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Joint Senate Task Force on Opioids, Addiction and Overdose Prevention Testimony
In 1804, Frederich Serturner experimented with opium and created something new—morphine—named after the Greek god of sleep and dreams, Morpheus. More than 200 years later, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers fall asleep at night under the influence of an opioid. Every morning, a few of...
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Integration of Naloxone Distribution in a Federally Qualified Health Center
As the opioid epidemic has become a growing public health crisis in New York and the greater United States, it is incumbent upon health care centers to expand our ability to treat those in need. As of one the largest Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) in New York State, providing integrated...
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Early Findings from a Tri-County Collaborative Approach to Addressing the Opioid Crisis
While the opioid crisis has captured the concern of public health officials and the public, the epidemic is not evenly distributed. Rural communities are especially hard-hit, particularly areas with a large working-class population where dim economic prospects have led to dramatic increases in...
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Funding for NYS Opioid Epidemic
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced more than $9 million in federal funding has been secured to expand opioid addiction treatment services across the state. This funding includes $5.7 million to expand access to medication assisted treatment, $2.1 million to develop new recovery centers in areas of...
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Understanding Co-Occurring Disorders: A Mother’s Journey To Turn The Tide On An Epidemic
Co-occurring disorders (COD) is the combination of one or more mental health challenges/disorders and substance misuse/addiction. My son Harris had COD and died by accidental overdose when he was 19. I am so grateful that Behavioral Health News is devoting attention to this topic because...
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#CombatHeroin: New York State’s Campaign to Address Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse
Heroin and prescription opioid medication abuse are persistent national problems that are reaching deep into communities across New York State. The problem is increasingly affecting teenagers and young adults, though older New Yorkers are consistently affected. More and more people are dying...
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Barriers to Medication Assisted Treatment for Opiate Use Disorders
It has become an all too familiar (but no less disturbing) scenario for the nurse practitioner working in a large drug treatment center in upstate New York. Today she is leading an educational support group for individuals who are opiate dependent and awaiting medication assisted treatment with...
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Addressing the Opioid Crisis in New York City
Like communities and cities across the country, New York City (NYC) has experienced increasing deaths from overdoses due to opioids, which include both opioid analgesics (prescription painkillers) heroin. In NYC, opioid overdoses are the leading cause of deaths from accidental injuries and a...
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Will the Effort to Prevent Overdose Deaths from Prescription Painkillers Work?
Over 16,000 people per year die from overdoses of prescription painkillers (Opioid analgesics)—more than triple the number of deaths two decades ago.(2,4,5,6,12) This vast increase has led to a major public health initiative to reduce the misuse and abuse of these drugs. Will it work? There are...
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Unintended Consequences: Are We Inadvertently Increasing Heroin Overdose Deaths?
Two years ago, The Fix spearheaded an effort to highlight the public health epidemic caused by the overprescribing of opioid pain medications which resulted in the tens of thousands of overdose deaths that were making front page news. The epidemic was iatrogenic- “caused by physicians”- in...
