Politicians discussed President Obama’s request for $1.1 billion to fight the nationwide prescription opioid and heroin epidemic in a White House press call yesterday.
Opioids are a class of drugs that include prescription pain relievers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine and fentanyl, as well as other drugs, including heroin, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
“The opioid addiction is of such large proportions it’s hard to describe,” Steve Williams, mayor of Huntington, West Virginia said.
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, with 47,055 lethal drug overdoses in 2014, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The majority of these are opioid-related, with 18,893 overdose deaths due to pain relievers and 10,574 overdose deaths due to heroin.
Over 200 people suffered from opioid overdoses in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio alone last week, said Michael Botticelli, director of National Drug Control Policy.
The government needs to hone the most impactful strategies to end this, said Sylvia M. Burwell, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
The main issue is the funding gap on the treatment end, Williams said.
Williams said one evening less than two weeks ago, 26 overdoses occurred within five hours in his city. However, there are only 28 detox beds in the state of West Virginia.
Currently, there is a six-month waiting period for treatment, which illustrates why Obama’s request for $1.1 billion is necessary to fight the epidemic, Williams said.
“We don’t have six months, six weeks or six days,” Williams said. “We shouldn’t need more than 6 hours to place someone in a treatment facility.”
Williams said this is not a partisan issue, this is an issue of saving lives.
“We’re at the point where we’re ready to lose an entire generation,” Williams said. “We absolutely have no time to waste.”
Melanie Metzman
