Another newspaper edition, another drug bust. Or at least that’s the way it seems these days. For a community of around 15,000, the frequency of our drug-related crime seems to be at an epidemic.
We are not alone. We receive newspapers from all over the Ozarks, and the stories are the same, only the names are different.
It is an epidemic, so much so that the Obama administration launched a week-long blitz on the heroin and opioid addiction crisis Monday. The administration announced new initiatives and wants Congress to fully fund the effort with $1.1 billion.
Whoa, that’s a lot of money. But it’s also a lot of problem. Obama declared this week Prescription Heroin and Opioid Epidemic Awareness Week.
The epidemic – and this is truly an epidemic – is “taking a heartbreaking toll on American families," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday. An average of 78 people die every day due to overdose, and hundreds of thousands more see their lives and the lives of their families wrecked. Addiction reaches from the haves to the have-nots, and everywhere in between.
This week – and a lot of weeks for that matter – I read on our newspaper’s Facebook page of the anger, frustration and heartbreak of addiction. Some of our readers have great ideas, some just want to point fingers, and still others are downright cruel.
A few weeks ago a somewhat-irate caller asked me why we continue to publish the drug arrests in the newspaper and online, “ruining families and people’s futures.”
My answer was and still is that we will continue to bring the story, the entire story, to our community. We will also have stories on recovery and happy endings, but we won’t sugarcoat the drug problem or hide if from our readers, from our community.
Does drug addiction ruin lives and futures? You bet it does, and it has touched the lives of my friends and family. Identifying the problem, and sometimes the people with problems, is part of the solution, is educational, perhaps even a deterrent of sorts.
Anyway, what can we expect from the administration’s plan? The attorney general has instructed her 94 U.S. attorneys to share information about prescription drug abuse by physicians across state lines, coordinate enforcement with public health authorities, and emphasize prevention and treatment in addition to enforcement.
As many people know, the heroin and opioid epidemic might be at its worst in rural areas. The United States has about 1,000 behavioral service centers capable of treating heroin addiction in the United States, but only 25 are located in rural areas. Because of this, the USDA hopes to spend $4.7 million on a telemedicine program that will allow 18 additional sites to expand access to substance use treatment by having patients consult with specialists remotely.
Among the other aspects of the plan:
• The Food and Drug Administration announced a $40,000 prize to encourage software developers to create a mobile app to allow opioid users, their friends and families, and first responders to better identify and react to an overdose.
• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said 1,275 medical practitioners had been granted waivers to allow them to treat as many as 275 patients each with buprenorphine, a synthetic drug used to treat opioid addiction.
• The Veterans Administration said it would announce funding to support Veterans Drug Courts in an effort to encourage judges to order treatment for veterans with substance abuse problems.
I hear a lot about what we as a community can do to combat this evil. There is a lot we can do, and it starts with a helping hand early on, not just the slamming of a jail cell when it’s too late. But this problem is bigger than Salem and Dent County, and we need to work together on the state and federal level to beat this demon.
