LAST YEAR, the United States saw a 13 percent increase in drug overdose deaths, from an estimated 60,147 lives lost in 2016, to an estimated 67,944 in 2017. For perspective, that is enough to completely fill Gillette Stadium, with an overflow of 2,066 individuals. Here in Massachusetts, we experienced a slight decrease in opioid related […]
Drugs
Posted inOpinion
How we end the opioid epidemic
IT’S DIFFICULT TO WATCH OR READ the news without seeing another family torn apart by the opioid crisis. The epidemic is so widespread that it’s been declared a national public health emergency – and Massachusetts is on the forefront in many ways. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen countless examples of how opioids can […]
Posted inOpinion
Electronic opioid scripts save lives
A HEARING EARLIER this month on Beacon Hill underscored the critical need for Massachusetts-specific solutions to the nation’s opioid crisis. As the Legislature prepares next steps to address this critical issue, it would do well to consider a bill recently proposed by Gov. Charlie Baker that would capitalize on technological advances to help address the […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Treating addiction as a chronic illness
You’ve shaped drug policy at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, at the White House, and now as executive director of the Grayken Center at Boston Medical Center. But it seems like the most important item on your resume is the fact that you’re in recovery from substance abuse yourself. That’s not an uncommon trajectory. […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Big Tobacco’s mea culpa ad campaign
Big Tobacco is launching a major ad campaign this Sunday in which it acknowledges the deadly nature of smoking and the industry’s role in concealing the danger of cigarettes from the public. The unusual campaign, the outgrowth of a court case that began in 1999, will feature a series of five, stark full-page ads in […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Addressing inmate addiction must be a priority
THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE BILLS recently passed by the Massachusetts Senate and released by the House Committee on Ways and Means provide sensible reform to failed criminal justice approaches, including doing away with some mandatory minimum sentences for minor drug offenses. These reforms are both pragmatic and just. By shifting the focus away from laws and […]
Posted inOpinion
Public health emergency rings hollow
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT that the opioid epidemic is a public health emergency certainly drew attention to the problem, but in reality it is an empty declaration that, at least as of yet, provides no real resources to fight the epidemic. The announcement will give the government more flexibility in the services that are made available […]
Posted inOpinion
Colleges can’t be bystanders on opioids
THE OPIOID CRISIS, rooted in the overprescribing of painkillers, has seized the attention of public officials from Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill. So, too, has the inadequacy of mental health services on college campuses become well documented. But so far, neither policymakers nor college administrators have connected the dots between the painkiller epidemic and the […]
Posted inOpinion
Drugs are best treatment for opioid abuse
THE OPIOID ADDICTION crisis in the United States has prompted leaders at the state and federal level to promise more money, new laws, and greater focus on the problem. That focus is needed but so far the policy goals lack clear definition. Even as attention on the problem has ramped up, we have continued to […]
Posted inDrug Addiction
Clark takes on Purdue’s opioid marketingÂ
LATE LAST YEAR, an article in the Los Angeles Times caught the eye of US Rep. Katherine Clark of Melrose. The article alleged that Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin, was moving aggressively to sell its signature drug abroad now that sales in the United States are on the decline. The Times article said […]