Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 24 OctOber 2018
U.S. health chief says overdose deaths beginning to level off

By RICARDO ALONSO- treatment and Congress
ZALDIVAR and CARLA K. provided $1 billion in grants
JOHNSON to states. Trump declared
WASHINGTON (AP) — The the opioid epidemic a na-
number of U.S. drug over- tional emergency. Two
dose deaths has begun major funding bills have
to level off after years of passed under his watch.
relentless increases driven While Trump got head-
by the opioid epidemic, lines with his call for using
health secretary Alex Azar the death penalty against
said Tuesday, cautioning major drug dealers, his ad-
it's too soon to declare vic- ministration has built on the
tory. treatment approach that
"We are so far from the end Obama favored.
of the epidemic, but we The Medicaid expansion
are perhaps, at the end of in Obama's Affordable
the beginning," Azar said at Care Act has also played a
a health care event spon- critical role, paying for low-
sored by the Milken Institute income adults to go into
think tank. treatment. A recent Associ-
Confronting the opioid ated Press analysis showed
epidemic has been the that states that expand-
rare issue uniting Repub- ed Medicaid are spend-
licans and Democrats in ing their new opioid grant
a politically divided na- money from Congress
tion. A bill providing major more judiciously, going be-
funding for treatment was yond basics like treatment
passed under former Presi- for people in crisis. Trump
dent Barack Obama. More tried to repeal the Medic-
money followed earlier aid expansion, but failed.
this year under President In this June 26, 2018 file photo, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks during a Advocates for those strug-
Donald Trump. And tomor- Senate Finance Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. gling with addiction are
row Trump is expected to Associated Press pleased to see that more
sign bipartisan legislation and more it's considered a
passed this month that in- died of drug overdoses last Control and Prevention this slower rate than previously disease and not a sign of
creases access to treat- year, according to pre- summer— a 10 percent in- seen. moral weakness. But they
ment, among other steps. liminary numbers released crease from 2016. Health Earlier this month, the CDC say the U.S. has a long way
More than 70,000 people by the Centers for Disease and Human Services — the released figures — also pre- to go build what they call
department Azar heads — liminary — that appear to "an infrastructure of care,"
is playing a central role in show a slowdown in over- a system that incorporates
the government's response. dose deaths in late 2017 prevention, treatment and
In his speech Azar sug- and the first three months recovery.
gested that multi-pronged of this year. From Decem- In an interview with The
efforts to bring the epi- ber to March, those figures Associated Press this sum-
demic under control are show that the pace of the mer, a CDC expert said the
paying off. He ticked off increase over the previous overdose death numbers
statistics showing an in- 12 months has slowed from appear to be shifting for
crease in treatment with 10 percent to 3 percent, the better, but it's too soon
medications such as bu- according to the prelimi- to draw firm conclusions.
prenorphine and naltrex- nary CDC figures. Month-to-month data
one. There's solid evidence Despite the slowdown, the show a leveling off in the
backing medication-assist- nation is still in the midst of number of deaths, said Bob
ed treatment, when used the deadliest drug over- Anderson, a senior stat-
alongside counseling and dose epidemic in its history. istician with the National
ongoing support. He also Opioids were involved in Center for Health Statistics.
noted much broader ac- most of the deaths, killing However, those numbers
cess to the overdose-re- nearly 48,000 people last are considered preliminary,
versing drug naloxone, and year. since death investigations
a documented decline in While prescription opioid have not been completed
the number of people mis- and heroin deaths appear in all cases.
using prescription opioids to be leveling off, deaths "It appears at this point that
as doctors take greater involving fentanyl, cocaine we may have reached a
care in prescribing. and methamphetamines peak and we may start to
Azar said that toward are on the rise. Fentanyl is see a decline," said An-
the end of last year and a synthetic opioid much derson. "This reminds me of
through the beginning of more powerful than hero- what we saw with HIV in the
this year, the number of in, used as an additive in '90s."
deaths "has begun to pla- street drugs. Final numbers for 2018
teau." Azar was not indicat- In President Barack won't be available until the
ing that deaths are going Obama's last year in office, end of next year and things
down, but noting that they his administration secured could also get worse, not
appear to be rising at a a commitment to expand better.q