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Opioid Overdoses Increase Despite CDC’s Efforts

Everyone can agree on a few things. First, we have an opioid epidemic. Second, we want to mitigate it. Third, the efforts we’ve seen at the national level to ameliorate the crisis are not working.

As USA Today recently reported, the opioid epidemic is getting worse instead of better. Two top-level public officials — Dr. Debra Houry, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health — agree that whatever we’re doing to fix the epidemic doesn’t seem to be working. The amount of opioids prescribed has been declining for 5 years, but the number of overdoses has been increasing. So why are we not making progress?

Opioid Crisis Town Hall Meeting

On May 12, CNN broadcast a town hall meeting about the American opioid crisis with Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper. The show’s audience included people who had used opioids for pain, and some who had become addicted to opioids. It has caused a considerable stir among people in pain.

Much of what Dr. Gupta had to say on the show and in a follow up article that appeared on CNN.com was about the opioid crisis, and little was mentioned about the pain crisis. The focus was on how opioids have contributed to a major public health issue spurred on by an inappropriate use of opioids to treat pain. Gupta and Cooper said physicians need to take the lead in reversing this problem.

What the CDC Can Learn From Utah

Opioid Overdoses Increase Despite CDC’s Efforts

CNN Opioid Crisis Town Meeting with Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper

Opioid Crisis Town Hall Meeting