Law enforcement and healthcare workers in Charleston and nearby Huntington, seen as seen as West Virginia’s heroin hub, say unemployment, a high injury rate among coal workers and poor access to drug abuse treatment programs have made the state ground-zero of a national heroin problem.
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The 40 health care organizations have committed to providing training in opioid prescribing for 540,000 doctors and nurses nationwide in the next two years.
Experts say few prescription-drug health-care providers are properly trained to safely prescribe painkillers, while access to medication-assisted treatment for addicts is too hard. His trip to Charleston, West Virginia, meanwhile, is highly symbolic given that the state has the highest rate of overdose deaths in the United States, ABC News reported.
Finally, numerous government agencies – including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the office of U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy – are all initiating new efforts focused on reducing prescription drug and heroin abuse. “As a young officer I would have had the mentality just to ‘get out of my way and I’ll lock ’em up.’ (But) that’s not the answer”.
“We’re actually starting to see a decline [in heroin overdoses], which is good”, said Krivjanik, adding at one point paramedics were responding to 10 overdose calls a day; that number is down to roughly five a day.
Obama stressed that the drug abuse problem is a national one.
She said many people become addicted to heroin after they’re hooked on prescription painkillers.
“This is something that is not a top-down-solution type of problem alone”, Obama said.
President Barack Obama is going to be in West Virginia for several hours today, October 21, to speak about the drug epidemic in the area, and we will be live streaming the moment he touches down.
After his speech, President Obama participated in a roundtable discussion with (from left to right) Brent Webster, Charleston Chief of Police, Dr. Michael Brumage, Sylvia Burwell, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Executive Director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, Carrie Dickson, Mother of a recovering addict.
“That’s more than from vehicle crashes”, he said on Twitter. “We need to identify any barriers that exist that keep us from creating treatment centers”.
Obama is urging more training in addiction concerns for doctors who prescribe opioids.
Obama said the ACA isn’t enough if treatment centers are not available and availability is not enough if someone has to mortgage their house to enter a treatment center. Will it work? I don’t think so.
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An estimated 45 percent of U.S. heroin users are also addicted to prescription painkillers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They also must review their health insurance plans and address policies that might prevent patients from getting medication as part of their treatment. He is working to open a clinic for heroin addicts in Charleston, but has far been stymied by a lack of funding.
