By Nazier McDonald
One critical issue facing our society today is the opioid crisis. You may be wondering what an opioid is and why are they a crisis? Opioids are a class of drugs for pain relief and they include oxycodone (Oxycontin), hydrocodone (Vicodin), fentanyl, codeine, morphine and heroin. They are highly addictive pain medications. This addiction leads to mental issues, crime, poverty, drug overdoses and even death. The real problem is the crisis of too many overdoses and deaths from addiction. Only recently, in the past two years, has there been any decrease in the trend of opioid overdoses and deaths in Monroe County. The following data, compiled from the Monroe County Heroin Task Force website, shows the trend of fatalities decreasing, however, overdoses remain a critical problem in our county. Year Overdoses Fatalities 2019 839 127 2018 1133 166 2017 766 220 Source -https://www2.monroecounty.gov/sheriff-heroin-task-force In an effort to reverse the growing epidemic of opioid use in our community, leaders in Monroe County formed an Opioid Action Plan. According to the MonroeCounty.Gov website, this extensive plan includes: lawsuits filed against opioid prescription companies to help get funding for addicts; forming an advisory panel on opioids led by Monroe County Health Commissioner Michael Mendoza to identify barriers to those seeking treatment for addiction; coordinating and consolidating opioid abuse data to help guide county response to the opioid crisis; adding toxicologists to the medical examiner's office to help with the caseload and accelerate postmortem toxicology reports; investing in awareness, education, and prevention including seminars in local schools; expanding Narcan1 training and distribution; and a drug court response partnership to streamline treatment for low-risk and nonviolent defendants who are diverted from Drug Court. 1 Narcan - drug used to treat narcotic overdoses in an emergency situation.
1 Comment
Gerritz
2/28/2020 09:11:38 am
Great statistics and article. Opioids are a problem for many ages and economic classes.
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