4. Opioid Addiction
• Does not discriminate
• Affects people of all ages, all walks of life
• Problem started from aggressive prescribing
for pain management in the late ‘90s when
physicians did not know it was highly
addictive
• Most people with an addiction begin with
prescription pill use & progress to heroin –
cheaper, but often laced with fentanyl
5. Fentanyl
• Deadly, synthetic opioid
• Looks identical to heroin
• 10x more powerful (deadly) than heroin
• Used to improve potency; less is needed
• Most users do not know if/when their heroin
is laced with fentanyl
• Originally used as an anesthetic
8. Nalaxone (Narcan)
• Can “reverse” opioid overdoses; revive people
from the dead
• Injectable needle or nasal spray
• Police, firefighters, emergency personnel, etc. now
carry Narcan while on duty
• Sold at Walgreens; sometimes provided for free at
police stations
• Costs $20-30, overdose costs tax payers up to
$30,000
9. Why are prescription pills still
being prescribed?
• 76 million people in the United States alone suffer
from chronic pain
• Majority of patients responsibly use opioids with
no repercussions
• Drs prescribe it out of familiarity, unsure what to
replace it with
CDC Guidelines: opioids are not first line of
treatment; focus on function not pain;
prescribe short supplies for acute pain
(can always reevaluate)
?
?
11. MAT
• MAT = medication + therapy (counseling and
behavioral)
• Treats addiction as a disease
• ”The drug is not the problem, addiction is”
• Well studied, evidence-based, found to be the
most effective
• Several options for medication
12. MAT: Medication Options
• Normalizes brain chemistry, relieves
withdrawal symptoms and physiological
cravings, never produces a “high”
• Prevent opioid overdose in controlled
environment
• Patient can safely recover with support
-Methadone
-Buprenorphine (Suboxone)
-Naltrexone
13.
14.
15. What else is being done?
• Congress passed opioid legislation
• President’s Commission on Combating Drug
Addiction and the Opioid Crisis
• President claimed the Opioid Epidemic to be a
public health emergency
17. Discussion Question
Do you think medication-assisted treatment
is a smart/successful approach to recovery
or is it just masking the problem by
replacing one drug with another?
??
18. References
• National Conference of State Legislature (NCSL). (2018, April 5). Prescribing
policies: states confront opioid overdose epidemic. Retrieved from http://
www.ncsl.org/research/health/prescribing-policies-states-confront-
opioid- overdose-epidemic.aspx
• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH). (2018, March). Opioid overdose
crisis. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/
opioid-overdose-crisis
• Price, Thomas E. (2017, April 19). Secretary Price announces HHS strategy
for fighting opioid crisis. National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit.
Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/about/leadership/secretary/
speeches/2017-speeches/secretary-price-announces-hhs-strategy-for-
fighting-opioid-crisis/index.html
19. References cont.
• SAMHSA. (2015, September 28). Medication and treatment counseling.
Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/medication-assisted-
treatment/treatment
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (2018, March 6).
About the U.S. opioid epidemic. Retrieved from
https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/