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President Obama Announces Efforts to Address Opioid Epidemic
On Wednesday, October 21, 2015, President Barack Obama traveled to Charleston, West Virginia, to address the current prescription drug and heroin epidemic that is taking a heartbreaking toll on Americans and their families. The President was introduced by Jordan Coughlen, a West Virginia resident in long-term recovery and leader of the state chapter for Young People in Recovery. Demonstrating that individuals with a substance use disorder can recover from their disease, Jordan’s story about overcoming his addiction was hope-filled and encouraging to hear as he introduced the President to an audience whose state has the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the country.
President Obama started off his remarks by restating the startling statistics surrounding prescription drug and heroin abuse. More Americans now die every year from drug overdoses than they do in motor vehicle crashes, and the majority of those overdoses involve prescription medications. In 2013 alone, overdoses from prescription pain medications killed more than 16,000 Americans.
“Since 1999, sales of powerful prescription pain medications have skyrocketed by 300 percent. In 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for these drugs, which is more than enough to give every American adult their own bottle of pills,” the President told the crowd of West Virginia residents, as well as federal, state and local stakeholders.
“At the same time, we’ve seen a dramatic rise in the use of heroin. In fact, four in five new heroin users started out by misusing prescription drugs; then they switched to heroin. So this really is a gateway drug. As a consequence, between 2002 and 2013, the number of heroin-related deaths in America nearly quadrupled, although the number of heroin-related overdoses is still far exceeded by the number of legal prescription drug overdoses.”
While these statistics paint a clear picture that this crisis is truly a national public health epidemic, the President’s forum also made it clear that this problem is devastating to victims’ families and communities. Cary Dixon, a mother whose son is currently incarcerated as a result of his addiction, spoke to the pain, sadness and difficulties that families experience as they deal with a substance use disorder in the home. She addressed the frustration that families and victims feel when they seek treatment and help, but are unable to attain it.
“We're relieved when our loved ones acknowledge that they have a serious problem and understand that they need help,” Ms. Dixon told the President and the crowd. “And then we're devastated when we help them seek treatment only to find out that there is a month-long waiting list, or that there’s no insurance coverage, or that there’s a big requirement for money up front for treatment.”
Ms. Dixon’s attempt to find treatment providers for her son resonated with the parents in the crowd and across the country. It resonated with President Obama as well, and he commented on how countless Americans are dying due to insufficient medical care and how that is the driving factor behind the current federal, state and local efforts to address this issue.
“I think we're at the stage now where people are starting to realize that we need more treatment. But the budgets are not yet reflective of that awareness,” President Obama said to Ms. Dixon and the crowd. “So in our budget, for example, we're proposing an additional $133 million for enhanced treatment and prevention programs. But it’s also going to involve states, state legislatures, counties, local governments, all also recognizing this is something that every community needs.”
Addressing this national public health epidemic would require an all-hands-on-deck approach at the federal, state, local, public and private sector level, said the President as he announced that he had issued a memorandum to federal departments and agencies directing them to take two steps to combat the prescription drug abuse and heroin crisis:
- First, federal departments and agencies must provide training on the prescribing of prescription opioids to federal health care professionals who prescribe controlled substances as part of their federal responsibilities.
- Second, federal departments and agencies that directly provide, contract to provide, reimburse for, or otherwise facilitate access to health benefits, are to conduct a review to identify barriers to medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders and develop action plans to address these barriers.
He then went on to discuss commitments made by other stakeholders to address the epidemic, including:
- 40 provider groups – representing doctors, dentists, advanced practice registered nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists and educators – that will train 540,000 health care providers on opioid prescribing;
- Broadcasting channels and companies – CBS, ABC, NBA and MLB, to name a few – that will donate millions of dollars of media space for public service announcements about the risks of prescription drug misuse to be produced by the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids;
- CVS Health that will allow CVS stores and pharmacies to dispense naloxone without patients needing to present an individual prescription;
- The National Governors Association that will launch a Developing Effective State Responses to the Heroin Epidemic project to help states identify and implement effective strategies for reducing heroin use and overdose.
