Portugal cut drug deaths by 80%, using free health care and addiction treatment. The U.S., meanwhile, focused on drug busts and tough crime laws. Overdose deaths keep rising catastrophically.
A young poet and writer who lost his father to opioid addiction says there's nothing cool about what the drugs did to his dad. So why are peers trying to look like emaciated people with addiction?
“We don't want to make the mistake of saying, oh, homelessness is causing the deaths when it's this underlying opioid use disorder," said researcher from the University of Georgia David Bradford.
Vending machines carrying opioid-overdose reversal drugs are the center of a bill moving through the Georgia House that aims to make more drugs available to combat deaths from overdose.
Mental health advocates, peers, key leaders, and legislators from across Georgia gathered last week at Georgia's state Capitol asking to be involved with each legislative/gubernatorial commission, study group, or panel created to advise about mental health. They also want lawmakers to bolster the state's mental health workforce shortage by expanding the certified peer specialist (CPS) workforce and supporting a salary increase in parity with other service providers.
Georgia officials have been taking steps over the last decade to ease access to the life-saving drug in response to the rise in opioid overdoses here and nationally. The state has, for example, made the drug available over the counter and empowered first responders to carry it.
While some harm reduction advocates want to see OPVEE as commercially available as Narcan, others say the medication is so strong that it’s cruel for the patient.
For people living with addiction, it’s been proven that access to evidence-based treatment and support can help keep them alive and stable. But care can be hard to come by and is only possible by combating the stigma around addiction, which is pervasive among providers, the public, and people with addiction themselves.
Louise Vincent has used drugs since she was 13. Research shows millions of Americans like her aren't ready or able to stop. Vincent believes it's time people accept that.
The Georgia Recovers campaign tells the stories of people in recovery from opioid addiction. It includes a statewide billboard and social media campaign.
A program in Seattle is helping people in drug and alcohol recovery overcome barriers to medical care in an effort to keep them off the street. A key piece is battling stigma from medical providers.
Indivior was accused of using illegal strategies to keep generic versions of the opioid-treatment medication Suboxone off the market. The company denies wrongdoing.
