Tag: opioid crisis

New Book "Dopesick" Explores The Opioid Crisis From All Angles

“My goal with this book was not to just show you how we got here and what it’s going to take to get out of it but also to inspire people to care,” says author Beth Macy.

Journalist Beth Macy set out with a mission: to address the opioid epidemic from every possible angle.

In her new book, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America, she does that through examining the opioid epidemic from the very beginning to its current state.

According to NPR, Macy begins the book by detailing the story of Jesse, a 19-year-old whose struggles began with pills and ended with heroin. Jesse is one of the many lives taken at the hands of the opioid crisis.

“He was one of these rambunctious kids who rarely napped,” Macy told NPR. “As a little boy, he would fall asleep with toys still in his hands. And early on, they put him on ADHD medication. He also had some football and snowboarding injuries when he was 15 and 16 and was prescribed opioid painkillers then.

“His mother isn’t exactly sure at what point he became hooked, at what point he realized he was dope sick. But he knew he could trade his ADHD medicine for the opioid pills. And one thing led to another. When the pills got harder to get because of doctors cracking down on prescribing, that’s when the heroin started coming in.”

Initially, Macy tells CBS, Jesse’s mother was unaware of the depths her son’s use had gone to.

“She said something else that I heard a lot, which is ‘I thought it was just pills,’ and it had progressed to heroin unbeknownst to her, and he never missed a day at work,” Macy told CBS.

As journalists do, Macy comes at the opioid epidemic from all angles. Her book also details her conversations with a drug dealer named Ronnie Jones, who “ran one of the largest heroin rings in the mid-Atlantic region,” according to NPR.

Jones had tried a few times to recreate his life after spending time in jail, but with little luck.

“Ronnie’s story illustrates how little we do for felons trying to re-enter our society. You know, we don’t make it easy for them to get jobs,” Macy told NPR. “They often come out, and they owe lots of fines. And he tries to go legit. And he ends up—you know, he starts out selling weed again, which he had been selling before. But meanwhile, since he’s been in prison, this opioid thing has exploded. And somebody tells him in the break room of George’s Chicken, hey, man, if you want to make the real money, you need to be bringing heroin in.”

Also in her book, Macy examines the role that Purdue Pharma (the manufacturer of OxyContin) has played in the epidemic. She states that when Purdue introduced OxyContin, it was marketed as being more safe than other painkillers because of its 12-hour time release mechanism.

For the past three years, Macy says, she has been following Google alerts for articles pertaining to the opioid crisis. However, she says, none of them addressed every angle of the crisis as she hoped to.

“Each of them only deal with a little piece of something going on right now,” she tells NPR. “And my goal with this book was not to just show you how we got here and what it’s going to take to get out of it, but also to inspire people to care. And I really hope that that’s what I’ve done.”

View the original article at thefix.com

13 August 2018
Chuck Schumer: Feds Playing Yo-Yo With Funds To Fight Opioid Crisis

Senator Schumer is pushing for the CDC to reconsider its decision to pull anti-opioid funding from New York City.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York is unhappy with a recent decision from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Schumer says that last year, he added $350 million to a budget designed for the CDC to allocate funding to large cities including New York City, Philadelphia and Houston, Pix 11 reports.

However, Schumer said, that funding was suddenly taken away with no reason provided.

“Even more galling, New York City had already allocated this money,” Schumer said. “The CDC already said we’re going to send you this money.”

According to the New York Daily News, rather than be allocated to metropolitan areas, CDC officials say that a new federal policy dictates that the funds will be distributed between state offices.

This, Schumer says, will set up cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to get less funding than initially thought.

“There is simply no good reason for the feds to play yo-yo with critical federal funds that New York needs to beat back and address the opioid epidemic,” Schumer said in a statement. “By playing this dangerous and irresponsible game with these dollars, the federal government is setting an aberrant precedent and making a big mistake all at the same time.”

Schumer added that the city already had plans for the funding.

Pix 11 reports that New York City planned to use the federal funding for various programs, including one in which paramedics from the city’s fire department leave the opioid antidote, naloxone, in the homes of those with a history of substance use.

Schumer says he plans to fight the funding takeaway, which he claims will affect the state as a whole.

“Because when the city doesn’t get this money, the state has less money to go around,” he said. “New York City will have to now fight for state money, and that’ll hurt Long Island, hurt Westchester and frankly the whole state.”

