Tag: addiction epidemic

2020 Presidential Candidates Detail How They'd "Turn The Tide" On Addiction Crisis

All of the candidates approached the drug crisis as a public health issue, emphasizing the need for comprehensive treatment options.

The 2020 presidential election is just over a year away.

Ahead of the much-anticipated event, the Mental Health for U.S. coalition posed 11 questions about mental health and substance use disorder to the presidential hopefuls.

Not every candidate answered, including former Vice President Joe Biden, former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld (a Republican) and President Donald Trump.

But among the six who did, we focused on question number 2: “Every hour, eight people in America die of drug overdose, from opioids and increasingly from other drugs as well. What would your administration do to turn the tide on the addiction crisis?”

Holding Big Pharma Accountable

U.S. Senators Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders said they would hold drug manufacturers and distributors accountable for their role in exacerbating the drug crisis.

“This epidemic, caused by the greed of pharmaceutical companies, is ravaging communities across America,” said Sanders.

“Our response to the addiction crisis must start by tackling the very thing that fueled it in the first place: reckless pharmaceutical companies that marketed dangerous drugs they knew could be highly addictive in order to profit,” said Harris.

“In the Senate, I called for bringing pharmaceutical CEOs to Capitol Hill to testify about their role in the opioid crisis,” said Booker.

Investing In A Solution

Booker and Harris referred to their co-sponsorship of the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. The legislation would “authorize $100 billion over 10 years to combat drug addiction and funnel money to cities, counties and states… to boost spending on addiction treatment, harm reduction services and prevention programs,” as Booker outlined.

Treat It as a Public Health Crisis

All of the candidates approached the drug crisis as a public health issue, emphasizing the need for comprehensive treatment options.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg emphasized expanding access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT), the “gold standard” of treatment for opioid use disorder.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, using funding from her opioid tax, would expand prevention and treatment initiatives, including mental health support, “giving Americans a path to sustainable recovery.”

Sanders would guarantee substance use disorder and mental health services through Medicare-for-all, which emphasizes health care “as a right, not a privilege.”

Other elements of the candidates’ plans included investing in the research of opioid alternatives for pain management, harm reduction programs like syringe exchange, and ensuring the availability of mental health and substance use disorder services for incarcerated individuals, a demographic of people mired by these issues.

Addressing Trauma

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s response stood out from the rest. She focused her strategy on addressing the root causes of substance use disorder and mental illness: trauma.

“To start, we need to support our very youngest,” she said. “We know that adverse childhood experiences, like poverty, homelessness, violence in the community or in the home, family separation, or a caretaker with a substance use disorder, can affect brain development and have an impact on mental health in the teen years and beyond. My plans on gun safety, housing, immigration and the opioid crisis confront many of the conditions that can cause childhood trauma.”

View the original article at thefix.com

28 August 2019
Open-Air Crack Market Plagues Paris Neighborhood

A local police chief said that the crisis came to a head when low-income apartments were gentrified, forcing many people onto the streets.

Each week, in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris—caught between turmoil and progress—police clear out a well-populated “open-air market” for crack cocaine, only to have it reappear almost instantly.

The neighborhood, La Colline, has long had challenges brought by poverty, but the flourishing crack market has made it unbearable, say drug users and residents alike.

Charly Roué, a drug user in the neighborhood, told The New York Times that drug users “compare La Colline to hell.” He continued, “The locals who live nearby and suffer from the chaos we bring must call it hell too.”

Rafia Bibi, an immigrant from Tunisia, said that the drug use has destabilized the neighborhood that she moved to. “We had our share of burned cars, weed trafficking and prostitution, but the violence and misery among migrants and drug addicts have made this neighborhood barely livable,” she said.

A homeless immigrant, Nivmud Singh, said that crack cocaine, which sells for about $17 for a rock, permeates the area of La Colline.

“Crack is everywhere here, it’s impossible to escape from it,” Singh said.

What Led To The Crisis

Emmanuelle Oster, a police chief in the area that includes La Colline, said that the crisis came to a head when low-income apartments were gentrified, forcing many people onto the streets. That, she said, transformed “an invisible phenomenon into an apocalyptic situation.”

“That just can’t exist in a city like Paris in the 21st century,” she said.

Oster is using a heavy police presence in the area to try and fight the crimes, but it is an uphill battle. She said that more drug traffickers have been arrested in the first half of 2019 than in all of the previous year, but despite that the problems still exist.

Aid groups are also working to try to help the situation, but to little avail.

