States fight opioid epidemic with prescription databases
Scott Calvert and Arian Campo-Flores, The Wall Street Journal
Prescription databases are playing an increasingly useful role in the battle against the U.S. opioid epidemic, federal and state officials say. A number of states are analyzing the data to probe doctors for practices that could jeopardize their medical licenses. Nationally, the number of opioid prescriptions fell by about 12% from 2012 to 2015, according to drug-research firm IMS Health, though last year’s total was still 39% higher than the total in 2000. At the same time, the abuse of heroin and other illicit street drugs has skyrocketed in the U.S. in recent years.
Opinion: Those with addiction need support, not shame
Bev Kelley-Miller, for USA Today Network-Wisconsin
September is National Recovery Month. People in recovery need to know they are supported. There is hope and success into recovery. The families who have lost their family members need to know they are not alone in their journey. Stigmas of addiction keep people from openly sharing what is really happening. Addiction affects one in every three families. Addiction can happen to anyone.
Opioid crisis gives rise to new caregivers who need assistance
Gary A. Enos, Addiction Professionalal
Repeating a pattern that has tended to emerge in periods of widespread drug crisis, sudden increases in the number of children in foster care are being attributed to the surge in opioid abuse. A new report urges policy leaders to address the needs of children being raised by non-parent relatives as a result of parental substance use, whether within or outside the foster care system.
Heroin, already entrenched in large Colorado cities, now leaving impact in rural corners of state
Jesse Paul, The Denver Post
In big cities or small towns, heroin’s ripple remains the same: drug-addicted babies born with tremors, overdose victims who die surrounded by syringes and frustrated authorities who battle a threat that hides in the shadows. Heroin is entrenched in Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo, but it’s now also leaving its mark in rural corners of the state that lack the resources of their big-city counterparts.
