Here's How The Federal Government Is Fighting Back Against The Opioid Epidemic And Why The Legislation Needs To Be Funded

One of the federal government's important roles is to take on our county's most pressing issues and respond with solutions on a national scale. Responsible for killing nearly 50,000 people in 2014 alone, the opioid epidemic is clearly a crisis our country needs a sweeping and effective government response to overcome. What tools does the federal government have in its pocket that can combat the opioid epidemic, and how can we be sure that they'll work? Where national agencies can alter their policies to support opioid addiction treatment and prevention, they are doing so. In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for doctors prescribing opioids to limit the circumstances, quantity, and duration of any prescriptions they give to patients. Not only should this make it harder for someone using opioids for medical purposes to abuse them, restricting the flow of opioid-based medications into our communities should also decrease the number of these pills that are available to sell on the streets. Shocking many who have grown accustomed to party-line gridlocks, recently Congress passed a new bill to increase resource allocation to emergency departments and treatment providers, strengthening our prevention and intervention methods in broad strokes across the country. As described in the legislation, healthcare professionals, especially those combating opioid-based medication and heroin abuse, will have greater resources to address prevention ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news