“We urge them to come see us in our offices so they can find some rest, but they say we’re too far from them” said Yves Bouillet, a social worker in the area. The office of the charity that Bouillet works for is about two miles away.

Officials plan to open a safe use facility for drug users, but local residents, including Toufik Aouchiche, worry that will not solve the epidemic.

“After all we’ve been through, city officials want to let the drug addicts stay by setting up a drug room here,” Aouchiche said. “But have they asked us what we think about it?”

Still, drug users like Roué say that the only way to stop using is to get away.

He said, “The only way to stop smoking crack is to leave Paris. We should all stay away from La Colline.”

View the original article at thefix.com

26 August 2019
Cities Now Outpace Rural Towns In Overdose Deaths

In 2017, there were a reported 22 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in urban areas, officially surpassing the 20 deaths per 100,000 in rural areas by a slim margin.

Rural areas have been hardest hit by the opioid crisis, but overdoses in cities are now on the rise.

As it developed, coverage of the opioid crisis seemed to center on rural white Americans. Now, overdose rates in urban areas of the United States has overtaken rural rates.

This shift began happening in 2015 and, according to experts like Dr. Daniel Ciccarone, is due to a change in the dynamic of opioid addiction. The exact nature of this shift isn’t precisely known.

One argument is that the crisis initially began because prescription opioid painkillers were available to virtually anyone in the United States at the discretion of a doctor. This allowed opioid addiction to grip Midwestern and Appalachian areas in a way other drugs could not.

Theories

As awareness of opioids grew, prescription pills became harder to come by. This pushed people who were already hooked to look for heroin and fentanyl–drugs more easily found in urban areas where illicit markets are already in place.

An alternative theory is that the epidemic has simply expanded to the point where it’s started to affect black and Hispanic populations who tend to live in more urban areas.

“Early on, this was seen as an epidemic affecting whites more than other groups,” said Dr. Ciccarone. “Increasingly, deaths in urban areas are starting to look brown and black.”

In 2017, there were a reported 22 overdose deaths per 100,000 people in urban areas, officially surpassing the 20 deaths per 100,000 in rural areas by a narrow margin.

Overdoses continue to be an epidemic, killing about 68,000 Americans last year. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), overdoses in urban areas are affecting mostly men and are caused mostly by fentanyl and heroin. However, overdoses are killing more women in rural areas. These rural deaths are mostly caused by meth and opioid painkillers.

This epidemic doesn’t discriminate, not only between race and geography, but wealth and fame as well. Most recently, Saoirse Kennedy Hill, the granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, was found dead of an overdose on Thursday at just 22 years old. Other prominent people who lost their lives to overdose include the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, the legendary musician Prince, and rapper Mac Miller.

View the original article at thefix.com

5 August 2019
Robert F. Kennedy's Granddaughter Dies After Overdose

Saoirse Kennedy Hill was 22.

Robert F. Kennedy’s granddaughter, who spoke openly as a high schooler about her struggles with depression and suicide, was found dead of an apparent overdose at the family’s summer home near Cape Cod, Massachusetts yesterday. Saoirse Kennedy Hill was 22.

Hill was the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill, 62, and Paul Hill, 65, and the granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy and his wife Ethel, 91.

Emergency responders went to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis, Massachusetts at about 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Hill was transported to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The family confirmed the death to People.

“Our hearts are shattered by the loss of our beloved Saoirse. Her life was filled with hope, promise, and love,” the family statement said. “She cared deeply about friends and family, especially her mother Courtney, her father Paul, her stepmother Stephanie, and her grandmother Ethel.”

Ethel Remembers

Ethel Kennedy remembered her granddaughter’s passions.

“The world is a little less beautiful today. She lit up our lives with her love, her peals of laughter and her generous spirit,” Kennedy said. “Saoirse was passionately moved by the causes of human rights and women’s empowerment and found great joy in volunteer work, working alongside indigenous communities to build schools in Mexico. We will love her and miss her forever.”

The police said that the matter remains under investigation.

Three years ago, Hill wrote an essay for the newspaper at her private high school, Deerfield Academy, detailing her struggles with mental illness.

“My depression took root in the beginning of my middle school years and will be with me for the rest of my life,” she wrote. “Although I was mostly a happy child, I suffered bouts of deep sadness that felt like a heavy boulder on my chest.”

Coping With Mental Illness

In that essay, she revealed that she had a suicide attempt just before her junior year. Since then, she was taking her health into her own hands, she said. “When I’m in a really bad place, I do my best to surround myself with positive people and upbeat music, but too often it feels as if I’m drowning in my own thoughts, while everyone else seems to be breathing comfortably.”

