Submitted for your approval: 6 opioid headlines more important than Purdue Pharma

Purdue/Sackler litigation and settlements have become practically the sole focus of public attention to the overdose crisis.

Picture a world where headlines re the US Overdose Crisis aren't only about what happened 15 years ago...They are about the problems that are?perpetuating the death toll today.

Next stop, a news desk in The Twilight Zone where editors are laying out tomorrow's front page....

1. States, counties ignore CDC guidance when spending $ billions of Federal opioid response funding.?As with COVID response, votes outweigh life-saving evidence-based public health where the rubber meets the road.
2. Non-profit hospitals invest in scaling up cancer treatment and other money-makers, but not in services for substance use disorder, even in regions hardest-hit by overdose epidemic.?They are tax-exempt based on the commitment to address their community's most urgent health needs, but nonprofit hospitals would rather be the 4th cancer center on the block than the only access point for addiction treatment.
3. Employers negotiate hard with health insurers over cardiology and oncology, but ignore employees' need for substance use disorder coverage.?Families have coverage for $100,000s of cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering, but may be on the hook for $1,000s out-of-pocket per month for buprenorphine and routine out-patient SUD treatment.?
4. Recovery community is slow to accept medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder.?In Narcotics Anonymous, sponsors tell sponsees they're "not clean" if they are on methadone or buprenorphine treatment. At the largest entry point for people seeking recovery from opioid use, people are being directed away from life-saving, evidence-based healthcare.
5. FDA OKs over-the-counter designation for wart-removers, in-grown toenail treatments, and anti-flatulent medications...but not for overdose antidote naloxone.?It's been generic since the 80s, used on the street to save lives since the 90s, and?Stanford researchers say it is our #1 opportunity to curb the US Overdose Epidemic, but the top US regulatory agency can't figure out how to make it universally available.
6. Unsung heroes can't make a living fighting on the front line of the US Overdose Crisis.?Staff of community-based syringe service programs self-fund the nation's overdose prevention efforts with credit cards, 2nd jobs, and Facebook fundraisers. "We're doing the Health Department's job. But we're not getting paid."

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