Navigating the Opioid Crisis
Starting in the late 1990s, there was a rapid growth in the use of prescription opioids. Once touted as the non-addictive treatment for pain, these drugs were later found to be highly addictive and often led to widespread misuse, facts minimized by pharmaceutical companies for years. Opioid deaths tripled from 2000 to 2015.
Attention to this epidemic has focused primarily on White suburban and rural communities. Less attention has focused on Black and brown communities which are similarly experiencing dramatic increases in opioid misuse and overdose deaths. The rate of increase among Black and brown populations from drug overdose deaths between 2015-2016 was 40 percent compared to the overall population increase at 21 percent.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total "economic burden" of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement.
In 2017 HHS declared a public health emergency and announced a 5-Point Strategy To Combat the Opioid Crisis. That strategy called for:
- better addiction prediction, treatment, and recovery services
- better data
- better pain management
- better targeting of overdose reversing drugs
- better research
Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery
Our Need for a National Resilience Strategy
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Published on 11/21/2017
HQI Vanguard Award Finalist 2016: Comm. Hospital of Monterey Peninsula - Prescribe Safe Initiative
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Pain Management at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula
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A Collision of Epidemics: Coronavirus Disrupts Addiction Treatment
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The Journey from Pain in the Nation to Healing the Nation
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Data Resources
Alcohol and Drug Misuse and Suicide an the Millennial Generation - a Devastating Impact
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Pain Management Alternatives and Access to Overdose-Reversing Drugs
Pain Management at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula
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Legal Interventions to Reduce Overdose Mortality: Naloxone Access and Overdose Good Samaritan Laws
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Opioids better for short term pain relief than chronic, doctors say
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A Health Breakthrough that Depends on People, Not Drugs
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Published on 01/01/2020
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Opioid Crisis Effects on Family and Community
Growing Accessibility of Opioids in Rural Areas
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Published on 02/21/2017
Collateral Damage of the Opioid Crisis: Grandparents raising Grandchildren – What They Need and How to Help
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For The Babies Of The Opioid Crisis, The Best Care May Be Mom’s Recovery
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Published on 05/15/2018
We Are Here: Annie Bennett on First Step Home and the Paradoxes of Life
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Published on 01/17/2019
A Rural Community Decided To Treat Its Opioid Problem Like A Natural Disaster
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