The opioid crisis is tearing apart families and communities everywhere, but we’ve yet to see an iconic narrative about it. Now is the time for the story we tell in NOT FOR NOTHING.

 The Opioid Crisis

One person dies every 19 minutes from unintentional drug overdose.

The misuse of and addiction to opioids, including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids like fentanyl, is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare. After the rate of opioid overdose deaths increased fivefold from 1999 to 2016, Health and Human Services Department (HHS) declared the crisis a public health emergency in 2017.

For 2020, the number of opioid-involved overdose deaths in the United States is expected to top 90,000.

Up from 50,000 in 2019, that will be the largest single-year percentage increase in the past two decades.

An already dire situation grew worse with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Shortly after the pandemic started, monthly overdose deaths spiked 50 percent.

There is now also a rise in heroin use as some people shift from prescription opioids to their cheaper street relative. The epidemic has also led to a rising incidence of infants born dependent on opioids and an increased spread of infectious diseases, including HIV and hepatitis C.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia County has the highest overdose rate of any of the 10 most populous counties in America.

In the city of Philadelphia, nearly 1200 people died from drug overdoses in 2019, with opioids involved in 80% of those deaths.

The city’s dramatic rise in fatal overdoses in 2020 mirrors the rest of the country, indicating that overdoses have been increasing during the stress, uncertainty, and isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic. Health officials fear that the final 2020 data will show the Philadelphia death toll surpasses that of 2017, the worst year for fatal overdoses on record.

The drugs driving the city’s fatal overdoses are shifting.

Philadelphia’s heroin supply, once famous for its purity, now is virtually all tainted with fentanyl. Fentanyl contamination is spreading into stimulants as well, killing drug users who never built up a tolerance for opioids, making even a small dose of fentanyl deadly.

While most overdose deaths in Philadelphia are because of heroin and fentanyl, many users first become addicted to prescription opioid painkillers. Saving lives begins with reducing people’s unnecessary exposure to these prescribed drugs.

How did this happen?

According to HHS, the opioid crisis started in the 1990s when pharmaceutical companies told doctors that patients wouldn’t develop an addiction to opioid pain relievers. This led to doctors prescribing opioids at higher rates.

Anyone who takes prescription opioids can become addicted to them.

And unfortunately, many patients did. This led to an increase in substance abuse, overdoses, and deaths across the country.

In fact, as many as one in four patients receiving long-term prescribed opioids in a primary care setting struggles with opioid addiction. In 2016, more than 11 million Americans reported misusing prescription opioids in the previous year.

Once addicted, it can be hard to stop.

Addressing the Crisis & Treatment

The Center for Disease Control, HHS and many local governments around the country have initiatives and programs to help address the crisis.

The CDC took a major step toward decreasing addiction by issuing guidelines that discourage the use of opioids for chronic pain. It also advises that for acute pain, treatment for three days is usually sufficient, and that treatment for more than seven days is rarely necessary.

Physicians are also being encouraged to help patients with prescription opioid use disorders get treatment. Effective prevention and treatment strategies, including medications, exist but are highly underutilized across the United States. Although most people find success in recovery through highly structured programs, only a fraction of them (17% in 2016) receives specialty treatment.

The medications methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone could help many people recover from opioid use disorder, but fewer than half of private-sector treatment programs offer this option, and of patients in those programs who might benefit, only a third actually receives it.

Overcoming the misunderstandings and other barriers that prevent wider adoption of these treatments is crucial for tackling the epidemic of opioid overdose.

Past approaches to illegal drug use have focused on incarceration. However, the response to the opioid epidemic has largely advocated for addiction treatment. Perhaps this is due to greater awareness that

addiction is a disease, not a moral failing.

from the Philadelphia Mayor’s Taskforce

Actions to help prevent overdoses:

• Call 911

If you believe someone is overdosing, you should immediately call 911. The Good Samaritan Law protects individuals who report overdoses.

• Get naloxone

Also known by the brand name Narcan, Naloxone temporarily blocks the effect of opioids and helps a person to start breathing again in an emergency situation. It is easy to use and available to anyone in Pennsylvania.

• Seek substance abuse treatment

Whether you or someone that you know has overdosed, it’s crucial to seek treatment to help prevent another overdose from occurring.

National Helpline
1-800-662-HELP (4357)

Treatment Referral and Information, 24/7

Helpful Links:

Learn how to find help for mental health and substance abuse at samhsa.gov.

Learn to recognize an overdose and how to obtain naloxone at phila.gov.

Philadelphia substance use prevention and harm reduction program at phila.gov.

Philadelphia’s 2021 Action Plan at phila.gov.

Treatment information and guidance at overdosefreepa.pitt.edu.

Facts, data, strategies and resources at cdc.gov.

Access, advocacy and action for drug users at harmreduction.org.