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TRUMP DECLARES OPIOID CRISIS
‘A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY’
US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has declared the
country’s opioid crisis a ‘nationwide public health
emergency’ and said that he is ‘mobilising his entire
administration’ to address the situation, the White
House has announced.
Last year more than 2m Americans had an addiction
to illicit or prescription opioids, with drug overdoses
now the leading cause of ‘injury death’ in the US,
outnumbering both traffic and gun fatalities. There
were more than 52,000 drug overdose deaths in 2015,
with the White House expecting 2016’s total to exceed
64,000 – a rate of 175 deaths per day.
In 2016 more than 11.5m Americans reported
misuse of prescription opioids and 950,000 reported
heroin use, the administration says, with the rising
death rate in part the result of ‘the proliferation of
illegally made fentanyl’. An interim report from the
President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction
and the Opioid Crisis urged him to declare a national
emergency earlier this year (DDN, September, page 5).
The emergency declaration will allow expanded
access to substance misuse treatment and medication,
including for people in HIV/Aids programmes, as well as
the recruitment of more treatment professionals and
provision of grants for people who have been ‘displaced
from the workforce’ as a result of addiction. ‘Ending the
epidemic will require mobilisation of government, local
communities, and private organisations,’ said Trump. ‘It
will require the resolve of our entire country. I am
directing all executive agencies to use every appropriate
emergency authority to fight the opioid crisis. This
marks a critical step in confronting the extraordinary
challenge that we face.’
The US-based Drug Policy Alliance, however, accused
the president of ‘ignoring reality’ and ‘sticking his head
in the sand’. ‘While a couple of his proposals might help
mitigate overdose, his speech revealed a profound and
reckless disregard for the realities about drugs and drug
PARENTAL PROBLEMS
PARENTS DO NOT HAVE TO REGULARLY DRINK
LARGE AMOUNTS for their children to ‘notice
changes in their behaviour and experience
negative impacts’, according an Institute of
Alcohol Studies (IAS) report. Having seen a
parent ‘tipsy or drunk’ was associated with
children feeling worried, ‘less comforted than
usual’, or experiencing more arguments, says
‘Like sugar for adults’: the effect of non-
dependent parental drinking on children and
families. Nearly 30 per cent of parents reported
having been drunk in front of their children,
while more than 10 per cent of children said
they’d felt worried or that their parents had
given them less attention as a result of
drinking. Meanwhile, a report by the University
at Buffalo’s research institute on addictions
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
use in the United
States,’ said alliance
director Maria
McFarland Sánchez-
Moreno.
‘Trump seemed
to be saying that
prevention boils
down to ads
encouraging young
people to "just say
no" to drugs,
ignoring the utter
failure of that
strategy when the
Reagan
administration
started it in the
1980s,’ she
continued. ‘And he
continued talking
about criminal
justice answers to a public health problem, even though
the war on drugs is itself a major factor contributing to
the overdose crisis. Trump had a chance to do
something meaningful to help stem the tide of
overdose deaths in the country – instead, he is
condemning even more people to death, imprisonment,
and deportation in the name of his war on drugs.’
A position paper from the Global Commission on Drug
Policy has also urged that supplies of prescription opioids
should not be cut without ‘first putting supporting
measures in place’. Harm reduction options need to be
expanded, alongside ‘de facto decriminalisation’ of
possession and personal use, says The opioid crisis in
North America. The extent of the public health crisis
‘cannot be overstated’, it warns.
Position paper at www.globalcommissionondrugs.org
‘criminal justice
answers to a
public health
problem.’
found that children of parents with an alcohol
use disorder were more likely to be involved in
‘abusive dating relationships’ as teenagers.
Reports at www.ias.org.uk and www.buffalo.edu
WELSH WORRIES
COCAINE-RELATED HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS in
Wales have risen by more than 80 per cent in
the last five years, according to figures from
Public Health Wales. Admissions for cannabis
and synthetic cannabinoids are also up more
than 70 per cent, although overall admissions
for alcohol and drug use among young people
are declining. The figures highlighted ‘big
changes’ in patterns of use, said head of the
agency’s substance misuse programme, Josie
Smith. ‘The increase in harms associated with
cannabis and cannabinoids are particularly
challenging to interpret. This is in large part
due to the growth in the use of synthetic
cannabinoid receptor agonists including
‘spice’.’ The annual profile for substance misuse
2016-17 at www.wales.nhs.uk
BETS ARE OFF
THE GOVERNMENT HAS ANNOUNCED that it
intends to reduce the maximum stakes allowed
on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) as part
of its gambling review. Known as the ‘crack
cocaine of gambling’ (DDN, September 2014,
page 6), the controversial machines currently
allow users to bet up to £100 a time. The
government will now consult on cutting the
stakes to as little as £2, while other measures
include stricter advertising guidelines and
revised codes of practice for online gambling.
‘Given the strong evidence and public concerns
about the risks of high stakes gaming machines
on the high street, we are convinced of the
need for action,’ said gambling minister Tracey
Crouch. Consultation at www.gov.uk until 23 Jan.
TIMELY INTERVENTIONS
THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS OF TREATMENT, as well
as the first four after leaving it, are ‘critical
intervention points to reduce mortality risk’,
says an NHS Health Scotland evidence review
on drug-related deaths. Complex psychological
and social barriers also need to be addressed to
support people to access services, it stresses.
Drugs-related deaths r apid evidence review:
keeping people safe at www.healthscotland.scot
See news focus, page 9.
COST CALCULATIONS
A NEW EMCDDA REPORT attempts to fill
the ‘data gap’ on the costs of drug
treatment, with an overview of the
economic models used to estimate
expenditure worldwide. ‘In this
economic climate, more than ever,
policymakers and service planners
require data and information on the
capacity, performance and costs of
national treatment systems in order
to support investment decisions and
to make sound policy choices,’ said
EMCDDA director Alexis Goosdeel. The
centre has also issued a guide to
responding to specific drug issues such
as older users, fentanyls, and
harm reduction in clubs and
festivals. Drug treatment
expenditure: a methodological
overview and Health and social
responses to drug problems at
www.emcdda.europa.eu
Data and infor ma -
tion needed now
‘more than ever’.
alexis GoosDeel
November 2017 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5