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Finding a Public Health Vision to Combat the Opioid Epidemic
I am grateful to Behavioral Health News for focusing attention and showcasing efforts and innovation to tackle the opioid epidemic. In behavioral health, we talk a lot about addressing silos and integrating across providers, community members, and peers. Behavioral Health News is therefore an...
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Confronting the Opioid Epidemic: A Comprehensive Treatment Approach at Odyssey House
With more than 60,000 opioid overdose deaths nationally in 2016, a multi-pronged treatment approach is necessary to address the worst drug crisis in American history. Odyssey House is on the front line in treating those diagnosed with the most severe opioid use disorders. Since 2014, individuals...
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Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths: NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Responses
Let us address the epidemiology of overdose deaths in New York City. Like cities and states around the United States, New York City is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic. In 2016, someone died every seven hours of an overdose in New York City, resulting in 1,374 confirmed deaths. More New...
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The Opioid Epidemic: Expanding Access to Medicated Assisted Treatment
The Researched Abuse, Diversion, and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) System describe the diversion and abuse of prescription opioid analgesics, using data from January 2002 through December 2013. Because drug abuse is an illegal activity that is often concealed from authorities, the RADARS...
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The NYSPA Report: Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Opioid Use Disorder – Effective but Still Underutilized
As our society continues to struggle with opioid use disorders and diversion of opioid pain medication, several strategies here in New York State have proven helpful. The duty to consult the online Prescription Monitoring Program prior to prescribing controlled substances has resulted in a 90% drop...
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The Epidemic of Opiate Abuse: Its Causes and (Potential) Solutions
The use of mind and mood altering substances is certainly not unique to our modern post-industrialized society. Epidemics of substance use and addiction have ravaged communities for hundreds of years. Homo Sapiens and their ancestors have sought relief from suffering for as long as suffering has...
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Addressing Behavioral Health and Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care Settings
The Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness (SIPCW) is a non-profit organization established to promote wellness and to improve the health of the Staten Island community through collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach. For more than 20 years, SIPCW has addressed critical public...
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Collaborative Impact Needed for the Opioid Epidemic
Acacia Network, the leading Latino integrated care nonprofit in NY, began in 1969 to address the consequences of heroin in the South Bronx. Our founding leaders, Carlos Pagan, Julio Martinez, Gumersindo Martinez, Hector Diaz, Evalina Lopez Antonetty, and Lorraine Montengreo, among others,...
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Treating Individuals with Both Opioid Addiction and Mental Illness
As we work to address the nation’s opioid crisis, we must recognize that a disproportionate share of prescription painkillers is being consumed by people with anxiety and depression. We at the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) are partnering with the Office of Alcohol and Substance...
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The Opioid Epidemic: A Consumer’s Point of View
As Gertrude Stein would have said it: addiction is addiction is addiction. This was the central theme of the focus group that got together to talk about the opioid epidemic: the pitfalls, how it all happens, what helps for real, and the power of peer support. We all have our stories. Some of us...