In a letter to CDC Director Robert Redfield, Schumer pushed for the organization to reconsider.

“As some of the nation’s largest localities, which are facing some of the harshest impacts from the current addiction and overdose crisis, it is imperative that CDC provide fair funding allocation mechanisms that effectively address public health needs,” he wrote.

View the original article at thefix.com

2 August 2018
FDA: Limiting Opioids Won't Curb Crisis, Responsible Prescribing Will

The FDA commissioner issued a statement addressing the stigma aimed at pain patients and the need for providers to take a patient-centric approach.

Strict opioid prescribing regulations are harming some chronic pain patients, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.

On Monday, July 9, the FDA released a statement about its Patient-Focused Drug Development Meeting, during which Gottlieb brought up the struggles some patients face because of strict opioid prescribing laws.

According to PatientEngagementHIT, there are some instances in which patients, such as those those facing “metastatic cancer pain management and chronic migraine management,” are best fit for a long-term opioid prescription.

“Tragically, we know that for some patients, loss of quality of life due to crushing pain has resulted in increased thoughts of or actual suicide,” Gottlieb said in the statement. “This is unacceptable. Reflecting this, even as we seek to curb overprescribing of opioids, we also must make sure that patients with a true medical need for these drugs can access these therapies.”

While Gottlieb acknowledges that prescribing regulations are necessary in order to fight the opioid crisis, he also says those strategies are negatively affecting patients who rely on the medications for pain management.

Gottlieb and his colleagues have learned through patient workgroups that patients in need of pain management say they feel stigmatized and have a difficult time building healthy relationships with care providers.

According to Gottlieb, simply banning opioids or increasing the difficulty of obtaining a prescription is not the solution to the issue. He says instead, better education needs to be available to providers and opioid prescribing should take a “patient-centric” approach, taking patient “preferences, needs, and patient education approaches” into account.

“Balancing the need to maintain access with the mandate to aggressively confront the addiction crisis starts with good medical management,” Gottlieb said in the statement. “All patients in pain should benefit from the skillful and appropriate care of their pain. It’s also critical that we take this same aggressive approach to changing the culture of medicine around treating pain… Patients in pain deserve thoughtful, careful and tailored approaches to the treatment of their medical conditions.”

The statement also outlines steps the FDA has taken to push responsible prescribing methods. For example, the FDA released a blueprint for drug manufacturers focusing on how they can educate prescribers. Additionally, the FDA is working with medical professionals to develop resources for clinicians.

“We need to be mindful of this history, learn from it and make sure that we act aggressively to confront new trends that may continue to fuel the current crisis or lead to a new epidemic of addiction,” Gottlieb explained.

The FDA also stated that combating the opioid crisis should not involve limiting or banning opioids, but instead has to do with better education about practices.

“Our goal is to support more rational prescribing practices, as well as identify and encourage development of new treatment options that don’t have the addictive features of opioids,” Gottlieb said in the statement. “In this way, we’ll help ensure that we’re not unnecessarily putting patients as risk of addiction by overprescribing opioids, while also maintaining appropriate access to care for patients with serious pain. In pursuing these goals, we must make sure that patients inform our work.”

View the original article at thefix.com

17 July 2018
"Recovery Boys" Doc Candidly Explores Addiction, Trauma & Rehabilitation

The documentary follows 4 young men who find support and relief through delving deep into their emotions in a rehabilitation setting.

The documentary Recovery Boys, which is screening on Netflix as well as in select theaters, focuses on four young men seeking recovery from opioid dependency at a rehabilitation facility in West Virginia.

Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon, whose Oscar-nominated short Heroin(e) looked at women on the front lines of the opioid epidemic in the Mountain State, Recovery Boys breaks from what The Guardian calls the established narrative about dependency, with poor people locked in a cycle of use and despair in impoverished areas.

Instead, Sheldon’s camera follows young men who find support and relief through delving deep into their emotions in a rehabilitation setting.

Recovery Boys unfolds over an 18-month period in the lives of four men in treatment at the Jacob’s Ladder rehabilitation program in West Virginia.

Each of the individuals struggled with not only opioid addiction but an array of related wreckage in their lives—Ryan, 35, told The Guardian that he went through “overdoses and car wrecks, and I was jailed a couple of times, but I didn’t want to give up.”

