(Newswire.net — February 3, 2023) —
The opioid crisis in the United States has been an issue for a number of years now and new reports are showing that it’s continuing to rise, particularly in the region with over 10 million syringes used and collected over the last 12 months in Philadelphia alone.
Addiction to opioids and fentanyl in particular has risen dramatically in the years following the pandemic and while much of the advice and encouragement being that rehabilitation is worth looking at for those suffering, there’s also a number of initiatives in place by authorities to manage and prevent overdoses.
Across the Philadelphia region there are a number of groups in place to help with the crisis, with Prevention Point handing out 8.8 million clean syringes for use, to help prevent the passing of disease and infections, while statistics are also showing that many people are taking the advice to look for rehab, with a staggering 845% increase in people seeking medical treatment for opioid use disorder.
Such is the prominence of the drug, a survey taken in the greater Philadelphia area, including Gloucester, found that 53% of residents had seen opioid usage impact their quality of life in their neighbourhoods, whether that be through usage, friends and family usage, or problems and anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhood because of it.
It’s today affecting every corner of society with Penn Med, the company behind an addiction centre in the area, considering the crisis a “nationwide calamity”.
It is currently a hot topic for The White House as more support is needed to be given to helping calm the huge number of overdoses from fentanyl, not just in Philadelphia, but each and every city and state in the country.
Billions has since been committed to the cause by Joe Biden and his party, which is vital as new forms of fentanyl pills begin to hit the streets, with a rainbow coloured variation a particular concern with it likely to heighten the appeal to children.
So far, the US government has promised $42.5billion to drug control programs, including money to combat the volume of drugs on the street and seizing that, as well as overdose reversal drugs which are being distributed into towns, regions and even the likes of schools and colleges that need them most.
The fentanyl crisis continues to be a huge problem for Philadelphia and immediate actions are going to be needed in order to stem the harm its causing over the coming months and across 2023.