Surgeon General Takes Up Mantle Of Fighting Opioid Abuse
Vivek Murthy says the cause has become "a top priority" for him, and his office will be releasing a major report this year on drug use, addiction and health — covering topics including opioids, heroin and other substances. It will draw on the science on prevention, treatment and recovery. Meanwhile, an Illinois lawmakers is calling for bipartisan support on a bill that would improve access to naloxone.
Politico:
Surgeon General Uses Bully Pulpit To Combat Opioid Crisis
If C. Everett Koop became the highest-profile surgeon general ever by giving the AIDS epidemic a national profile, Vivek Murthy wants to be the surgeon general who united America to combat opioid abuse. Over the last few months, Murthy went from stressing nutrition, exercise and the benefits of not smoking to a far more urgent message about the lethal painkillers. He has become a much more visible public figure as he speaks out in Washington and takes his message on the road to communities hard hit by the double whammies of opioid and heroin use. (Kenen, 4/8)
CBS News:
GOP: Don't Let Politics "Get In The Way" Of Opioid Battle
Rep. Bob Dold, R-Illinois, is calling for bipartisan support in passing a bill taking aim at the nation's rising opioid addiction and overdose problems. (Flores, 4/9)
And from the states —
North Carolina Health News:
Heroin Lives Here
Despite what recent headlines across the nation might suggest, heroin didn’t just appear in suburban, small-town and rural America overnight. A decade and more ago, counties in Appalachia were recording deaths from overdose of opioids – mostly prescription painkillers, but heroin as well – in excess of 20 per 100,000 residents. And a number of reports indicate rural law enforcement agencies across the country were confiscating heroin. (Sisk, 4/9)
The Associated Press:
Low-Level Drug Offenders Find New Source Of Addiction Help
When pondering how to keep low-level drug offenders out of jail, officials in Albany, New York, faced a challenge: How could they pay for a case manager to coax addicts onto the straight and narrow, sometimes by tracking them down on the streets? The money turned up in a previously untapped source: President Barack Obama's health care law, which by expanding Medicaid in some states has made repeat drug offenders eligible for coverage, including many who are homeless or mentally ill and have never been covered before. (4/11)
