Don’t forget opioid crisis
It is easy to let one health crisis, particularly one as significant as the COVID-19 pandemic, eclipse another that was dominating the headlines not long ago. But the crisis of drug addiction and overdose deaths, most tied to opioid use, is a health problem we cannot afford to forget. It will likely still be with us long after a vaccine has rendered COVID-19 far less of a danger.
Monday was International Overdose Awareness Day and in Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont marked the event with a proclamation.
“We cannot allow this epidemic to continue consuming our families and residents,” he said in announcing the proclamation.
Connecticut has made significant strides. Addiction is being viewed and treated as the health disease that it is, with opportunities for treatment prioritized over the punishment of incarceration. The wider availability of and legal protection for administering Naloxone, a medication that rapidly reverses opioid overdose, has saved hundreds of lives. The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has said it will find a detox facility for people who need help if they call 1 (800) 563-4086.
Yet, despite this movement in the right direction, unintentional drug overdose deaths remain disturbingly high. The stress, isolation, and other hardships brought about by the pandemic are likely a contributing factor. The Lamont administration reports a 20% increase in fatal overdoses in Connecticut over the same period in 2019, a year that ended with 1,200 unintentional drug overdose recorded deaths in the state.
Despite the fiscal challenges Connecticut will face tied to the pandemic-induced economic slump, it should not stray from a commitment to assure a bed and access to recovery treatment is available to those who seek it.
A Good Samaritan Law passed in 2011, protecting people from arrest for possession of drugs who call 911 seeking emergency medical services for an overdose, should be revisited by the legislature. The law, problematically, does not protect a caller from other charges or stop police from serving a search or arrest warrant. The law should be tightened to restrict the use of information gained in such calls to addressing the health emergency at hand and for no other reason.
People must be assured they can safely make the call without repercussions for having done so. This does not mean a warrant cannot later be served, or an arrest made in other circumstances, but not by using information flowing from a Good Samaritan call.