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Drug use

grumpygygrumpygy Member Posts: 53,466
edited March 2016 in General Discussion
quote:WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama will announce a series of new public and private sector initiatives Tuesday designed to expand treatment, funding and education to combat the nation's prescription opioid and heroin abuse problem.

Opioids are a class of narcotic pain medications that include prescription drugs like OxyContin, Percocet and morphine, along with the illegal drug heroin.

From 2000 to 2014, the rate of opioid overdose deaths has increased 200 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And in 2014, 61 percent of U.S. drug overdose deaths involved opioids.

The epidemic has led to a similar increase in heroin usage and overdoses since prescription opioids are often a gateway to heroin abuse.

Speaking at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta on Tuesday, the president will discuss the problem with medical experts, community leaders and people struggling to overcome their addiction.

"They will talk about the challenges we face with prescription drug abuse and heroin use, and they will also talk about the actions we are taking and need to take to prevent more people from developing opioid use disorders and making sure those who want treatment can get it," said Michael Botticelli, director of National Drug Control Policy at the White House.

During his appearance, President Obama will announce plans to require Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program to provide mental health and substance abuse services for clients on par with both programs' medical and surgical benefits.

If the Department of Health and Human Services adopts the proposal, it would improve access to counseling and drug services for more than 23 million people enrolled in Medicaid, the national health plan for low-income Americans, and CHIP, which covers children from working-poor families.

Obama also will announce a new interagency task force, chaired by the Domestic Policy Council, that will be charged with ensuring implementation of the parity protections by Oct. 31.

President Obama's 2017 budget proposal calls for $1.1 billion in new federal money to combat the growing abuse of heroin and prescription painkillers in the United States.

The president will also announce an HHS plan to double - from 100 to 200 - the number of patients to whom a qualified individual physician can prescribe buprenorphine, a medication that helps curb the addiction to heroin and other opiate-based pain relievers as part of a medication-assisted drug treatment program.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will also provide $11 million for up to 11 states to expand the availability of medication-assisted treatment, which treats addiction through drug and behavioral therapies along with counseling.

More than 60 medical schools also will announce that they're adding to their graduation requirements courses to improve physician education about prescriptions.

The move follows the recent release of new CDC guidelines that call for doctors to try less addictive painkillers, like aspirin and ibuprofen, before prescribing opioids to patients. The CDC guidelines are not mandatory, but they recommend that opioids be prescribed mainly for short-term pain episodes of three to seven days.

Private sector companies like Walgreens and CVS also have been enlisted to curb opioid abuse. By the end of March, CVS pharmacies in 23 states will be able to provide naloxone to patients without a prescription. Naloxone is an emergency drug that blocks or reverses the effects of opioid overdose. CVS stores in 35 states will provide the same access by the end of 2016.

Walgreens will do the same at stores in 35 states and Washington, D.C., throughout the year. Last month, Walgreens announced plans to place medication-disposal kiosks in more than 500 stores

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article68711237.html#storylink=cpy

Comments

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    mogley98mogley98 Member Posts: 18,297 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Not to impede the thread but I heard the pollen counts are so high in SC the addicts are trying to turn their meth back into Sudafed
    Why don't we go to school and work on the weekends and take the week off!
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    OakieOakie Member Posts: 40,519 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Heroin is so bad here. It seems like everyone I know has a kid, grand kid, cousin or someone that is hooked on the chit. I know of at least a dozen people that are hooked and maybe a dozen more that died this past year from it. Why would anyone put that poison in their veins is beyond me. Truly sad. Maybe if we had the death penalty for drug dealers, it would curb this epidemic. Oakie
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    wpagewpage Member Posts: 10,204 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The chinese found the cure for drug problems...

    Kill them all and let God sort them.[8]
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    tapwatertapwater Member Posts: 10,335 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    ..To play the Devil's advocate: I can't argue with the point of
    all that. However, Those that have legitimate high pain levels
    will find doctors more hesitant to prescribe anything that may
    "put the eyes" on them. Many are already ignoring folks in real
    pain, thinking the patient just wants more drugs.
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    bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,664 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    He will give 1.1B to combat the drug issue he is responsible for by giving drugs and FREE care for all with Obamacare.
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    nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,880 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Most of the money will go to federal contractors, who will get rich writing "studies & recommendations", but, ultimately, accomplish nothing.

    Neal
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    shilowarshilowar Member Posts: 38,815 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Oakie
    Heroin is so bad here. It seems like everyone I know has a kid, grand kid, cousin or someone that is hooked on the chit. I know of at least a dozen people that are hooked and maybe a dozen more that died this past year from it. Why would anyone put that poison in their veins is beyond me. Truly sad. Maybe if we had the death penalty for drug dealers, it would curb this epidemic. Oakie



    Heroin is bad just about everywhere. Heroin and meth is doing some serious damage.


    The liberals will come up with another plan for wealth redistribution, like paying the criminals not to commit crime they will come up with a plan to pay drug addicts to attend rehab. But the liberals will insist that drug testing can not be a part of the program because that would place a stigma on the participants.
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