Assignment: Opioid Overdose Epidemic

Assignment: Opioid Overdose Epidemic essay assignment

Assignment: Opioid Overdose Epidemic essay assignment

Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid

Identify the Population Health concern you selected.

Describe the Population Health concern you selected and the factors that contribute to it.

Deaths from drug overdoses are at their highest ever-recorded level since 2011, and have outnumbered deaths by firearms, motor vehicle crashes, suicide, and homicide respectively. Over 70,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2017. Opioids, particularly highly potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl are currently the main cause of these deaths. In 2015, the economic cost of the opioid crisis alone was more than $500 billion when considering the value of lives lost due to opioid-related overdoses (National Drug Control Strategy, 2019).

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Opioids are psychoactive substances derived from opium poppy or synthetic analogues. Opioids are mainly prescribed for pain management but have the tendency to be abused due to their addictive tendency. Examples of prescribed opioids include Morphine, Oxycodone, Tramadol, Heroin, Methadone. Carfentanyl is an example of an illicit synthetic opioid. Those at higher risk for opioid overdose include people with a history of substance use disorders, those who have been prescribed opioids in high dosages (over 100mg of Morphine daily or equivalent), those who have had multiple prescriptions of opioids and benzodiazepines, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. People with mental health conditions are more likely to become addicted to, and overdose on opioids. Opioid abuse is also more prevalent in males than in females (Wiss, 2019).

Administration (President Name)

President Trump

President Obama

President George W. Bush

Describe the administrative agenda focus related to this issue for the current and two previous presidents.

President Trump’s fight against drugs consists mostly of efforts to stem the flow of drugs coming into the US, for example, through Mexico by building a border wall. Other drug influx control efforts include making China agree to classify Fentanyl as a controlled substance, which has resulted in stricter control over Fentanyl’s export to the US (CNN Wire, 2020).

Federal drug control efforts under President Trump include prevention, treatment, interdiction, international operations, and law enforcement. Multiple federal agencies have ongoing efforts to respond to the opioid crisis, including efforts to reduce the supply and demand for illicit drugs, to prevent misuse of prescription drugs, and to treat substance use disorders (National Drug Control Strategy, 2019).

President Obama’s war on drugs focused on prevention and harm reduction. Prevention was mainly through education and fighting the influx of drugs from other countries. Harm reduction efforts implemented by some states included increased access to Naloxone an opioid antidote for overdose reversal treatments. President Obama set laws that prohibit law enforcement action against those seeking help for an overdose. He also promoted needle, or syringe, exchange programs; another harm reduction strategy aimed to prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV through needle sharing (Miller, 2016).

President Bush in 2001, set out a strategy that focuses on three primary elements: stopping drug use before it starts, healing drug users, and disrupting the market for illicit drugs. His focus was on illicit drug use in general, because of the statistics that came out at the time, stating that over the prior decade, drug use by young people had nearly doubled: in 2000, over half of all 12th graders in the United States had used an illicit drug at least once in their life before graduation (The White House, 2006).

Identify the allocations of financial and other resources that the current and two previous presidents dedicated to this issue.

Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT Act) for Patients and Communities. The SUPPORT act dedicated roughly $8 billion over five years to fight the opioid epidemic (CNN Wire, 2020). One strong aspect of the SUPPORT act is its promotion of Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) to share data across states. It helps reduce doctor- shopping for prescription opiate painkillers (Wiss, 2019).

According to President Trump’s fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget, federal drug control funding for the Fiscal Year 2017 was $28.8 billion, used by multiple federal agencies in ongoing efforts to respond to the opioid crisis (National Drug Control Strategy, 2019).

On February 2, 2016 President Obama’s white house released their response to the prescription opioid abuse and heroin use epidemic: a budget including mandatory new

funding of $1.1 billion to help ensure that all Americans who wanted treatment could get the help they needed (The White House, 2016).

The Department of State received authorization to spend $30 million in 2006 to buy and refurbish spray- aircraft for Colombia under the Critical Flight Safety Program for aerial eradication of opium poppy seed farms in Colombia (The White House, 2006).

