How Widespread is the Opioid Epidemic?

When Did the Opioid Epidemic Start?

Technically, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a national public health crisis in October of 2017. That means that it had gotten so bad, that the government of the United States couldn’t count on local government and healthcare to take care of the issue anymore.

The declaration itself says that this “national crisis is a top priority” and committed to investing almost $900 million in funding to help treat and prevent opioid issues.

As part of their national public health crisis announcement, HHS put out a five-step plan for combating the opioid epidemic.

The five steps are:

• Improve access to prevention, treatment, and recovery support services
• Target the availability and distribution of overdose-reversing drugs
• Strengthen public health data reporting and collection
• Support cutting-edge research on addiction and pain
• Advance the practice of pain management

Those steps are all well thought out and essential for coming back from this crisis. Especially the fourth one, as the majority of opioid use addictions come from someone who has been prescribed pain pills for medical use by their doctor.

Improving Access

By making this is a federal issue, the government has provided millions of dollars to go to health centers around the country. That means that they can take more training on opioid epidemic issues and have more people on hand to help with the crisis.

Part of the money and the plan also went to the call for using Naloxone, which is referred to “overdose-reversal drug”.

What exactly is that? There’s a drug called Naloxone, and it can bring people back from the brink of a fatal overdose. But since it’s such a niche drug – it’s only helpful for opioid overdoses, not a lot of doctors, hospitals, and clinics have it.

That’s one part of the “improving access” step – making sure the places that see the most addicts have this drug on hand.

Opioids are depressants, which mean they slow the body process down. When people overdose on opioids, their breathing and heart rate slow down completely, and eventually, their body shuts down.

Naloxone doesn’t reduce the number of opioids in someone’s system, but it can temporarily increase their heart rate and regulate their breathing. That may be enough to bring someone back when they’re almost gone. It can’t treat the lasting damage overdosing has on the physical body, but it saves lives every day!

Strengthening Public Health Data and Getting More Information

At the time when the national health crisis was announced, we didn’t have as much information about the opioid epidemic as we do now.

We now know that 11.4 million people misused prescription opioids, from a study in 2016. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re part of the 2.1 million who have a usage problem (see the difference in the amounts) but it shows how much work the public has to do.

Misuse is common. This means not getting rid of your pain medications (safely) after treating what they were prescribed for. It means taking one that’s leftover when you have a migraine or want to get a really good night’s sleep.

Which leads to public education: safety professionals need to teach people how to safely use and dispose of pain medication, so that there are fewer pills that get into the hands of addicts.