Opioid crisis overshadowed

♦ Presidential race largely leaving out drug addiction in favor of coronavirus issues.

The issue of the opioid crisis has barely registered in this year’s presidential campaign, overshadowed by the human and economic toll of the coronavirus outbreak and the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic.

Yet drug addiction continues its grim march across the U. S., having contributed to the deaths of more than 470,000 Americans over the past two decades. And it’s only getting worse.

After a one- year drop in 2018, U. S. opioid overdose deaths increased again in 2019, topping 50,000 for the first time, according to provisional data from the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That accounted for the majority of the 71,000 fatal overdoses from all drugs.

While national data isn’t available for most of 2020, The Associated Press surveyed individual states that are reporting overdoses and found more drug- related deaths amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In Georgia, the Department of Public Health registered increases in drug overdoses that appear to overlap with the emergence of COVID- 19.

A DPH memo showed increases in opioid- involved overdoses across the board since March. Comparisons in mortality data between time segments prior to the pandemic and after showed a marked rise in deaths and projected those numbers would likely increase because of a lag in reporting.

The Rome City and Floyd County commissions have declared the opioid crisis a public nuisance that has harmed the community’s residents and led to ongoing costs to taxpayers. They’re seeking damages and funding for local services to address the epidemic.

Both governments joined a class action lawsuit that is playing out through bellwether cases involving two counties in Ohio. The federal district court action has remained stalled this year, but the decision will apply to the local lawsuit as well as more than 2,000 cases nationwide.

A settlement on Wednesday added more ripples to the already complicated case.

It’s too early to tell how a settlement of more than $8 billion by one of the defendants in the class action suit, Purdue Pharma, will change things, Rome’s attorney Andy Davis said.

The company will plead guilty to three counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating federal anti-kickback laws, Justice Department officials said. The resolution will be detailed in a bankruptcy court filing in federal court.

The deal does not release any of the company’s executives or owners — members of the wealthy Sackler family — from criminal liability, and a criminal investigation is ongoing.

Presidential race brushes over addiction,

overdoses

Like millions of Americans, Diane Urban watched the first presidential debate last month at home with her family. When it was over, she turned off the television and climbed into the bed her 25-year-old son Jordan used to sleep in.

It was where she found Jordan’s lifeless body after he overdosed on the opioid fentanyl one morning in April 2019.

Ohio, a battleground state in the presidential contest, is on track to have one of its deadliest years of opioid drug overdoses. More residents died of overdoses in May than in any month in at least 14 years, according to preliminary mortality statistics from the state health department.

After watching President Donald Trump target the son of former Vice President Joe Biden for his history of substance abuse, Delphos — who voted for the president in 2016 — was reminded again of the shame her son lived with during his own battle with addiction.

The exchange over Hunter Biden’s struggle with addiction was brief, and neither candidate was asked a follow- up question about their plan to tackle the nation’s drug addiction and overdose crisis.

During Trump’s first two years in office, 48 of the 59 Ohio counties with reliable data saw their overdose death rates get worse, according to an analysis of CDC data by The Associated Press. The data was compared to overdose death rates in 2015 and 2016, the last two years of the Obama administration.

What that looks like on the ground is mothers donating to Gofundme accounts and Facebook campaigns so other parents can bury children who’ve overdosed. Some parents even reserve a casket while their child is alive so they are prepared for what they believe is inevitable.

Others become legal guardians of their grandchildren. Among them are Brenda Stewart, 62, and her husband, who adopted their grandchildren a decade ago as their son struggled with addiction. That led Stewart to start The Addict’s Parents United, a non-political support group for parents of children with the disease or who have lost a child to it.

She said what she saw during the debate was “two people yelling at each other,” instead of the substantive policy discussion she believes the issue deserves.

“I feel there needs to be more discussion about this disease on a national stage,” said Stewart, who lives in Columbus, the Ohio state capital. “Kids are dying here every day.”

The longtime Republican said she plans to vote for Trump again, but also notes that drug addiction has no political bias and that it can touch anyone.

First lady Melania Trump, who has focused many of her public efforts on health issues such as this epidemic, tweeted that the agreement was “another big step in defeating” the crisis.

The candidates have a chance to address the issue with more substance in their final debate Thursday in Nashville. “American Families” is one of the topics.

Biden talked more frequently of the opioid crisis during the Democratic primary. Among his priorities is expanding insurance coverage for drug addiction, including requiring insurers to cover rehabilitation services and mental health treatment.

Biden has sometimes noted his personal connection to drug addiction, citing his son Hunter’s struggles. Trump brought up the matter during the Sept. 29 debate as a point of attack. Biden responded by casting his son as no different than many other Americans who struggle with addiction.

“He’s overtaking it. He’s fixed it. He’s worked on it,” Biden said. “And I’m proud of him. I’m proud of my son.”

Trump at times has spoken sympathetically about addiction, often in reference to his late brother, Fred, who had a lifelong struggle with alcoholism. He was active in addressing the opioid crisis early in his administration.

In 2017, Trump became the first president to declare the opioid crisis a national health emergency. In 2018, he signed a bill increasing federal opioid funding to record levels. A Bipartisan Policy Center study found that opioid-specific federal funding more than doubled in Trump’s first full year in office. As part of that, federal treatment and recovery money increased fourfold.

But with a shortage of medical professionals, states have not been able to spend their entire allocations, and some worry that grants lasting just a year or two will not be sustainable, the report found.