management.

An Epidemic Requires Widespread Effective Treatment

Research into addiction prevention and safer alternatives for prescription opioids are essential in the long-term strategy, but what about the estimated 3.8 million Americans who already misuse opioids? Prevention is not to be ignored, but a more proactive approach that encourages people to get treatment could actually put a dent in fatal overdose rates.

Treatment that takes an evidence-based, individualized, multidisciplinary approach is critical because opioid addiction is not caused solely by drug availability. Effective treatment must address the underlying causes of substance abuse that often stem from co-occurring mental health disorders.

The Oaks offers highly individualized treatment plans that provide a clear path to recovery.

Written by, Guardian Recovery Network.