President Biden
Joe BidenMcConnell does not rule out getting involved in Republican primary. Perdue submits paperwork to explore Hillicon Valley Senate in 2022: Parler announces official resettlement | Google concludes news payment deal with major Australian media company China central to GOP’s efforts to push Biden back MORE and Congress comes under pressure from advocates to address a public health crisis overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic: increasing deaths from drug overdoses.
Although most attention and government sources have focused on COVID-19, the overdose crisis has worsened as people struggle with job losses, isolation and the death of family and friends caused by the pandemic.
It is estimated that more than 83,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses in the twelve-month period ending June, according to the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, a record number.
“We will solve COVID soon, and hopefully we are on our way to do that. But this addiction crisis was serious and weakened ahead of time, and it only got worse, ‘said Kevin Roy, chief policy officer of Shatterproof, a non-profit organization that focused on the addiction crisis.
Acknowledging that we’ve had an existing public health crisis before COVID is really very important because we need to address it. ‘
Advocacy groups are sounding the alarm about the persistent lack of access to drug disorder across the country.
Three years after former President Trump
Donald Trump Democrat Dingell of Michigan on violent rhetoric: ‘I had men in front of my house with assault weapons’ McConnell does not rule out getting involved in Republican primary. 75 percent of Republicans want Trump to play a prominent role in IDP: MORE poll declares that the opioid epidemic is a national emergency, and two years after Congress adopted a billion-dollar bill responding to the crisis, a significant portion of the country still does not have access to drug-assisted treatment, which experts like the gold standard for addict care.
Three medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of opioid use disorder can suppress cravings, reduce withdrawal symptoms, or eliminate them. In clinical trials, it has been found to limit illegal drug use and reduce the risk of death from overdose.
But among the 1.6 million people in 2019 who had an opioid use disorder, only 18 percent received drug treatment, according to a survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
This is partly because such treatment is difficult to find in many parts of the country, and that few providers have a license to provide it and that there is still a stigma regarding addiction, among health workers and the public.
“This is not really the case. Medication treatment should be a part of every treatment plan for opiate use disorder,” said Shawn Ryan, president of Legislative Advocacy for the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
But 40 percent of U.S. provinces have no suppliers who can prescribe buprenorphine, one of the FDA-approved drugs.
Even at specialty treatment facilities, it can be difficult to help with medication.
Only 42 percent of the substance use treatment facilities offered at least one of the three FDA-approved treatments in 2018, according to a report from the Government Responsibility Office released in December.
Of those who offered at least one treatment, 33 percent offered buprenorphine, 28 percent naltrexone, and 10 percent methadone.
According to experts, one way to address the problem, to eliminate the exemption requirement that requires eight hours of training to prescribe buprenorphine, is one of the most effective drugs that reduce the risk of death from overdose.
Only about 7 percent of practitioners, according to SAMHSA, have obtained the waiver that allows them to treat 275 patients with buprenorphine per year.
Federal law makes it easier to prescribe strong opioid painkillers that carry the risk of fatal overdose – such as hydrocodone, oxycodone and fentanyl – [opioid use disorder]”Several health and medical groups wrote in a letter to House and Senate leaders earlier this month.
The groups, which included the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Drug Policy Alliance, also noted that buprenorphine is the only FDA-approved drug used in the fight against addiction, which can be prescribed without a personal visit a health care provider, which places restrictions on removal. more critical during the pandemic.
While the Trump administration ended the end of the waiver requirement shortly before taking office, the plan was canceled by the new government because it was issued ‘prematurely’. However, Biden officials added that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of National Drug Control are looking for ways to “increase access to buprenorphine, reduce overdose rates and save lives.”
On the campaign track, Biden’s plan to end the opioid crisis included a promise to make drug-assisted treatment universally available no later than 2025 by removing the waiver requirements, providing $ 20 billion in grants to increase treatment capacity. expand and train health workers, and the fight against “barriers” posed by insurance companies.
The termination of the waiver requirement has dual support in Congress. Two accounts sponsored by Rep. Paul Tonko
Paul David Tonko Drug overdose crisis worsens in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic Key House Democrat urges ‘economic’ approach to climate change. The Trump administration’s numerous damaging attempts to censor science must be reversed. (DN.Y.) and Sen. Maggie Hassan
Margaret (Maggie) Hassan Drug crisis worsens in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by TikTok – Senate hearing will be dramatic but no end to centrist Democrats is a major problem for progressives MORE (DN.H.) would remove the requirement and order SAMHSA to conduct a national campaign to inform healthcare practitioners about the integration of drug use disorder into their practices.
According to experts, the removal of the required more primary care physicians may involve in prescribing the necessary medication, an important step in light of the shortage of specialists.
But despite the fact that more than 20 million Americans have some form of drug use disorder, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, there are only 4,400 actively practicing certified physicians in the addiction specialist.
“This heavy requirement does not improve patient safety, but leads to treatment bottlenecks and a lack of providers across the country, especially in rural areas,” Hassan, Tonko and other lawmakers wrote in a letter last week. Biden written.
“This outdated waiver requirement still restricts access to treatment, even if medical professionals are able to prescribe the same remedy for pain treatment without jumping through bureaucratic rings.”