For 26-year-old Rush, his stint at Jacob’s Ladder was his tenth try at rehab. “I know what people want to hear, so it is really easy for me to skate through a program undetected,” he said in the film.

But through a program of long-term residential treatment focused on holistic therapy like meditation and daily responsibilities of farm work, the men learn to speak plainly and honestly about the pain of their emotional lives and the depths of their dependency. The benefits of such work are touched upon by a patient named Jeff, who said in the film, “Now that you’re not high, you come out and listen to all the birds. When you’re high, you don’t focus on shit like that.”

Anchoring the film on a message of hope and not despair was crucial for Sheldon, who said in a statement, “I make this film not to victimize, pity or make excuses for individuals, but to uplift the stories of people who are actively trying to make change, no matter how big or small.”

Her intention resonated with the film’s subjects, whose desire to portray their struggle with equal shades of dark and light has carried forward after the film’s completion. “My hope for this documentary is that it destigmatized the addict,” said Rush. “Everybody thinks of the guy under the bridge with the tattoos, the beard. We’re not just all bad people. We are good people inside.”

View the original article at thefix.com

29 June 2018
Walgreens Sued By Kentucky For Alleged Role In Opioid Crisis

“While Walgreens’ slogan was ‘at the corner of happy and healthy,’ they have significantly harmed the health of our families in fueling the opioid epidemic,” says the Kentucky AG.

The state of Kentucky is suing Walgreens, arguing that the pharmacy giant used “unlawful business practices” to fuel the state’s opioid crisis, CNN Money reports.

State Attorney General Andy Beshear claims that the retailer not only filled “massive” and “suspicious” orders of opioids, but failed to report those same orders to authorities.

Walgreens also played dual roles “on the opioid supply chain” as both distributor and dispenser, the lawsuit contended. As a distributor, Walgreens delivered opioids straight to its own pharmacies while, as a dispenser, it filled opioids prescriptions for consumers.

Walgreens had “a unique and superior position of knowledge with regard to the gross amount of opioids pumped into its stores and poured out onto the streets of Kentucky,” Beshear said in the lawsuit.

Nevertheless, Walgreens is being accused of filling orders “for such large quantities of prescription narcotic pain medication that there could be no associated legitimate medical purpose for their use.”

Beshear added that the company ignored its own “safeguard systems” in the process.

The Walgreens lawsuit isn’t the first one Beshear has filed over Kentucky’s health crisis, either. This year alone, the Attorney General has leveled lawsuits at drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, as well as opioid distributors like AmerisourceBergen and McKesson Corporation.

“While Walgreens’ slogan was ‘at the corner of happy and healthy,’ they have significantly harmed the health of our families in fueling the opioid epidemic. I want to make sure these billion dollar companies take responsibility and become a part of the solution,” Beshear said.

His latest lawsuit seeks to stop Walgreens from “over-dispensing opioids,” in addition to have them pay back “the amount it earned from the allegedly illegal gains.”

In the meantime, other companies have taken actions that they believe will help curb the crisis. Walmart, for one, recently introduced a method to safely destroy leftover opioids at home: DisposeRx, which, when it’s mixed with warm water, turns any form of opioid into a biodegradable gel. Walmart and CVS both announced that they would limit the lengths of opioid prescriptions.

Kentucky’s lawsuit also follows on the heels of other states that have sued drug makers and distributors in recent months. In May, the Texas Attorney General’s Office sued Purdue Pharma for allegedly fueling the opioid crisis and “misrepresenting the risks” of opioid addiction.

“We must make those who have caused the opioid crisis feel the pain that they have inflicted on our community,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi also filed an action against some of the nation’s largest opioid manufacturers claiming that they used deceptive techniques to increase prescriptions.

“The complaint I filed today, seeks to hold some of the nation’s largest opioid manufacturers and distributors responsible for their role in this crisis and seeks payment for the pain and destruction their actions have caused Florida and its citizens,” Bondi said in a statement.

View the original article at thefix.com

20 June 2018
Trump Wants New Anti-Opioid PSA Campaign To "Engage And Enrage"

The White House’s new ad campaign will echo the “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” ad campaign first launched in 1987.

The Trump administration’s anti-opioid ad campaign is coming soon, according to Axios.

The PSA campaign, the product of a partnership between the White House and the Ad Council, will “shock the conscience,” a source disclosed to Axios. They added, “[President Trump] thinks you have to engage and enrage.”

