Heroin and Opioid Epidemic Targeted By New Obama Initiative

Under a plan from the Obama Administration, more doctors will be able to prescribe more patients with the controversial drug buprenorphine, which officials hope can reduce the death toll in the nation's opioid abuse epidemic.

Like the better-known drug methadone, buprenorphine treats the symptoms of withdrawal that come from breaking an addiction to opioids. The administration's plan doubles the cap on the number of patients each doctor can prescribe buprenorphine from 100 to up to 200 patients.

Treatments like methadone and buprenorphine are controversial because they carry the risk of physical and psychological dependency, just like the opioids they are supposed to be replacing.

But Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of Drug Policy, told CNN that the administration believes that such medications have significant benefits:

Expanding access to medication-assisted treatment for opioid-use disorders has been a top priority for this administration. Research clearly shows that this approach, when combined with behavioral therapies, is more effective at sustaining recovery and preventing overdose.

The plan also seeks to increase the number of doctors who are able to prescribe the medication. since only around 30,000 are currently qualified to do so. The plan will also ensure that mental health and substance abuse coverage is included in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Other parts of the plan include:

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)is providing $94 million in funds to community health centers.
• $11 miillion will go directly to addiciton treatment cetners around the country.
• More first responders will be provided with naloxone, an overdose reversal drug.
• The administration will create a task force designed to promote parity of treatments for mental health conditions.
• Police forces will receive $7 million to finance investigation into the distribution of heroin and opioids.
• HHS will expand its needle exchange programs to reduce transmissions of HIV.

The extent of the epidemic

According to the Centers for Disease Control, between the years of 2013 and 2014, the number of heroin overdose deaths increased by 26 percent to 10,500.

In the same year, prescription opioids – painkillers like oxycodone – led to around 14,000 deaths. A lesser known synthetic opioid, known as fetanyl, has grown in popularity. Fetanyl has been linked to over 500 overdose deaths in 2014, and increase of around 500 percent from the previous year. Overall, numbers show the continued a steady climb in overdose deaths involving opioids in recent years:

Source: CDC

Many blame the overprescription of opioid painkillers for the increases in opioid-related deaths. While this seems to have played a part in the increase, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, most people abusing prescription drug do not get them from their doctor, and only a small portion of people abusing prescription drugs end up using heroin.

Photo Credit: Adam via WikiMedia Commons