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Sep
15
Posted by Darlene Kaskie on September 15th, 2023
Posted in: Blog
Tags: opioid epidemic, opioid resources
In recognition of the estimated 2.1 million people in the United States who struggle with an opioid use disorder, National Opioid Awareness Day, observed on September 21, is marked to create awareness about the effects of opioid overdose and reduce the stigma associated with it. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those in or seeking recovery from mental and substance use disorders.
What are opioids? Opioids include prescription medications used to treat pain such as morphine, codeine, methadone, oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl, hydromorphone, and buprenorphine, as well as illegal drugs such as heroin and illicit potent opioids such as fentanyl analogs (e.g., carfentanil).
What is unique about opioids? Conventionally, opioids have been prescribed as pain medication. However, clinical guidelines state that opioids should be used only as a last resort for chronic pain in the absence of safer alternatives. Most Americans who use prescription opioids for pain management refuse to believe that they are abusing them. But if taken differently than prescribed, opioids can cause death by slowing, and eventually stopping, a person’s breathing.
Why the opioid epidemic? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the extensive overuse of opioid substances began in the U.S. in the late 1990s, when opioid prescriptions for pain management escalated. According to their statistics, nearly 841,000 people died from drug overdoses between 1999 and 2020, and of this number, 500,000 involved prescription and illicit opioids. Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, are now the most common drugs involved in drug overdose deaths in the United States.
What are strategies to prevent overdose deaths? Quickly responding to an opioid overdose, including administering naloxone and calling for medical assistance, may prevent brain injury and death, according to the SAMHSA Opioid Overdose Toolkit (sourced August 28, 2023)
Strategy 1 Encourage medical professionals to practice Safe Opioid Prescribing
Providers are to be encouraged to keep their knowledge current about evidence-based practices for the use of opioid analgesics to manage pain, as well as specific steps to prevent and manage opioid overdose.
Strategy 2 Ensure access to treatment for individuals who have a substance use disorder
Information on treatment services available in or near your community can be obtained from your state health department, your state alcohol and drug agency, or the SAMHSA Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator at FindTreatment.gov
Strategy 3 Expand access to naloxone
Naloxone is an appropriate response for all opioid overdose events, including fentanyl-involved overdoses. Opioid overdose-related deaths can be prevented when naloxone is administered in a timely manner. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) created an online resource to raise awareness about naloxone. It includes information on where to get naloxone. Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a downloadable factsheet and online training modules.
Strategy 4 Encourage the public to call 911
An individual who is experiencing an opioid overdose needs immediate medical attention. Therefore, members of the public should be encouraged to call 911. All they have to say is “Someone is unresponsive and not breathing” and give a specific address and/or description of the location.
Strategy 5 Encourage prescribers to use state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs)
State PDMPs have emerged as a key strategy for addressing the misuse of prescription opioids and thus preventing opioid overdoses and deaths. Specifically, prescribers can check their state’s PDMP database to determine whether a patient is filling the prescriptions provided and/or obtaining prescriptions for the same or a similar drug from multiple prescribers.
How else can you learn more and help others?
The Substance Use Disorder Interest Group (NNLM) has compiled SUD resources and the NNLM Reading Club has featured Addiction and Recovery books with discussion guides such as Dreamland by Sam Quinones, which describes the unfettered prescribing of pain medications during the 1990s when Purdue Pharma marketed OxyContin as a “miracle painkiller.”
State agencies within our Region 6 area provide dashboards of collected and analyzed data to identify where communities are struggling, help tailor a response or an initiative, and show improvements in health and wellness: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin
Additional information to help promote awareness and information about addiction and recovery during National Recovery Month can be found using social media toolkits from SAMHSA or Faces & Voices Recovery.
ABOUT Darlene Kaskie