(Newswire.net — June 20, 2018) — The healthcare industry and concerned citizens all over the nation are anxiously watching the unfolding of the opioid crisis, and hoping for some appreciable progress. Each day, more than 115 Americans die from an overdose of opioids, a category of substances that includes an array of drugs from heroin to prescription pain medications, and fentanyl.
Fortunately, the crisis has received significant media attention over the past few years. The White House even took the step of declaring the situation to qualify as a national emergency.
Despite the increased attention, awareness, and acknowledged seriousness of the epidemic, however, there’s been no sign that things are getting any better. Why aren’t we making any progress?
The Nature of the Decline
Anecdotal evidence certainly intimates that the crisis isn’t improving. Every day, new reports of overdoses pile up, and the news media still talk about the situation as an ongoing emergency.
Hard numbers relate an even more disheartening story. Between 2016 and the end of 2017, the number of recorded cases of opioid overdoses increased by more than 30 percent.
In short, the opioid crisis is only getting worse, not better.
What’s Stopping Us From Progressing
So why aren’t we making any progress?
1. The stigma. First, the stigma associated with drug abuse plays a huge role. People look down on fellow citizens who use and abuse drugs. We often associate drug abuse with undesirable members of the community.
This can have a variety of effects, none of which helps the situation. Addicts are less likely to seek treatment because they’re afraid of being judged or even charged with committing a crime. Plus, the not-in-my-back-yard (NIMBY) attitude of city officials and homeowners makes it harder to establish recovery facilities that are adequate to address the crisis in specific communities.
2. Proactive action. It’s also difficult to treat the problem early in the user’s downward spiral, because the warning signs of addiction can be hard to spot. Addicts are often adept at hiding their activities and condition, so friends and family members aren’t able to work proactively to help them overcome the addiction.
3. The lack of viable alternatives. Doctors will have to accept a substantial part of the blame for the opioid crisis. Addicts have found fault with their caregivers’ over-prescription of pain medications. However, insurance companies must share some of the blame.
There are plenty of viable alternatives to prescription medications for pain management, including physical therapy, but most of these are more costly than prescription pain meds. In this case, the cheaper, more easy option is the one that poses the long-term consequences.
4. A shortage of funding. Many people, including experts and healthcare providers, have expressed a willingness to acknowledging the scale of the crisis and honesty desire to stem its growth, but they simply don’t have the funding to take meaningful action. They can’t establish the facilities, acquire the treatment options, or recruit the necessary manpower to help people recover. Addiction recovery is long and expensive, and without that funding, most efforts are going to be muted.
5. No formal governmental action. The White House and Congress have acknowledged the scale and severity of this crisis, but neither had taken any formal action in response to it. There is currently no legislation, and no plan in place that will directly curtail the growth of the epidemic.
Granted, private companies and organizations might be sufficient to handle the crisis on their own, but lack of government assistance doesn’t help.
6. Newer, more powerful drugs. We’re also seeing the emergence of newer, more powerful opioids, such as the synthetic variant fentanyl. These drugs make it easier for new users to get addicted, and because they’re so new, caregivers can commit dosage errors that make overdoses more likely as well.
7. Naloxone distribution. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that works by reversing the effects of an opioid overdose; in other words, it’s a medical solution that can save the life of someone who’s overdosed on an opioid drug. The substance’s availability has increased significantly since 2010, but critics are still attempting to resist distribution.
Their argument is that ready availability of a failsafe would encourage drug users to be more reckless with their abuse. The research doesn’t bear this out; hospital admissions don’t seem to be affected by the presence of Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND).
Before we can make any measurable progress against the opioid crisis, we’ll need to address many, if not all, of these challenges. The problem is, most of them are the result of deep-seated beliefs or the inertia of years with little action.
It’s going to take significant initiative and energy to shift that momentum and start the recovery process we all want to see.