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When the opioid epidemic hit, Mike Townsend, who has managed the Recovery Kentucky system for a decade, said he saw no reason to offer more than the existing 12-step program. He reasoned that the brain has healed once an addict manages to overcome the physical pain of withdrawal, and that the rest of the recovery is spiritual and psychological.
Trone is the co-chair of the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, a government commission created to develop solutions to the opioid epidemic. [154] In February 2022, Trone blamed China for causing 64,000 fentanyl deaths in the United States in 2021 "because they are pretty much the lone supplier of [fentanyl] precursor ...
The District began a program of free distribution of the nasal spray naloxone in 2018 with 17 locations dispensing the non-injection overdose-reversing drug. In 2020, due to a 50% increase in opioid overdose deaths, the District doubled the distribution to 35 locations in every ward throughout the city.
Under the guise of helping patients with opioid addiction, these centers would offer addicts free rent or up to $500 per month to stay in their "sober homes", then charge insurance companies as high as $5,000 to $10,000 per test for simple urine tests. [84]
The last year has seen remarkable progress on the policy front. Lawmakers from both parties are becoming more open to less punitive approaches to the nation’s opioid epidemic, like making sure that drug courts are receptive to medication-assisted treatment. The federal government funded MAT programs and encouraged states to do the same.
At nearly the same time, misuse and abuse of opioids by seniors have risen. Studies, for example, s how a threefold increase in opioid use disorder among Medicare enrollees between 2013 and 2018.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, to be the main culprit in increased U.S. opioid-related deaths. [6] In 2017, 38.9% of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. involved fentanyl. [7]
But just 31 percent of the 7,745 doctors in those areas are certified to treat the legal limit of 100 patients. Even in Vermont, where the governor in 2014 signed several bills adding $6.8 million in additional funding for medication-assisted treatment programs, only 28 percent or just 60 doctors are certified at the 100-patient level.