Obama tackles heroin and prescription drugs addiction in new initiative
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article68711237.html
President Barack Obama will announce a series of new public and private sector initiatives Tuesday designed to expand treatment, funding and education to combat the nation’s prescription opioid and heroin abuse problem.
Opioids are a class of narcotic pain medications that include prescription drugs like OxyContin, Percocet and morphine, along with the illegal drug heroin.
From 2000 to 2014, the rate of opioid overdose deaths has increased 200 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And in 2014, 61 percent of U.S. drug overdose deaths involved opioids.
The epidemic has led to a similar increase in heroin usage and overdoses since prescription opioids are often a gateway to heroin abuse.
Speaking at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta on Tuesday, the president will discuss the problem with medical experts, community leaders and people struggling to overcome their addiction.
“They will talk about the challenges we face with prescription drug abuse and heroin use, and they will also talk about the actions we are taking and need to take to prevent more people from developing opioid use disorders and making sure those who want treatment can get it,” said Michael Botticelli, director of National Drug Control Policy at the White House.
During his appearance, President Obama will announce plans to require Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to provide mental health and substance abuse services for clients on par with both programs’ medical and surgical benefits.
If the Department of Health and Human Services adopts the proposal, it would improve access to counseling and drug services for more than 23 million people enrolled in Medicaid, the national health plan for low-income Americans, and CHIP, which covers children from working-poor families.
Obama also will announce a new interagency task force, chaired by the Domestic Policy Council, that will be charged with ensuring implementation of the parity protections by Oct. 31.
President Obama’s 2017 budget proposal calls for $1.1 billion in new federal money to combat the growing abuse of heroin and prescription painkillers in the United States.
The president will also announce an HHS plan to double – from 100 to 200 – the number of patients to whom a qualified individual physician can prescribe buprenorphine, a medication that helps curb the addiction to heroin and other opiate-based pain relievers as part of a medication-assisted drug treatment program.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will also provide $11 million for up to 11 states to expand the availability of medication-assisted treatment, which treats addiction through drug and behavioral therapies along with counseling.
More than 60 medical schools also will announce that they’re adding to their graduation requirements courses to improve physician education about prescriptions.
The move follows the recent release of new CDC guidelines that call for doctors to try less addictive painkillers, like aspirin and ibuprofen, before prescribing opioids to patients. The CDC guidelines are not mandatory, but they recommend that opioids be prescribed mainly for short-term pain episodes of three to seven days.
Private sector companies like Walgreens and CVS also have been enlisted to curb opioid abuse. By the end of March, CVS pharmacies in 23 states will be able to provide naloxone to patients without a prescription. Naloxone is an emergency drug that blocks or reverses the effects of opioid overdose. CVS stores in 35 states will provide the same access by the end of 2016.
Walgreens will do the same at stores in 35 states and Washington, D.C., throughout the year. Last month, Walgreens announced plans to place medication-disposal kiosks in more than 500 stores
Filed under: General Problems
Aspirin or ibuprofen for chronic pain? Really? Opioid s only for 3 to 7 days? Chronic pain means pain that goes on and on. Taken correctly, which never gets researched or reported, opioid s work. They are sacrificing those of us who follow our doctors guidelines with pain management because of the others who dont. I am sorry that some people miss use the drugs, but those same people will always find a way to get high. After many years of chronic pain and getting help from opiods, I never get high, just pain relief. What happens to the millions of people like myself? Take away the drugs that help us (aspirin has no effect) and we might have to seek more dangerous drugs like heroin. Now that makes absolutely no sense. Give the doctors the right to treat their patients as they see fit.
Has ANYONE here worked with the government?? This is no strange thing happening. DO NOT LOOK TO THEM OR THE ADA FOR HELP – YOU WILL NOT GET IT. EVERY AGENCY IS CORRUPT. IF YOU DON’T THINK IT IS YOU HAVE NOT DEALT WITH THEM AS I HAVE.
This is the government that sanctioned the murder of a 12 year old boy shot to death by police. (There are many good officers, but this incident was an atrocity). Unless you’ve dealt with these government psychopaths, you cannot possibly know how futile your rants and raves to them are. THEY DON’T CARE. DID YOU HEAR? THEY DO NOT CARE.
We need to:
1. Stage a protest – get creative – invite the press
2. Get someone to design a good website (this one has great info – hard to navigate).
3. We need to create our own organization. There is strength in numbers. We need to elect spokespersons to represent us. I elect Steve the Pharmacist.
DO NOT WASTE your time chasing shadows – the government loafers don’t care about you and how bad your pain is. We have to think outside of the box.
I lay in bed thinking and praying last night. The thought occurred to me that this is just like Hitler’s “Supreme Race” ideals.Kill the weak and disabled. How is it any different? People may argue and erroneously believe the US is better than Mexico and 3rd world countries. Wake up – we’re not better – we just think we are.
Russians predicted the collapse of the US. Psychopaths have taken office and that is who is running the country.
I’ve been volunteering for Trump’s campaign – I pray he gets elected – THEN I AM GOING TO ASK FOR A FAVOR FOR ALL OF US.
PLEASE DO NOT VOTE ANOTHER LAWYER INTO OFFICE. THERE ARE SOME GOOD LAWYERS BUT MANY ARE NOT. I’VE DEALT WITH SOME WHO ARE TOTALLY AMORAL AND LIE WITHOUT CONSCIENCE.
PLEASE CONTACT CARA ABOUT THE NON-ADDICTIVE OPIATE PAIN-RELIEVER THEY CREATED. IT MAY BE OUR WAY OUT OF THIS. ASK THEM TO PUT IT ON THE MARKET NOW.
The article says, ‘The epidemic has led to a similar increase in heroin usage and overdoses since prescription opioids are often a gateway to heroin abuse.’ This is false. The rise in Heroin overdoses is not because opioids are a gateway drug to Heroin (how do they still justify the antiquated and false “gateway” fallacy? But I digress.) The reason there are more Heroin deaths is because it’s become much more difficult to for abusers to get opioids after the DEA et al cracked down on them so that abusers are going back to the more accessible option, Heroin.
No-one should forget that the reason there was a rise in prescription abuse was because the DEA et al cracked-down on Heroin so abusers turned to opioids. So when they cracked down on opioids next anyone with common sense could have predicted there’d be a rise in Heroin over-doses next.
In other words, addicts will have better access to medications that belong in the class of opioids, which help alleviate physical pain, while those in legitimate physical pain will be even more restricted from having access to those medications that alleviate physical pain. Yeah, makes sense to me … We have got a government filled with hypocritical, ignorant, arrogant dumba**es who literally have no clue.
Put a marker on every pill
You will find th truth.
Which is why they won’t do it.
Exactly. They could even do it covertly (you know, how the government likes to do stuff) by color coding the insides or using inert filler material that reacts to black light or can be seen in infared. There are plenty of non toxic options. Not that difficult.
So if painkiller deaths rose 200% from the years 2000 to 2014, what is the percentage increase on chronic pain sufferer suicide from 2014 through 2016?
The sad part about the government data is that the people who are writing it make the numbers say what ever they want it to. Again there is a very fuzzy line between the overdoses caused by heroin and those caused by opioid pain medication. Next while still being considered an overdose, suicide by medications needs to be reported as that. Thirdly, more in depth reporting needs to be done on legally prescribed and illegally purchased opiates that caused these overdoses.
We have a bunch of educated idiots in Washington that have absolutely no common sense. Then you have a shit load more trying to get in to Washington and it’s up to us this November to make sure that the ones that make it are the ones we need.