Removing barriers to opioid addiction treatment is critical. So why aren't we doing it?
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Removing barriers to opioid addiction treatment is critical. So why aren't we doing it?

Salon  

There’s a treatment for opioid use disorder that literally saves lives. To do so, we homed in on residential treatment centers across the state of North Carolina, where many North Carolinians living with OUD expect to receive guidance, support and – naturally – lifesaving medical treatment. After a four-month-long audit of private organizations across North Carolina advertising themselves as residential treatment centers, we found that only seven of those centers provided on-site access to OAT. According to the current, best practice treatment guidelines set by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, residential care for substance use disorders must include “access to medications for – made available on-site or in the immediate community.” Based on our recent findings, it’s clear that North Carolinians seeking treatment for opioid use disorder cannot expect to receive ASAM’s lifesaving, gold-standard of care from the majority of “residential treatment centers” across the state. Second, North Carolina policymakers should take advantage of the approximately $1.5 billion in opioid settlement funds that will be distributed across the state in the coming years — funds that provide the state with a unique opportunity to expand access to lifesaving, evidence-based medication like OAT.

Treatment Access North Carolina State North Carolina Centers Opioid Overdose Residential Overdose Deaths North Carolinians Opioid Use Disorder Oat Overdose Death Residential Treatment Centers  state  treatment  removing  opioid  oat  access  critical  barriers  arent  north  centers  doing  overdose  addiction  carolina  residential

History of this topic

More doctors can prescribe a leading addiction treatment. Why aren’t more people getting help?
11 months ago

More doctors can prescribe a leading addiction treatment. Why aren’t more people getting help?

Associated Press  

It’s easier than ever for doctors to prescribe a key medicine for opioid addiction since the U.S. government lifted an obstacle last year. The number of prescribers rose last year after doctors no longer needed to get a special waiver to prescribe the drug, while the number of patients filling prescriptions barely budged. It may take more than one year …

As billions roll in to fight the US opioid epidemic, one county shows how recovery can work
1 year, 4 months ago

As billions roll in to fight the US opioid epidemic, one county shows how recovery can work

Associated Press  

FINDLAY, Ohio — Communities ravaged by America’s opioid epidemic are starting to get their share of a $50 billion pie from legal settlements. Jesse Johnson of the Family Resource Center, right, walks with client Tyler Baker to the Hancock County Adult Probation office for a random drug test in Findlay, Ohio, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. Tyler Baker retrieves fentanyl from …

Methadone could help solve our opioid overdose crisis. Why is it so hard for people to get?
1 year, 5 months ago

Methadone could help solve our opioid overdose crisis. Why is it so hard for people to get?

Salon  

For Americans under age 45, the most likely way of dying prematurely is opioid overdose. Big cumbersome lock boxes that make it obvious that a person is on methadone, random 24-hour calls back to the clinic for bottle checks, and forced counseling are all things that keep people away from treatment, according to the National Coalition to Liberate Methadone, a …

Only 1 in 5 people with opioid addiction get the medications to treat it, study finds
1 year, 7 months ago

Only 1 in 5 people with opioid addiction get the medications to treat it, study finds

NPR  

Only 1 in 5 people with opioid addiction get the medications to treat it, study finds Enlarge this image toggle caption Ted S. Warren/AP Ted S. Warren/AP Imagine if during a deadly public health crisis, 80% of Americans weren't able to get safe, effective medications proven to help people recover. "Failing to use safe and lifesaving medications is devastating for …

I Took Oxy And Fentanyl For Years. Here's What No One Is Telling You About The Opioid Crisis.
1 year, 8 months ago

I Took Oxy And Fentanyl For Years. Here's What No One Is Telling You About The Opioid Crisis.

Huff Post  

The author in the hospital in 2013 just before her high-dose chemotherapy began. I was one of the millions of Americans who needed high doses of opioids while unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies lied and encouraged doctors to over-prescribe OxyContin, while “pill mills” distributed these addictive medications far and wide, and while illegally produced Fentanyl found its way into street drugs like …

Opinion: Why are we denying people with opioid addiction the most effective treatment?
1 year, 11 months ago

Opinion: Why are we denying people with opioid addiction the most effective treatment?

