Worsening overdose crisis demands action

America’s opioid crisis started long before anyone ever heard of COVID-19, but we have no doubt that the pandemic has made the terrible problem even worse.

Data released in November by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that for the first time the country has experienced more than 100,000 drug overdose deaths over a 12-month span. The CDC reported that for the year ending March 31, the U.S. had 100,306 drug overdose deaths. That amounts to the population of a decent-sized city.

This area is feeling the pain from this awful trend. Data from the CDC show that from April 2020 through March 2021 Berks County had 141 overdose deaths. That amounts to a rate of just under 33 deaths per 100,000 people.

Things are even worse statewide, as Pennsylvania saw an average of about 42 deaths per 100,000 people. There were 5,410 deaths in the state, behind only California, Florida, Ohio and New York in terms of raw numbers. Pennsylvania sits on the edge of an Appalachia region that is the epicenter of the drug overdose death crisis. Neighboring West Virginia had by far the highest death rate in the nation at about 90 overdose deaths per 100,000 residents.

There is widespread agreement that psychological and economic strain posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is a big part of the problem. The past 21 months have been tough on everyone but particularly dangerous for people most at risk of substance abuse.

What’s not new is the ongoing lack of consensus on exactly what to do about this problem.

To be fair, a solution to the drug crisis has proved elusive in states and communities all over the country. Leaders are searching for the right balance of law enforcement, treatment options, educational outreach and other tactics to reverse this terrible trend.

“The combined impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the addiction crisis have been deeply felt in all corners of our state,” said Jennifer Smith, head of the state Department of Drug and Alcohol Prevention. “There is no one-size-fitsall way to tackle these issues.”

That’s certainly true. But there are a lot of ideas being bandied about with not much action being taken yet. There’s been a lot of talking. Smith’s department is engaging in a statewide “listening tour” and recently held a symposium on the issue with the Department of Health, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and first responders to discuss the importance of carrying drug naloxone and highlight how the public, businesses, and first responders can access the drug. Lawmakers are talking about ways to improve drug treatment in the state, while Attorney General Josh Shapiro discusses plans for spending the $1 billion forthcoming from a settlement with pharmaceutical companies.

But the Allentown Morning Call reports that there are at least 10 different drug-related proposals on the table in Harrisburg, but most haven’t gone anywhere. They range from forming death review teams to allowing insurance companies to access a citizens’ prescription drug database to charging treatment centers for their licenses.

Meanwhile some politicians have been engaging in fingerpointing on the issue rather than productive dialogue.

Yes, there still needs to be discussion of these difficult issues involving all the parties who have to deal with it — law enforcement, state health officials, the treatment community, mental health professionals and other medical experts along with the nonprofit sector.

But some new ideas need to be put into action, and quickly. For too long we’ve been working with policies that don’t work nearly well enough. Let’s keep working on this with the urgency the problem demands and start steering in the same direction. The goal must be to change the conditions that lead so many down this dangerous path and being prepared with effective responses for those who do fall into the trap of addiction.

We certainly know it’s not easy. But giving up is not an option.