SAFE Glen Cove Coalition: Opioid Crisis Year in Review

Families and communities all across the country are being devastated by opioid abuse and addiction. President Trump declared a nationwide public health emergency over the opioid crisis.

In 2017 a few state governors issued the epidemic an emergency. Massachusetts is one of the states with the highest opioid overdose rate. The governor of Massachusetts issued a state of emergency in 2014 - a four-year difference between other states.

Many policies and grants have been issued due to the efforts of the president as well as governors to help with the opioid crisis. Hopefully within the years to come these efforts will decrease the number of deaths within each state from opioid overdoses. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, West Virginia has the highest opioid overdose death rate, with a rate of 36 out of every 100,000 people. Overdose deaths in West Virginia have increased more than 23 percent from 2016-2017.

President Trump has released action plans across the entire executive branch to target drug addiction and opioid abuse. The first lady has also made it her mission to advocate for the prevention of opioid overdoses.

This year alone, over three million dollars has been funded toward the crisis, and ten billion dollars has been allotted to combat the opioid epidemic. These funds will be allocated to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who will work with Congress and other federal departments as well as a constellation of state and local agencies and community organizations to invest significant time, talent and resources into addressing the epidemic. Earlier in the year HHS introduced a five-point strategy that takes a comprehensive approach to addressing the opioid epidemic.

1. Improving access to prevention, treatment and recovery services including the full range of medication-assisted treatment

2. Targeting availability and distribution of overdose-reversing drugs

3. Strengthening public health data and reporting on the epidemic

4. Supporting cutting-edge research on pain and addiction.

5. Advancing better practices for pain management.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) was also awarded a grant for 485 million dollars to allow states to increase prevention, treatment and recovery services for individuals seeking help with an opioid addiction. SAMHSA has funded and released over 2 billion dollars addressing the opioid epidemic across the nation. They continue to educate individuals as well as to help save lives. According to SAMHSA, opioid related deaths have increased significantly since 1999 and by 2016 more than 11 million Americans abused opioids. Steps are being taken to stop this opioid epidemic across the nation.

A new policy was recently issued through Medicare and Medicaid that will include inpatient or residential addiction treatment programs that are not typically covered by these health insurances. President Trump signed into effect the INTERDICT Act, an effort to stop the supply of synthetic opioids that are being illegally imported in to the country. This act provides U.S. Customs and Border Protection with the resources necessary to combat drug smuggling by increasing opioid detection equipment and technology.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is the nation's principal health statistics agency, providing data to identify and address health issues. For more information please visit https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/index.htm.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is a cabinet-level department of the U.S. federal government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. For more information please visit https://www.hhs.gov/.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is charged with improving the quality and availability of treatment and rehabilitative services in order to reduce illness, death, disability, and the cost to society resulting from substance abuse and mental illnesses. For more information please visit https://www.samhsa.gov/.

The SAFE Glen Cove Coalition is conducting an opioid prevention awareness campaign entitled, "Keeping Glen Cove SAFE," in order to educate and update the community regarding opioid use and its consequences. To learn more about the SAFE Glen Cove Coalition please follow us on www.facebook.com/safeglencove or visit SAFE’s website to learn more about the Opioid Epidemic at www.safeglencove.org.