President Bush empowered states by offering incentives to encourage states to provide a wider array of innovative treatment options by voluntarily using their Substance Abuse Block Grant funds for drug treatment and recovery support service vouchers (The White House, 2006)

Explain how each of the presidential administrations approached the issue.

Under President Trump, China, a major exporter of fentanyl to the US, agreed to classify fentanyl as a controlled substance. The Justice Department has increased the number of prosecutions it has brought against fentanyl traffickers. And the surgeon general

recommended prescribing or co-prescribing Naloxone (a drug designed to reverse an opioid overdose) alongside opioids (CNN Wire, 2020)

President Obama promoted medication-assisted treatment. He signed The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA in July 2016 which expanded funding for the availability of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD). MAT consists of pharmacotherapy, ideally in conjunction with behavioral health intervention. Medications such as methadone and buprenorphine (Subutex) have proven effective in mitigating the negative side effects associated with OUD (Wiss, 2019).

President Obama’s strategy included advocating for greater access to naloxone, an opiate antidote that reverses the effects of an opiate overdose; endorsing state 911 Good Samaritan laws which provide immunity from arrests to people who call 911 to help someone who is overdosing; strongly supporting the expansion of syringe exchange programs to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and other infectious diseases (States News Service, 2014).

President George W. Bush signed into law the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) that allowed office-based treatment with Schedule III-V drugs indicated for opioid dependence. However, the physician could only treat 30 patients maximum.

In 2006, he signed another law: the H.R. 6344, which raised from 30 to 100 the number of patients a physician could treat for opioid addiction with buprenorphine (Subutex) sublingual tablets or buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone) sublingual tablets (LoBuono, 2007).

President Bush supported aerial eradication of opium poppy seed farms in Columbia by spraying to destroy opium poppy cultivation. This was supported by the US State Department’s airwing, and inflicted substantial damage to the Colombian opium poppy cultivation sector, leading to a 68 percent reduction

in cultivation from 2001 to 2004. Upgraded security

screening at US airports also led to increased seizures of

Colombian heroin, from 15 percent of available heroin in

2001 to 23 percent of available heroin in 2002 (The White House, 2006).

References

Abraham, A. J. 1. aabraham@uga. ed., Andrews, C. M. ., Grogan, C. M. ., Pollack, H. A. ., D, A. T., Humphreys, K. N. ., & Friedmann, P. D. . (2017). The Affordable Care Act Transformation of Substance Use Disorder Treatment. American Journal of Public Health, 107(1), 31–32. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.2105/AJP…

Assignment: Opioid Overdose Epidemic

Assignment: Opioid Overdose Epidemic

David A. Wiss. (2019). A Biopsychosocial Overview of the Opioid Crisis: Considering Nutrition and Gastrointestinal Health. Frontiers in Public Health. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.3389/fpu…

DRUG POLICY: Preliminary Observations on the 2019 National Drug Control Strategy. (2019). GAO Reports, 1.

LoBuono, C. (2007). New law increases access to opioid treatment. Drug Topics, 151(3), 61.

Miller, D. (2016). Attacking the Opioid Crisis with Policies, Education. Capitol Ideas, 59(4), 14–17.

Office of the Press Secretary, T. W. H. (2016). President Obama Proposes $1.1 Billion in New Funding to Address the Prescription Opioid Abuse and Heroin Use Epidemic. Journal of Pain & Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, 30(2), 134.

President Obama Proposes $1.1 Billion in New Funding to Address the Prescription Opioid Abuse and Heroin Use Epidemic. (2016). States News Service.

White House Releases 2014 National Drug Control Strategy – Steps in Right Direction but Largely Kinder, More Gentle Drug War. (2014). States News Service.

The White House. (2006). National Drug Control Strategy, 2006. In The White House. The White House.

What Trump’s drug policies have meant for America’s opioid epidemic. (2020). CNN Wire.

