Solutions To Opioid Crisis Unsatisfactory For Addicts

America’s opioid crisis is getting worse, leaving the government and the public scrambling for a better understanding of drug addiction and better ways to treat it.

Now two years into his presidency, Donald Trump and his administration have yet to produce a concrete plan to address the opioid crisis in America. Despite this, he has recently claimed that opioid abuse is way down following the allotment of $6 billion by Congress to address the crisis. There is no current evidence to support his claim.

For opioid abuse victims and their families and communities, this lackadaisical approach to major campaign promise is insulting and unhelpful. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that over 115 people die of opioid overdose daily. In 2016, over 20,000 drug overdose fatalities were caused by synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, a prescription painkiller.

Concern over the opioid crisis exists on virtually every political level from federal to local. Despite this, no clear strategy has emerged to tackle the issue. This is due primarily to a general dispute around the nature of addiction and source of the opioids causing the crisis.

There is no single source for opioids and a major concern surrounding the current crisis is the availability of pharmaceutical opioids used pain management. Among the many pain medications available on the market, perhaps the most concerning is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid estimated to be 50 times more lethal than heroin.

However, this drug doesn’t just occur in pharmaceuticals. It is being found more and more in illicit opioids and pose a huge threat, as overdose is incredibly easy if users are unaware of its presence in their drugs. It is so lethal that law enforcement officials are taking drastic measures to reduce accidental exposure, as even an inhale of fentanyl can cause overdose.

There is a multidirectional divide around how to approach this issue. In Canada, there is a growing number of so-called safe injection sites for drug addicts, especially those addicted to opioids like fentanyl.

These sites serve a multitude of purposes, connecting addicts with fresh needles, clean product, safe injection sites and doses, and rehab resources. On top of this, they also serve to connect addicts to social resources like housing and welfare. The ultimate goal is to help people move past their addictions while simultaneously providing safer alternatives to those who do not or cannot stop using.

Many, however, see this as a way to only further encourage drug addiction. For families of addicts, safe injection sites only encourage opioid abuse and do not necessarily prevent further unsafe use of bad drugs or dirty needles.

Even if the friends and family of addicts (whose lives are also torn apart by addiction) believe that addiction is a disease, safe injection sites are not a way to address that disease so much as fuel it. For them, curing an addiction is a personal choice; addicts have to want to be clean to be clean. With clean drugs and needles readily available on demand, the choice between addiction and sobriety becomes more difficult.

Alternatively, many believe in the power of prohibition and emphasize rehabilitation as the only solution for addicts. This presents its own problems, as the growing use of rehab centers has lead to an increase in centers that are essentially pricey rip-offs.

In an industry that is so far virtually unregulated, rehabilitation centers rarely include evidence-based treatments, setting patients up for failure. In addition, patients often foot the bill themselves, as insurance companies typically refuse to pay for rehab, despite the shifting understanding of addiction as a disease and not a choice.

Prohibition has been semi-successful around pharmaceuticals, with prescription fills of medical opioids falling 10 percent from 2017. However, patients with chronic pain are being denied access to the very medications that allow them to make it through the day.

Heavy penalties for drug abuse certainly seem to be the policy of the Trump Administration, which has suggested that the death penalty might be a suitable punishment for drug dealers. This approach turns victims into villains, as many dealers are also users struggling to support their addictions.

Well-intentioned as these approaches may be, none fully address the concerns faced by addicts and their families and friends.