Just within the past several months, new and staggering statistics have surfaced that really place into perspective the overall scope and devastation of the opioid epidemic that is currently ravaging just about each and every community in the country.
To begin with the Centers for Disease Control issued their annual Vital Signs report that details, among other things, the number of ER visits that were reported to be associated with opioid abuse. The report concludes just over a 30% increase in ER visits from July 2016 to September 2017. All indicators show the epidemic getting far worse than originally anticipated. Read the vital signs report here.
Next the US Surgeon General, just this past month, made an unprecedented announcement advising in essence the need to have Narcan, the opiate-reversing agent, “within reach” and to know how to use it. His statement read:
I, Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service, VADM Jerome Adams, am emphasizing the importance of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone. For patients currently taking high doses of opioids as prescribed for pain, individuals misusing prescription opioids, individuals using illicit opioids such as heroin or fentanyl, health care practitioners, family and friends of people who have an opioid use disorder, and community members who come into contact with people at risk for opioid overdose, knowing how to use naloxone and keeping it within reach can save a life.
BE PREPARED. GET NALOXONE. SAVE A LIFE.
See more about the Surgeon General’s alert here.
Finally, counties, municipalities and other third parties continue to file lawsuits in Federal Court seeking to hold both manufacturers and distributors of opiates responsible.
With legal representation for said counties and municipalities across the country on a contingency-fee basis, there is zero risk and zero reason why counties and municipalities across the country should not be seeking redress and contributing to the fight to end America’s greatest public health crisis.
