More than 108,000 Americans died last year of drug overdose—and more than 1 million since the OxyContin plague began in the mid-1990s—but the U.S. still hasn’t gotten the message about the addiction and overdose crisis, argues Beth Macy, author of “Dopesick,” in a commentary in the Washington Post. While we know what fueled the crisis—the greed of pharmaceutical companies—there is also a way to end it by embracing treatment and making it easier to obtain than dope, Macy writes. She proposes offering free treatment on demand for those who can’t afford it, and making withdrawal medications such as buprenorphine and methadone—that curb craving and stave off withdrawal—readily available with much less red tape and regulation. Currently, these medicines are scandalously difficult to obtain, with only 5 percent of people with opioid use disorder able to get them in 2020. With the influx of high potency fentanyl that has poisoned the illicit drug supply and is driving overdose fatalities, morphine would be particularly helpful, but access is restricted by policies that go back to the Nixon administration’s “war on drugs." This restricted access to drugs and forced people to go to methadone clinics, which can be difficult and stigmatizing, especially in rural areas. Macy also mentions the need for programs in prisons and jails to screen for addiction, offer withdrawal medications, and refer the incarcerated to treatment programs along with peer support. She concludes by urging Congress to pass the Mainstreaming Addiction Act that would ease access to medications. For too long we have said there is nothing to be done about addiction and soaring overdoses, but these actions would be a step in the right direction.
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Rosenthal Center for AddictIon Studies