The president declared in March that the government will oversee a “large-scale rollout of commercials” to raise awareness about the dangers of opioid abuse.

“The best way to beat the drug crisis is to keep people from getting hooked in the first place. This has been something I have been strongly in favor of—spending a lot of money on great commercials showing how bad it is,” said Trump at the time.

“So that kids seeing those commercials during the right shows on television or wherever, the internet, when they see these commercials they [say], ‘I don’t want any part of it.’ That is the least expensive thing we can do. Where you scare them from ending up like the people in the commercials and we will make them very, very bad commercials. We will make them pretty unsavory situations and you have seen it before and it had an impact on smoking and cigarettes.”

Indeed, research has estimated that the anti-smoking campaign by the Truth Initiative has prevented approximately 301,930 young Americans from smoking in 2015-2016. However, national anti-drug initiatives like “Just Say No” and “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” are generally considered unsuccessful in their attempts at keeping kids off drugs.

The new ad campaign will echo the “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” ad campaign first launched in 1987. According to Axios’ source, Trump is a fan of the ad’s shock value and stark message.

Since its debut, the ad has been re-made to feature Rachel Leigh Cook in a 1997 rendition. The actress appeared in a 2016 version of the ad as well, but this time to highlight a totally different message: “This is your brain on the war on drugs.”

Cook, in partnership with the Drug Policy Alliance, resurrected the iconic egg and frying pan motif to bring awareness to all the ways that the War on Drugs is ruining people’s lives. “It fuels mass incarceration. It targets people of color in greater numbers than their white counterparts,” says Cook in the ad. “It cripples communities. It costs billions. And it doesn’t work. Any questions?”

The ad was re-made a different way in the same year, with the original anti-drug message but for a new generation. The ad begins with the familiar image of an egg cracking into a sizzling frying pan: “This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?”

But instead of ending there, as the original PSA did, a child responds:

“Yeah, I have questions.”

“Why is heroin so addictive?”

“Weed’s legal, isn’t it?”

“Prescription drugs aren’t as bad as street drugs, right?”

And finally: “Mom, Dad, did you ever try drugs?”

View the original article at thefix.com

6 June 2018
Opioids To Blame For 1 in 5 Young Adult Deaths

Opioid-related deaths were responsible for 1.7 million lost years of life in 2016, according to a new study.

In 2016, opioids were involved in 20% of deaths of young Americans ages 24 to 35, according to a new study.

The findings, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WONDER Multiple Cause of Death Online Database, which shows the cause of death, age and sex of people who pass away. Researchers looked at the years between 2001 and 2016.

During that time period, deaths that were attributable to opioids increased 292%. In 2016, opioid-related deaths were responsible for 1.7 million lost years of life, according to analysis by the researchers.

Despite the fact that there has been a lot of attention given to the effects of opioids on middle-aged Americans, the impact was most profound for younger people. In addition to the high death rates for people in their 20s and 30s, opioids caused 12.4% of deaths of youth aged 15 to 24.

“Premature death from opioid-related causes imposes an enormous public health burden across the United States,” researchers wrote. “The recent increase in deaths attributable to opioids among those aged 15 to 34 years highlights a need for targeted programs and policies that focus on improved addiction care and harm reduction measures in this high-risk population.”

The opioid-related death rate for people aged 25-34 nearly quadrupled between 2001 and 2016.

“I think that the fact that one out of every five deaths among young adults is from an opioid, if not shocking, should at least create pause for people to realize how huge of an impact this early loss of life is having,” Tara Gomes, an epidemiologist and researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, who led the study, told Tonic.

Overall, researchers found that opioids were responsible for 1.5% of all deaths in the United States, or about 1 in 65. That means that opioids resulted in more lost years of life in 2016 than high blood pressure, HIV/AIDs and pneumonia. In 2001, just 1 in 255 deaths were attributable to opioids.

Men were more likely than woman to die from an opioid overdose, researchers found. In fact, men made up 67.5% of all opioid-related deaths in 2016.

While young people had the highest percentage of opioid-related deaths, the sharpest percentage increase was among older Americans. People over 55 made up 18.4% of opioid deaths in 2016. Between 2001 and 2016 the opioid-related death rate for people age 55 to 64 increased 754%; for people age 65 and older it increased 635%.

View the original article at thefix.com

6 June 2018