In the United States context and globally, cases of drug overdose have skyrocketed dramatically. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deaths occurring as a result of drug addiction have increase four fold between 1999 and 2017. In 2017, CDC reports show that about 70,000 people died due to cases of overdose. From the reported deaths, 60% occur because of the abuse of prescription opioid. The rate of opioid overdose deaths is higher among the adult populace between the ages of 25 and 54 years. Given the escalating gravity of the problem, it has become increasingly imperative that mitigation measures are formulated and implemented.
According to the harm reduction coalition, the prevalence of opioid deaths in the United States requires urgent intervention rather than incremental progress. The mitigation of the problem can only be attained if patient-centered approaches are formulated. The collation asserts that the overdose crisis can only be ended if persons that use or abuse drugs alongside their families and friends are placed at the center of the organization’s strategies and policies. It is crucial that victims and their families get access to tools and support without stigma and judgment.
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As aforementioned, drug overdose deaths caused by opioid overdose constitute a majority of the drug related demises. The harm reduction coalition uses naloxone to alleviate the prevalence of opioid overdose related deaths. According to the organization, Naloxone is a powerful prevention tool in the fight against opioid overdose. Naloxone is a clinically approved and safe medication that counteracts the clinical or pathological effects of opioid overdose. Government and non-governmental agencies tasked with the mandate to undertake harm prevention initiatives have taken the overdose crisis serious as denoted by the fact that access to naloxone has markedly expanded. Typically, increasing access of pharmacies, family support groups, public health agencies, and harm reduction programs denotes a degree of health innovation that is tailored to save countless lives that would have been otherwise lost as a result of opioid overdose.
The ham reduction approach intervenes on the crisis by soliciting for additional funding from Congress to allow the establishment to exhaustively address the medical needs of opioid users, reviewing the cost of treatment, increasing access to naloxone and other treatment regimens, improving availability of rehabilitation services, and creating awareness. The harm reduction coalition, through its intervention approaches, endeavors to improve the wellness of the opioid users and abuser in the United States and reduce cases of deaths because of overdose (Harm Reduction Coalition, 2019). The main concern raised by the agency is the rising cost of naloxone. There is a consensus in the medical platforms that naloxone is cardinal in treating naloxone overdose cases. However, an increase in the cost of the drug would limit people’s access to the treatment. Consequentially, the epidemic will not be wholesomely mitigated.
The United States opioid overdose death crisis can be holistically addressed by invoking both a legal and medical intervention. The legislature ought to focus on despair in the formulation of a feasible solution to the threat opioid overdose is posing of the life expectancy of the United States populace. According to Burris (2018), cases of opioid overdose can be reduced through the implementation of stricter policies. Harm reduction centers are beneficial in the sense that they curb the spread of Hepatitis C and HIV, the number of contaminated needles is reduced, and sexual risk behavior is reduced. The downside of harm reduction centers increase drug usage, enables users to abuse the drug, increases burden to taxpayers, and increases of rates of infections.
In conclusion, death occurring due to opioid abuse has become a crisis in the United States and globe at large. The harm reduction coalition posits that availing naloxone at an affordable price is crucial in reducing cases of opioid overdose deaths. The efforts of the harm reduction coalition would be enhanced if cost control approaches, access, and availability of naloxone are addressed.
References
Burris S. (2018). Where Next for Opioids and the Law? Despair, Harm Reduction, Lawsuits, and Regulatory Reform. Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) , 133 (1), 29–33. doi:10.1177/0033354917743500.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC’s response to the opioid overdose epidemic. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/strategy.html .
Harm Reduction Coalition. (2019). Overdose awareness day. Retrieved from https://harmreduction.org/blog/overdose-awareness-day/ .