In the days before Hill died she seemed to be doing just that. Her uncle Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted an Instagram photo of her jumping from a sailboat into the ocean (the picture seems to have since been taken down).

This isn’t the first time that the Kennedy family has been touched by tragedy, or addiction. Patrick Kennedy, the nephew of Hill’s grandfather, has become an outspoken advocate for addiction and mental health treatment, after getting into recovery himself.

View the original article at thefix.com

2 August 2019
Two-Thirds Of Global Drug-Related Deaths Were From Opioid Use

The 2019 World Drug Report highlighted the devastating global reach of the addiction epidemic.

Drug use continues to rise—not only in the United States, where fentanyl and painkillers have devastated many lives, but in the Middle East, Africa and India.

The numbers are provided in the 2019 World Drug Report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The report detailed the extent of the drug problem in the United States and Canada. Opioid drugs such as fentanyl, heroin and prescription painkillers contributed the most to widespread substance use disorder (addiction) and death. In 2017, more than 47,000 people in the U.S. and 4,000 Canadians died from opioid overdose, the report showed.

“Drug overdoses have really reached epidemic proportions in North America,” said UN research chief Angela Me.

Around 271 Million People Used Drugs In 2017

Globally, drugs are a problem as well. An estimated 271 million people used drugs in 2017—30% more people than in 2009. The same year, 585,000 people died from drug use—with opioid drugs accounting for two-thirds of global drug deaths.

And while around 35 million people live with drug use disorder, not enough people receive help for it. “Prevention and treatment continue to fall short in many parts of the world, with only one in seven people with drug use disorders receiving treatment each year,” according to the UN.

The report found a lack of treatment options across the world, and urged world leaders to do better. “Effective treatment interventions based on scientific evidence and in line with international human rights obligations are not as accessible as they need to be, and national governments and the international community need to step up interventions in order to address this gap,” according to a statement by the UN.

It was noted that the overall increase in drug use and people with substance use disorder was partly due to improved reporting in India and Nigeria, two of the most populous nations.

Cannabis Is The Most Widely Used Drug In The World

Other findings of the World Drug Report included the fact that cannabis is still the most widely used drug in the world with an estimated 188 million people having used it in 2017. And global cocaine manufacturing hit a record high in 2017 with 1,976 tons counted—a 25% increase over the previous year.

“The findings of this year’s World Drug Report fill in and further complicate the global picture of drug challenges, underscoring the need for broader international cooperation to advance balanced and integrated health and criminal justice responses to supply and demand,” said Yury Fedotov, UNODC Executive Director.

View the original article at thefix.com

1 July 2019
Focus On Opioids Leaves States Struggling To Find Money To Treat Other Addictions

Restricting funds to covering opioid-related treatments mean that some treatments will become more easily accessible while others remain hard to come by.

Although the phrase “opioid epidemic” has become mainstream, experts on substance use disorder say that the country’s drug problem is about more than just opioids, and states are struggling to adequately address that with federal funds that have been earmarked specifically for opioid-related interventions.

“Even just the moniker — ‘the opioid epidemic’ — out of the gate, is problematic and incorrect,” Northeastern University professor Leo Beletsky, who teaches law and health sciences, told NPR. “This was never just about opioids.”

Still, much of the $2.4 billion that the federal government has sent to states since 2017 has come in the form of grants that require states specifically address opioid use. Even the names of the federal grant programs make show their focus on opioids: the State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis and State Opioid Response are two major sources of funding.

That has left people like David Crowe looking for other options for funding to do more comprehensive drug use prevention. Crowe is the executive director of Crawford County Drug and Alcohol Executive Commission in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. He says that opioids are a major factor there, but so is methamphetamine, and he needs funds to address that as well.

“Now I’m looking for something different. I don’t need more opiate money. I need money that will not be used exclusively for opioids,” he said.

Opioids remain a prevalent problem, but in 11 states that class of drugs were responsible for less than half of opioid overdose deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Restricting funds to covering opioid-related treatments mean that some treatments will become more easily accessible — like medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. Yet, interventions for other drugs, like methamphetamines, might continue to be hard to come by.

This is especially concerning since use of specific drugs tends to come and go, while pervasive drug use continues nationally, said Bertha Madras, a professor at Harvard Medical School and former member of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.

“I think we have to really begin to self-examine why this country has so much substance use to begin with,” she said.

Still, proponents of the programs say that even opioid-targeted funds can help address gaps in the treatment of mental illness and addiction. Those gaps contribute to the use of all drugs, including opioids, according to Marlies Perez, a division chief at the California Department of Health Care Services.