LA Times  

Signs at an Oregon treatment center show where receptacles to dispense methadone should be disposed of after use. But if your diagnosis were for opioid addiction and you came to see me, an addiction specialist, federal regulations written half a century ago would bar me from prescribing the most effective treatment: methadone. If I want my patients to access this …

Chronic pain patients struggle to get opioid prescriptions filled, even as CDC eases guidelines
2 years ago

Chronic pain patients struggle to get opioid prescriptions filled, even as CDC eases guidelines

CNN  

KHN — Jessica Layman estimates she has called more than 150 doctors in the past few years in her search for someone to prescribe opioids for her chronic pain. The first CDC guidelines “put everybody on notice,” said Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, chair of the American Medical Association’s Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force. Taking into account the perspective of …

I Took Oxy And Fentanyl For Years. Here's What No One Is Telling You About The Opioid Crisis.
2 years, 1 month ago

I Took Oxy And Fentanyl For Years. Here's What No One Is Telling You About The Opioid Crisis.

Huff Post  

The author in the hospital in 2013 just before her high-dose chemotherapy began. I was one of the millions of Americans who needed high doses of opioids while unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies lied and encouraged doctors to over-prescribe OxyContin, while “pill mills” distributed these addictive medications far and wide, and while illegally produced Fentanyl found its way into street drugs like …

Advocates seek more say in how opioid settlements are spent
2 years, 6 months ago

Advocates seek more say in how opioid settlements are spent

Associated Press  

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The tattoos on Billie Stafford’s hands — inspired by street art and full of references to her work helping prevent drug-related deaths — have become an indelible memorial to the friend who inked them and the opioid crisis that killed him in April. “They don’t have to come and write 20 names on a wall because everyone’s …

Lessons from America’s mass popping of opioids
2 years, 8 months ago

Lessons from America’s mass popping of opioids

Live Mint  

The deadliest drug epidemic in US history did not involve peddlers, gangsters or smugglers, but painkillers. Between 2006 and 2014, a single county in West Virginia was supplied with over 127 million prescription opioid pills—142 pills a year for every person—that fed an opioid-addiction crisis that is still playing out. On Monday, a federal judge dismissed charges against America’s three …

US lifts barriers to prescribing addiction treatment drug
3 years, 11 months ago

US lifts barriers to prescribing addiction treatment drug

Associated Press  

The Biden administration is easing decades-old requirements that made it difficult for doctors to treat opioid addiction using medication. New guidelines announced Tuesday mean doctors and other health workers will no longer need extra hours of training to prescribe buprenorphine, a gold standard medicine that helps with cravings. Besides doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified nurse midwives and some other …

US eases prescription requirements for opioid treatment
3 years, 11 months ago

US eases prescription requirements for opioid treatment

Al Jazeera  

The US Department of Health and Human Services has announced new rules easing the prescription of a medication that helps those suffering from opioid addiction. The guidelines announced on Tuesday mean doctors and other health workers will no longer need extra hours of training to prescribe buprenorphine, a gold standard medicine that helps with cravings. Acting Director of the Office …

To Stop Deadly Overdoses, 'The Opioid Fix' Urges Better Use Of Tools We Already Have
4 years, 8 months ago

To Stop Deadly Overdoses, 'The Opioid Fix' Urges Better Use Of Tools We Already Have

NPR  

To Stop Deadly Overdoses, 'The Opioid Fix' Urges Better Use Of Tools We Already Have Enlarge this image Johns Hopkins University Press Johns Hopkins University Press More Americans than ever — almost 72,000 — died from a drug overdose last year, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection. NPR recently spoke with Andraka-Christou about her …

How the prescriptions doctors wrote may have helped fuel the U.S. opioid crisis
5 years, 6 months ago

How the prescriptions doctors wrote may have helped fuel the U.S. opioid crisis

LA Times  

More than 75% of patients in the U.S. and Canada filled a prescription for opioids following one of four common surgeries, compared with 11% of Swedes, a new study reports. More than 75% of patients in the U.S. and Canada filled a prescription for opioids following one of four common surgeries, compared with 11% of Swedes, researchers reported Wednesday in …

