The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Meds help avert fatal overdoses
Methadone, buprenorphine reduce cravings without inducing feeling of euphoria
Using methadone and buprenorphine following non-fatal opioid overdoses can save lives, a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health has found.
The data, while not surprising to local experts, represents a step forward in treating the growing crisis of opioid dependency, they said.
“Both of those drugs have the ability to reduce cravings without giving patients the same amount of euphoria” as heroin and other opioids, said Dr. Michael Werdmann, emergency physician at Bridgeport Hospital. “That’s why it’s been accepted as a reasonable therapy.”
Methadone and buprenorphine — which is used in such products as Suboxone — are opioids but have long been used to help treat opioid dependence. Supporters of the medications say they reduce withdrawal and prevent relapse; critics say since the drugs have abuse potential, treatment with them is tantamount to replacing one addiction with another.
Authors of the NIH study analyzed data from 17,568 adults in Massachusetts who survived an opioid overdose between 2012 and 2014.
The researchers found that compared with those who did not receive treatment with any medications, those who received treatment with methadone had a 59 percent lower rate of opioid overdose deaths a year after the initial overdose, and those treated with buprenorphine had a 38 percent lower death rate. The authors weren’t able to draw conclusions about the
In 2017, there were 1,038 accidental drug deaths in the state.
new college, NEASC said.
Under the new plan, Ojakian said, the colleges would continue to exist in a more collaborative fashion until the proposed structure is approved. He has been in constant contact with NEASC officials and said he is following their directives.
The new plan would group the 12 colleges into three regions. Gateway in New Haven, Housatonic in Bridgeport and Norwalk Community College would all be part of one Shoreline-West region. Naugatuck would be part of a four college North-West region. Five other colleges would be part of a Capitol-East Region.
As presidents leave, they will be replaced by lesser-paid chief executive officers. Each campus will also continue to have chief financial and academic officers. Department chairs — something both accreditors and faculty said they wanted to retain — will also be kept.
The system will also look to hire three regional presidents and a central vice president for enrollment management and move forward aligning curriculum between campuses.
The goal is still to save money, reduce staff system-wide by 200 positions, and make the experience better for the 4,900 students in the system, Ojakian said.
In the end, the plan is projected to save $17 million, as opposed to $23 million, the amount in the original, rejected plan.
Regents Chairman Matt Fleury read a statement from student leadership saying they support a plan that will maintain low tuition costs and keep campuses open.
For now, tuition is not increasing beyond the 2.5 to 4 percent adopted by the board last year.
Faculty are less sold on the renewed effort. Lois Aime, a Norwalk Community College professor, said the new plan continues to put students last.
“It does not serve students better to have a single curriculum across the state when the demographics and the regional character of each part of the state are unique,” Aime said. “A community college needs to be responsive to its community.”
Creating three regional president positions, Aime added, seems to bloat the top, not shrink it.
Albert Balducci, finance chair for the regents, said the reserves now being used to keep the budget afloat are running out. Collectively, $8 million in reserves had to be applied to the $1.2 billion system that also includes the state’s four regional universities and an online college.
“This is not a sustainable model,” he added.
Ojakian told the board that fiscal stabilization is at the heart of his plan. Already, he said, campuses like Housatonic and Gateway who are sharing a president and other positions are saving money.