“This funding is dedicated to opioids, but we’re not blindly just building a system dedicated just to opioids,” Perez said.

View the original article at thefix.com

20 June 2019
New York Launches Campaign To Promote Addiction Treatment Resources

The “Know Your Facts” campaign will promote information about addiction treatment resources, insurance coverage and support systems.

The New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) announced Monday that it is launching a new campaign to educate the public on addiction and treatment resources in the state.

The PSA campaign, called “Know the Facts,” is designed to help direct people to addiction services and help, according to a press release by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and OASAS Commissioner Arlene González-Sánchez.

The recent press around the opioid crisis in the U.S. has spurred multiple information campaigns about addiction across the country. As the public learns more about the nature of addiction and that there’s no shame in seeking treatment, New York officials have found that there is a lack of awareness about where and how individuals can access that treatment.

“The key is making sure people are aware of the resources available and that they have access to them,” said New York State Heroin and Opioid Abuse Task Force co-chair and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul. “Lives can be saved and returned to normal with help and support. With this campaign, we hope to encourage people to start their journey on the road to recovery.”

According to the New York State Department of Health, 12% of residents 12 or older “experience a substance use disorder (addiction or abuse) annually” and over 1.9 million individuals living in the state have a “substance abuse problem.”

The new campaign will run in both English and Spanish throughout the state until March 25. It will promote information about the availability of addiction treatment in New York, insurance coverage and payment, and support systems and resources in place for those who are already in recovery.

According to “Know the Facts,” there are 23 million people in recovery from addiction disorders in the U.S.

The OASAS website includes a database of addiction treatment centers in the state of New York that individuals can search through to find an appropriate program.

The NYS OASAS Treatment Availability Dashboard returns results for 555 programs for adults and 244 programs for adolescents when searching within 100 miles of New York. There are also databases for gambling addiction treatment, disability services, and mental health resources, among many other related tools.

“The challenges New Yorkers statewide face in trying to break the grip of addiction are immense, yet they are too often needlessly compromised by stigma and misinformation,” says chairwoman of the Assembly Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Linda B. Rosenthal. “While New York desperately needs to continue expanding its harm reduction infrastructure, it is vital we take steps to better illuminate and promote the supports already in place.”

The press release also recommends CombatAddiction.ny.gov for addiction-related resources and Talk2Prevent for information on how to best discuss addiction and drug use with young people.

View the original article at thefix.com

19 February 2019
Angels of Addiction Exhibit Tells Story Of Lives Lost To Opioid Crisis

“When you see these faces you will cry because we’ve lost all of these people,” says artist Anne Marie Zanfagna.

Last week, about 130 faces of lives lost to drugs graced the rotunda of of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. The brightly-colored paintings are part of a series called Angels of Addiction by Anne Marie Zanfagna, a New Hampshire mother who lost her daughter Jacqueline to heroin in 2014.

After finding comfort in painting Jacqueline, Zanfagna has since made it her calling to create portraits for others grieving like her. Her paintings are free of charge, funded through her nonprofit Angels of Addiction that collects donations for art supplies.

“It is a work of love. I know how people feel when they receive these, and that warms my heart,” said Zanfagna, according to the Concord Monitor. “If I can do something to help someone else, I’ll do it. It’s my way of giving back.”

In 2017, there were 483 confirmed drug overdose deaths in New Hampshire, according to the state Medical Examiner’s Office. Fentanyl was involved in more than 350 of these deaths.

“You hear the numbers and you know it is a lot, but when you try to translate that into lives, it’s different,” said Zanfagna. “When you see these faces you will cry because we’ve lost all of these people.”

Zanfagna first showed her paintings in the New Hampshire State Library in August 2017. “When I saw all 90 together it was very powerful,” she said at the time. “It struck me that every one of those beautiful people are dead.”

Since then, she’s painted more than 150 portraits, and her exhibit has graced the walls of town halls, libraries and recovery centers.

Last week, her paintings went up in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., after the artist was invited to show her work there by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.

“To see them, it reminds you that the opioid epidemic that we’re facing isn’t about numbers and statistics. It’s about real people. This is something that can happen to anybody,” said Shaheen.

“Each of these portraits tells a story, and the Angels of Addictions exhibit reminds us who we are fighting for as Congress takes steps to address this crisis.”

Ultimately the series is about putting faces to lives lost, and capturing the joy that each individual brought to their loved ones. “I think the people in my exhibit need this recognition because they were all good people,” said Zanfagna.

