Don't pull apart what’s finally working to curb overdose deaths
Key takeaways
- Department of Justice made clear, Tuesday, April 2, 2022, that barring the use of medication treatment for opioid abuse is a violation of federal law.
- This is the hardest-won good news in public health in years.
- Naloxone is in glove compartments and high school nurses offices.
Why this matters: political developments that affect policy direction and public trust.
The U.S. Department of Justice made clear, Tuesday, April 2, 2022, that barring the use of medication treatment for opioid abuse is a violation of federal law. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File) After a decade of watching the overdose curve climb, we are seeing something we almost stopped expecting: The curve is trending down. Overdose deaths are falling. Treatment is reaching people that it never reached before. Families are coming back together. Communities that were losing neighbors every week are starting to rebuild.
This is the hardest-won good news in public health in years. It was built — block by block, administration by administration, often across bitter political divides — into something resembling a functioning system of care.
Naloxone is in glove compartments and high school nurses offices. Medicaid is covering treatment in states that once refused to provide coverage. Buprenorphine prescribers are now in rural counties that had none. Telehealth appointments provide access to people where shame or geography once kept them from care.