Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
How One Photo Captured The Toll Of The Opioid Epidemic
Stat: A Photo Shows How Heroin Has Taken Over An Ohio Town
The photo that drove home the depth of America’s opioid crisis — two overdosed adults sprawled in the front of a car, while a little boy in a dinosaur T-shirt looked on from the back — did not shock authorities in this faded Rust Belt city. They see something like it nearly every day. Unconscious addicts are so frequently dumped in the hospital parking lot that administrators developed a special alert system to treat them. Paramedics have plucked overdose victims from roadside ditches, from the Walmart parking lot, and from living rooms across town. It has become routine for children to see a passed-out parent jolted to life with a dose of Narcan. (Ross, 9/21)
NPR: How To Get More Doctors To Treat People With Opioid Addiction
Many people struggling with opioid addiction can't find a doctor to provide medication-assisted treatment, even though it's highly effective. One reason could be that doctors who are qualified to prescribe the medication typically treat just a handful of patients. (Shute, 9/20)
Media outlets also offer coverage of the crisis out of the state —
The Associated Press: Tribal Leaders Meet With Feds In Push Against Opioid Abuse
American Indian tribal leaders from northern New Mexico — an area of the country devastated by heroin and opioid addiction — met with the U.S. Justice Department over ways to combat opioid abuse amid high overdose deaths among Native Americans. And both sides say much more needs to be done. (9/21)
Los Angeles Times: Seattle's New War On Drugs: Giving Heroin Addicts 'Safe Sites' To Shoot Up
Seattle officials are moving forward with a controversial plan for what would be the nation’s first supervised heroin-injection clinics — government-financed shooting galleries that supporters say can save lives but that critics say will only enable drug users. A new 99-page task force study envisions at least two safe-use facilities — one in Seattle, another in the suburbs — where heroin addicts can legally take narcotics while being monitored by medical personnel who can administer aid or call 911 if needed. (Anderson, 9/21)
Columbus Dispatch: Law Enforcement Revise Tactics In Face Of Heroin Epidemic
Nobody called 911 when James Chavez overdosed on heroin in August 2011. Drug users knew that Marion police regularly charged people who overdosed — along with their friends — so Chavez's companions left the man facedown in a backyard. Two days later, Lt. B.J. Gruber stood over the man's corpse in that weed-choked yard and realized police in the city of 35,000 could not arrest their way out of a huge heroin problem. (Perry, 9/21)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Heroin Epidemic Hinders NKY Economy, Leaders Say
There is no corner of the region not affected by the heroin crisis, said the leaders of Northern Kentucky's largest counties said at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce's State of Northern Kentucky event Tuesday. They agreed the epidemic is turning into a greater burden on the region's economy. The region, like many other parts of the country, is facing a major skilled-worker shortage. The reason? Many people cannot pass drug tests, say government officials and addiction specialists. (Hussein, 9/21)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia Enlists Doctors To Expand Opioid Addiction Treatment
With treatment for opioid addiction in distressingly short supply even as need increases year after year, Philadelphia’s behavioral health agency invited physicians and other medical providers to a half-day teach-in Tuesday titled the Buprenorphine Summit. The topic turned out to be enticing enough – and the problem big enough – that more than 200 health professionals showed up. (Sapatkin, 9/20)