Op-Ed: A drug called buprenorphine saved me from heroin addiction. It could save millions more — if we let it
5 years, 7 months ago

Op-Ed: A drug called buprenorphine saved me from heroin addiction. It could save millions more — if we let it

LA Times  

Less than 7% of doctors have the special license required to prescribe buprenorphine, an effective addiction treatment that is greatly underused. Less than 7% of doctors have the special license required to prescribe buprenorphine as an addiction treatment, and there’s a limit to the number of patients each doctor can treat. Narcotics Anonymous, for example, defines “clean” as being free …

As the nation’s opioid crisis grew, the pills got stronger
5 years, 8 months ago

As the nation’s opioid crisis grew, the pills got stronger

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — In 2012, as the death toll from the nation’s opioid crisis mounted, drug companies shipped out enough of the powerful and addictive painkillers for every man, woman and child in the U.S. to have nearly a 20-day supply. “We know that the higher the dose of prescribed opioids, and the longer patients are on them, even for a …

County Jails Struggle With A New Role As America's Prime Centers For Opioid Detox
5 years, 11 months ago

County Jails Struggle With A New Role As America's Prime Centers For Opioid Detox

NPR  

County Jails Struggle With A New Role As America's Prime Centers For Opioid Detox toggle caption Elise Amendola/AP Faced with a flood of addicted inmates and challenged by lawsuits, America's county jails are struggling to adjust to an opioid health crisis that has turned many of the jails into their area's largest drug treatment centers. Sponsor Message "It was never …

Op-Ed: Want to reduce opioid use? Nudge the doctors who prescribe them
6 years, 2 months ago

Op-Ed: Want to reduce opioid use? Nudge the doctors who prescribe them

LA Times  

An Orange County doctor was arrested by federal authorities in December on suspicion of illegally prescribing narcotics, “flooding Southern California with huge quantities of opioids,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. For the record: This Op-Ed article wrongly identifies the affiliation of the researchers who found that doctors prescribe fewer opioids if they are notified of patient deaths from overdose. …

Opioid-Makers Face Wave of Lawsuits in 2019
6 years, 2 months ago

Opioid-Makers Face Wave of Lawsuits in 2019

NPR  

Opioid-Makers Face Wave of Lawsuits in 2019 Enlarge this image John Moore/Getty Images John Moore/Getty Images The next 12 months might just redefine the way America thinks about and responds to the opioid epidemic that now claims more than 40,000 lives each year. Sponsor Message "Our next battle is to get the documents that are being produced made available to …

Could Prescription Heroin Help Stem Opioid Deaths In The U.S.?
6 years, 3 months ago

Could Prescription Heroin Help Stem Opioid Deaths In The U.S.?

Huff Post  

A tray of supplies at the Insite supervised injection clinic in Vancouver, Canada, where people are permitted to inject illicit drugs in the presence of medical staff. A report released by the nonprofit Rand Corporation this week analyzed the literature on two interventions ― prescription heroin and supervised consumption sites ― that already exist in Europe, Canada and Australia, but …

Dispatches From A 'Dopesick' America
6 years, 7 months ago

Dispatches From A 'Dopesick' America

NPR  

Dispatches From A 'Dopesick' America There's no shortage of statistics about the depth of America's opioid epidemic — there were 72,000 overdose deaths just last year — but numbers don't tell the whole story. Sponsor Message Dopesick Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America By Beth Macy Purchase BookPurchase close overlay Buy Featured Book Your purchase helps support …

More Americans should carry overdose antidote to fight opioid crisis, says US surgeon general
6 years, 11 months ago

More Americans should carry overdose antidote to fight opioid crisis, says US surgeon general

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The US’s chief doctor wants more Americans to start carrying …

Surgeon General Warns About Opioid Overdose Epidemic, Urging Americans to Carry Naloxone
6 years, 11 months ago

Surgeon General Warns About Opioid Overdose Epidemic, Urging Americans to Carry Naloxone

CNN  

The US surgeon general has issued an advisory recommending that more Americans carry opioid overdose antidote naloxone. Naloxone can quickly reverse the effects of opioid overdose, slowing or stopping breathing. The drug is used by police officers, first responders, and emergency medical technicians to reverse opioid overdoses. The surgeon general emphasized that 'knowing how to use naloxone and keeping it …

Should we look to our phones to solve the opioid crisis?
7 years, 4 months ago

Should we look to our phones to solve the opioid crisis?

