Perspectives: Therapy For Opioid Use Needs To Begin In Correctional Facilities; Epidemic Stunting Ohio’s Economy

JAMA: Implementing Opioid Agonist Treatment In Correctional Facilities 
Every year, 1 in 3 of the 2 million people with opioid use disorder in the United States is arrested. It follows that correctional facilities, that is, detention centers, jails, and prisons, have important roles in engaging people with opioid use disorder in effective treatment. Opioid agonist therapy with methadone hydrochloride, a full opioid agonist, or buprenorphine hydrochloride, a partial agonist, effectively treats opioid use disorder and reduces mortality. There is no comparable evidence for reduced mortality with naltrexone hydrochloride, an extended-release, full opioid antagonist also approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of opioid use disorder. Yet opioid agonist treatment is used infrequently in correctional facilities. What steps must be taken to change the situation? (Kevin Fiscella, Sarah E. Wakeman and Leo Beletsky, 7/30)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Opioids' Dire Impact On Ohio's Workforce
Our economy is growing and businesses are expanding and looking for workers. Go on Ohiomeansjobs.com today and you will see more than 140,000 jobs advertised. Businesses say pro-growth federal policies -- tax reform especially -- are helping them grow and increasing optimism about the future. Since the first of the year, I've visited 21 businesses across Ohio that have raised wages, delivered bonuses, bought new equipment, increased workers' benefits and more as a direct result of tax reform. At another dozen small-business roundtable discussions, I have heard the same story. Despite all these job openings in Ohio, we still have a historically high number of people out of the workforce altogether. I believe it is because the opioid epidemic gripping our state has depleted the pool of workers and stunted our full economic potential. (Sen. Rob Portman, 8/2)

The Washington Post: Maryland Needs To Get — And Stay — Ahead Of The Curve On Opioids
Maryland has just issued its latest report on the opioid epidemic in the state; let’s start by recounting the good news, because, unfortunately, it won’t take long. Overdose deaths related to heroin declined from 1,212 in 2016 to 1,078 in 2017; deaths in which prescription opioids were involved also fell slightly, from 418 to 413. Data from other sources indicate that opioid prescribing is waning. Such statistics suggest the state is finally making headway against those two killers. Nevertheless, overall deaths due to drug and alcohol intoxication rose by 9 percent, to a record 2,282. This was the seventh straight annual increase and probably means that Maryland still has one of the top five death rates among the states for opioid-related overdoses, as it did in 2016, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. (8/2)