REPLY QUOTE EMAIL AUTHOR

Melissa Cable

RE: Discussion – Week 1

COLLAPSE

Identify the Population Health concern you selected.

Mental Health Care Services

Describe the Population Health concern you selected and the factors that contribute to it.

Mental health care services are important to individuals with mental illnesses and their families. Access to these services can prevent mental health crises and mandated inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), one in five adults will experience some form of mental illness. The average time between onset of symptoms and treatment is eleven years and only 64% of adults with serious mental illness receive treatment in a given year (NAMI, n.d.). These statistics are alarming and indicative of a significant lack of resources.

Administration (President Name)

Donald Trump

(Current President)

Barack Obama

(Previous President)

George W. Bush

(Previous President)

Describe the administrative agenda focus related to this issue for the current and two previous presidents.

-2018: Signed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act which expands substance use services through Medicaid and increases access to evidence-based treatment and follow up care and services (Presidential Proclamation, 2019).

Assignment: Opioid Overdose Epidemic

Assignment: Opioid Overdose Epidemic

-2019: Signed the executive order, President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS), which established a task force to educate and better understand veteran suicide (Presidential Proclamation, 2019).

-2020: “Healthy Adult Opportunity” was initiated which allows flexibility of Medicaid at the state-level (Healthy Adult, 2020).

-2010: Signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) which extended the mandated mental health and substance use coverage to include Medicaid managed care plans and health plans through the marketplace or exchange. This mandate was first introduced in the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act of 2008 and was specific to traditional health insurance plans (NAMI, 2016).

-2011: Increased federal funding for housing resources to individuals with mental illnesses or disabilities through signing the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2010 (NAMI, 2016).

-2013: The National Dialogue on Mental Health was initiated which promotes discussion and awareness of mental illnesses (NAMI, 2016).

-2002: Appointed a committee of mental health experts, the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, to create recommendations for the improvement of mental health services for all age groups (NAMI, 2016).

-2004: Signed the bill, Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA), that provides community resources which can be used in place of incarceration for people with dual diagnosis of mental health illnesses and substance use disorders (NAMI, 2016).

-2008: Signed the bill, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act of 2008, which is a federal mandate that insurance companies cover mental health and substance use treatments equal to their coverage for medical issues (NAMI, 2016).

Identify the allocations of financial and other resources that the current and two previous presidents dedicated to this issue.

-The 2020 President’s budget for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is approximately $5.53 billion which is an increase of around $1.4 billion from the 2017 budget. However, this increase includes $923 million in funding to address the opioid epidemic which was not part of past budgets (US Department, n.d.).

-The 2017 President’s budget for SAMHSA was approximately $4.1 billion which was an increase of around $776.1 million from the 2009 budget (US Department, n.d.).

-The 2009 President’s budget for SAMHSA was approximately $3.3 billion was an increase of around $3.7 million from the 2001 budget (US Department, n.d.).

Explain how each of the presidential administrations approached the issue.

President Trump has approached the issue of mental health in several ways. His primary focus appears to be substance use and the opioid epidemic. He has formed expert committees to assess for appropriate resources needed in communities.

President Obama approached the issue of mental health through ensuring individuals receive mental health services through their insurance companies. He also addressed this issue by creating an environment of open communication and awareness of mental health issues.

President George W. Bush approached the issue of mental health through improving services, mandating coverage, and creating alternatives to incarceration for individuals with mental illness/substance use disorders.

References

Healthy Adult Opportunity Fact Sheet. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact- sheets/healthy-adult-opportunity-fact-sheet

NAMI. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.nami.org?Blogs/NAMI-Blog/February-2016/How-Presidents -Have-Shaped-Mental-Health-Care

NAMI. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nami.org?NAMI/media?NAMI-Media?Infographics/NAMI- Mental_Health-Care-Matters- FINAL.pdf

Presidential Proclamation on National Mental Health Awareness Month. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential- actions/presidential-proclamation-national- mental-health-awareness-month-2019/

The White House. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). HHS.gov. Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/