Opioid Crisis In US Leads To Passing Of New Act

The United States of America are losing its battles against opioid addiction. The main opioids found at the root of the problem are heroin and counterfeit prescription painkillers, such as fentanyl.

All countermeasures set into play by governments and associations only seem to further stall the same catastrophic outcome.

Efforts To Remove Opioid Dealers From The Streets Have Increased Considerably

Awareness campaigns and support programs have been set into motion but received low to medium popularity.

Police Officers and Emergency Medical Technicians across many states have been trained in administering naloxone, a drug which has been especially designed to combat opioid overdoses and to save people.

Narcan, which is one of the most well-known drugs to contain naloxone, is purchasable as over the counter medicine so that friends and family of addicts can use it in case of emergency.

Hospitals have acquired new equipment also specialized in keeping opioid overdose patients alive.

Nevertheless, with all these measures in play the mortality rate of opioid users has increased exponentially.

Fentanyl is known to be 50 times more potent than heroin and counterfeit fentanyl is an unstable compound.

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 has been passed by the United States House of Representatives. Over $180 million will be distributed among the necessary competent parties.

Along with the funding, a provision authored by Congressman Bill Keating has set into motion the drug take-back program as part of the Act’s Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program.

Most importantly, the legislation empowers the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to change the Federal Law as they see fit in order to combat the opioid crisis.

The Act was initially met with some resistance from the Democrats. They believed the funding would not be sufficient to create any actual impact. The Democrats had a similar Act proposed, only it suggested a funding of $920 million to combat opioid addiction.

According to recent studies four out of ten people who use prescribed painkillers risk of becoming addicted.

Illegally manufactured fentanyl was found to be mixed with heroin creating a volatile mix with an extremely high risk of overdose. The mix is then made to look like other less powerful medicine. Authorities say that many opioid overdose survivors said they did not know what they were actually taking as they thought it was something less potent.

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