View the original article at thefix.com

16 October 2018
Friend Who Found Bobbi Kristina Brown in Tub Dies from Apparent Overdose

Prior to his death, Max Lomas had successfully completed three months in a rehab facility and had recently found a job.

Max Lomas, who gained notoriety after finding the late Bobbi Kristina Brown unconscious in a bathtub in 2015, has died from what has been described as a “probable” drug overdose.

The 28-year-old, who lived with Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown’s daughter before her drug-related death in 2015, was found unresponsive, with a syringe by his side in the bathroom of a home in Saltillo, Mississippi on August 15, 2018. Lomas was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

According to People, a cause of death has not been determined, but death investigation papers obtained by the publication list heroin overdose as the probable cause of death.

People noted that prior to his death, Lomas had successfully completed three months in a rehabilitation facility and had recently found a job.

“He really worked the program,” said a source close to Lomas, who reportedly spoke to him on a weekly basis while he was in treatment. “He had come so far. There was so much he wanted to do.”

Lomas had been taken in by Whitney Houston as a teenager, and was briefly linked to Bobbi Kristina Brown before the relationship came to a halt when he was incarcerated in 2011 for violating his probation.

Upon his release, he found that Brown was dating Nick Gordon, and the trio soon began living together as roommates in Roswell, Georgia. By Lomas’ account, he and the couple were “pretty bad into drugs,” and Gordon and Brown fought on a regular basis, “mostly about jealousy.”

Lomas also claimed that Gordon was abusive towards Brown, a statement that has been decried by Gordon’s lawyers.

On January 31, 2015, Lomas found Brown floating face down in a bathtub in the trio’s townhouse. “I saw the color of her face and that she wasn’t breathing. I called for Nick and called 911,” he stated.

Gordon was subsequently blamed for Brown’s death by her family, who served him with a $40 million civil lawsuit over the alleged abuse. In 2016, he was found liable for Brown’s death and ordered to pay $36 million to her estate.

As People noted, no charges were filed against Lomas, who told the publication in 2016 that he was sober and no longer friends with Gordon.

“I’m in utter disbelief because I knew he had gone and gotten help in Mississippi,” said Garry Grace, a friend of both Lomas and Gordon, to People on August 17. “I didn’t have to worry about him because I knew he was safe.”

View the original article at thefix.com

21 August 2018
Alaska Congressman Shares Story of Granddaughter's Addiction

During a public forum, US Rep Don Young revealed that his 27-year-old granddaughter battles addiction and has relapsed three times.

U.S. Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) gave voice to the emotional toll taken on family and friends of individuals with substance dependency when he spoke about his granddaughter’s struggle for sobriety at a public forum on August 1, 2018.

Speaking at an event on Alaska Native issues in Juneau, Young—who has a history of blunt and occasionally inflammatory statements on various social and political topics—spoke movingly about the sadness and frustration he has experienced while trying to help his granddaughter. He also noted that expanded access to treatment facilities is a requirement to assist those who hope to break the cycle of dependency.

Young, who at 85 is the longest currently serving member of the House of Representatives, visited the Juneau forum as part of an extended stay in southeast Alaska during the House’s August recess. He was queried on a variety of subjects by members of the audience, including increased funding for the Indian Child Welfare Act and the National Rifle Association, which he supported.

The focus turned to drug and alcohol dependency when Juneau resident Logan Henkins spoke about his battle with substance abuse, from which he said that he had been sober for 60 days. Young told the assembled audience that he was personally acquainted with the struggle through his 27-year-old granddaughter, whom he said had relapsed three times.

“The challenge we have is when she goes to rehab,” said Young. “Where does she go when she gets out?” He noted that his granddaughter will experience weeks of sobriety before “she falls back to those that she ran with before. That is what drives me crazy,” he said.

Young opined that stronger punishment of drug dealers, whom he told the audience were “killing your kids,” would offer a solution, but also said that access to treatment is crucial for helping individuals like his granddaughter. “Support forces, halfway houses, some place you can stay away… we ought to have that,” he stated.

Young, who is seeking re-election this year, also touched on substance dependency when he was asked to support Savanna’s Act, a bill that would increase support for tribal governments to investigate missing and murdered Native American women. Young, who said that he would consider the legislation, added that the reason for these incidents is “mostly” related to drugs and alcohol, and added that tribal leaders needed to address the issue within their own ranks.

“We have a responsibility within our own tribes,” he said. This prompted a response from Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, who said, “We’re in this together, and we have to remember that. I remind you, congressman, sovereignty doesn’t mean that we’re alone.”

View the original article at thefix.com

10 August 2018