We can’t take our eyes off addiction crisis

As the coronavirus pandemic has gripped the world, it seems as though every aspect of life before this crisis has been put on hold. Schools are closed, church pews are empty, and businesses have shuttered. Yet even in this unprecedented time, we cannot forget about the many concerns we had before the pandemic.

For more than 25 years, I have focused on addressing and combating the drug addiction issues — including the opioid epidemic that has gripped countless communities in Ohio and elsewhere over the past 10 years. In recent years, I have been encouraged by the progress we have made in turning the tide on this disease, especially with regard to opioids like heroin and painkillers. In 2017, Ohio’s opioid overdose death rate was almost three times the national average, with nearly a dozen Ohioans dying from these dangerous drugs every day, surpassing car crashes as our state’s No. 1 killer. The next year, we were one of the leaders in turning the tide with a 22% decrease in overdose deaths, as drug overdose deaths declined nationwide for the first time since 1990.

Over the last couple of years, prior to the coronavirus, we continued to make steady progress. We achieved these strides thanks in part to legislation like the CURES Act and the Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery

Act I authored at the federal level to provide state and local government and nonprofit groups with additional resources for proven prevention, treatment and recovery programs. We have also ensured that our first responders on the front lines of this crisis have the resources, including the miracle drug naloxone, to help stop overdoses.

Unfortunately, during the ongoing coronavirus crisis, we have seen our overdoses start to rise. Earlier this month, Montgomery County officials reported 37 overdoses in March, the highest monthly total in three years, and we had another 35 overdoses that month in neighboring Hamilton County. This is devastating. The social distancing measures designed to slow the spread of coronavirus appear to have led to more opioid abuse at the exact same time that our health care resources have been redirected to treat patients of this deadly new pandemic.

The federal response to the coronavirus pandemic has included certain measures to ensure those suffering from addiction can continue to get the care they need.

However, these tragic overdose deaths in Ohio show that there is more that must be done, and for many in recovery, there is no substitute for the in-person care that our addiction specialists normally use.

To do so, we must continue to quickly expand our testing capabilities so that we can track and monitor the spread of the coronavirus, because testing helps us form objective science-based decisions. Ultimately, when we start to see the number of new cases decline, more Americans will have the confidence to begin to return to their normal daily lives in an incremental manner, and that includes those in recovery and the men and women who work tirelessly to help patients struggling with addiction recover from their illness.

At the same time, as we practice social distancing, we need to give our mental health and addiction workers adequate tools to help their patients.

There is no question that the greatest priority facing our country at this moment is the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic. But recent examples of overdose deaths around the state shows that there is even more at stake here than we realize.