Salon  

Some of the communities hit hardest by the opioid epidemic are in rural America. As a researcher of opioid treatment in Michigan, I’m excited to see the call for greater availability of telemedicine as a way to help rural communities. The few rural providers in areas like this typically offer opioid treatment within small family medicine practices and have limited …

Is There A Way To Keep Using Opioid Painkillers And Reduce Risk?
7 years, 4 months ago

Is There A Way To Keep Using Opioid Painkillers And Reduce Risk?

NPR  

Is There A Way To Keep Using Opioid Painkillers And Reduce Risk? "Life wasn't going to be worth living if I couldn't get the pain under control," McHann says. In a viewpoint published last month in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association, CDC officials wrote that while illicit opioids such as fentanyl seem to be driving the recent …

Op-Ed: The opioid crackdown is making life untenable for chronic pain patients like me
7 years, 5 months ago

Op-Ed: The opioid crackdown is making life untenable for chronic pain patients like me

LA Times  

President Trump recently said that he intends to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency. The rate of misuse is much lower among patients who are prescribed opioid medication for chronic pain — 21% to 29%, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. An even smaller percentage of chronic pain patients develop a disorder — between 8% and 12%. …

Why does New Hampshire lead in synthetic opioid death rate?
7 years, 5 months ago

Why does New Hampshire lead in synthetic opioid death rate?

CNN  

“Inside with Chris Cuomo” airs Fridays at 9PM ET/PT on HLN Story highlights New Hampshire has the highest overdose death rate in the US from synthetic opioids The state sits on a drug trafficking route and has low funding for treatment and prevention programs, experts say CNN — President Trump said Monday that he would officially declare America’s opioid epidemic …

A guide to prescribing painkillers ethically
7 years, 6 months ago

A guide to prescribing painkillers ethically

Daily Mail  

America's opioid crisis is getting worse. As a bioethicist working on the ethical and policy issues regarding prescription opioids, I am grateful to the National Academy of Medicine for inviting me to serve on this publication's authorship team, and for taking seriously the ethical component of the prescription opioid crisis. A National Academy of Medicine researcher has written a guide …

Combatting The Opioid Crisis At Its Source
7 years, 7 months ago

Combatting The Opioid Crisis At Its Source

Huff Post  

Bloomberg via Getty Images In the Cherokee Nation, where I serve as Attorney General, I have seen the opioid crisis worsen every year, breaking up more families and taking more lives, as the prescription opioid industry increased its profits by flooding our community with more and more lethal painkillers. Every day, companies that manufacture and distribute prescription opioid drugs and …

Hospitals Could Do More For Survivors Of Opioid Overdoses, Study Suggests
7 years, 7 months ago

Hospitals Could Do More For Survivors Of Opioid Overdoses, Study Suggests

NPR  

Hospitals Could Do More For Survivors Of Opioid Overdoses, Study Suggests Enlarge this image toggle caption FangXiaNuo/Getty Images FangXiaNuo/Getty Images To get a sense of how severe the opioid crisis is in the U.S., you can look at the number of fatal overdoses — more than 33,000 in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sponsor Message …

The U.S. should rethink its entire approach to painkillers and the people addicted to them, panel urges
7 years, 8 months ago

The U.S. should rethink its entire approach to painkillers and the people addicted to them, panel urges

LA Times  

The report said some who are dependent on painkillers will turn to street drugs such as fentanyl and heroin. Dr. Leana Wen, health commissioner for the city of Baltimore, said the new report’s recommendations are “hard to argue with, because they are comprehensive and evidence-based.” But Wen, who has been an outspoken voice for broader access to addiction treatment, said …

FDA takes new steps to curb opioid abuse
7 years, 8 months ago

FDA takes new steps to curb opioid abuse

CNN  

Story highlights Makers of immediate-release products will have to provide prescriber training However, there is no mandate on physicians to take it FDA commissioner: "America is simply awash in immediate-release opioid products" CNN — To help curb the nation’s opioid overdose epidemic, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced, the agency will expand its requirements for prescription opioid …

Opioid addiction rates continue to skyrocket
7 years, 9 months ago

Opioid addiction rates continue to skyrocket

CNN  

Story highlights Opioid addiction rates skyrocket to nearly 500% in past 7 years Gap in opioid addiction treatment remains CNN — A new study finds that the number of Americans being diagnosed with opioid addiction continues to skyrocket, but still very few receive any treatment. “Opioid use disorder is a complex issue, and there is no single approach to solving …

Treat opioid addiction with resources, not rhetoric (opinion)
7 years, 11 months ago

Treat opioid addiction with resources, not rhetoric (opinion)

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Dr. Leana S. Wen is the health commissioner for the city of Baltimore. Story highlights Leana S. Wen: Trump panel on opioid crisis will duplicate work, waste time and money And, worse yet, it will cost thousands of innocent lives, she says CNN — Little is known about the Trump administration’s plan to end this public health epidemic …

West Virginia Families Worry About Access To Addiction Treatment Under Trump
8 years, 1 month ago

West Virginia Families Worry About Access To Addiction Treatment Under Trump

NPR  

West Virginia Families Worry About Access To Addiction Treatment Under Trump Enlarge this image toggle caption Sarah McCammon/NPR Sarah McCammon/NPR Cary Dixon's 29-year-old son has struggled with opioid abuse for years. "I know that the Affordable Care Act needs tweaked, but to be repealed and to lose the gains that we've made would be harder on our community," Dixon says. …

Can the US end its addiction to painkillers?
8 years, 8 months ago

Can the US end its addiction to painkillers?

Al Jazeera  

Politicians are finally talking tough on an opioid abuse epidemic. “They didn’t ask me too many questions because I’ve been in three car accidents and I have extremely bad migraines due to my neck pain, so I can get Percocet whenever I want,” Kearney-Argow, 23, told Al Jazeera, referring to a strong pain reliever that can also give a high. …

Obama Administration Eases Restrictions On Doctors Who Treat Opioid Addiction
8 years, 8 months ago

Obama Administration Eases Restrictions On Doctors Who Treat Opioid Addiction

NPR  

Obama Administration Eases Restrictions On Doctors Who Treat Opioid Addiction Enlarge this image toggle caption Jamie Grill/Getty Images Jamie Grill/Getty Images The Obama administration is making it easier for people addicted to opioids to get treatment. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced new rules Wednesday to loosen restrictions on doctors who treat people addicted to heroin and opioid …

How to help stop opioid abusers from 'doctor shopping' for prescription drugs
8 years, 9 months ago

How to help stop opioid abusers from 'doctor shopping' for prescription drugs

LA Times  

Like 48 other states, California has an online database that records all the prescriptions issued for potentially habit-forming or abuseable drugs, such as OxyContin and Ritalin. One study found that doctors in Ohio who consulted the state’s prescription database often changed the amount of opioids they prescribed, typically to reduce or eliminate them. That’s why Sen. Ricardo Lara has proposed …

Fighting Obamacare, many red states find fewer tools to fight opioid addiction epidemic
8 years, 9 months ago

Fighting Obamacare, many red states find fewer tools to fight opioid addiction epidemic

LA Times  

Hydrocodone pills are arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. See the most-read stories this hour » “The best way to get treatment if you’re addicted to drugs in Missouri is to get pregnant,” said Dr. Joe Parks, director of that state’s Medicaid program, which has not been expanded. In Nebraska, another state that has rejected the …

Feds approve device to wean addicts off heroin
8 years, 10 months ago

Feds approve device to wean addicts off heroin

CNN  

Story highlights FDA approves implant device to fight opioid addiction Device to combat issues of anti-addiction drugs being sold on black market CNN — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug-emitting implant to combat addiction to heroin and other opioids killing thousands of people annually. Braeburn Pharmaceuticals/AP “Opioid abuse and addiction have taken a devastating toll on …

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