Overdose Consciousness Day: Keep in mind. Act.

August 31, 2022, is Worldwide Overdose Consciousness Day, and we pause to honor those that have died from an overdose and to replicate on the grief of these they left behind. Many proceed to reside with the stigma related to having a detailed household or buddy die from an overdose.

Overdose is the main explanation for dying for individuals ages 18 to 45 in America at present. Greater than 100,000 individuals died of an overdose in america within the 12-month interval ending in March 2022. ¹ Many people know one of many 100,000, a few of us know a couple of, and a few of us might know dozens. Amongst this group are our youngsters, siblings, mother and father, grandparents, cousins, non-blood kin, and pals. For a lot of, the observance on August 31 is perhaps the primary and solely time to share their grief with out stigma. Worldwide Overdose Consciousness Day brings consideration to points surrounding substance use issues (SUDs) and overdose deaths and permits individuals to grieve as they select with out worry of stigmatization.

An evaluation of overdose deaths from 2019 to 2020 discovered that:² 

• Drug overdose deaths elevated about 30 % in america from 2019 to 2020.
• The COVID-19 pandemic and disruption in entry to prevention, therapy, hurt discount and restoration providers seemingly contributed to this enhance.
• Current will increase have been largely pushed by illicitly manufactured fentanyl and altered types of fentanyl.
• Counties with better revenue inequality (a big revenue hole between wealthy and poor) had larger charges of overdose deaths.
• Overdose charges elevated by 44 % for black individuals and 39 % for American Indian and Alaska Natives.
• Most individuals who died from an overdose had no proof of substance use therapy earlier than their deaths.
• Proof of earlier documented therapy was decrease amongst individuals from racial and ethnic minority teams, in contrast with white individuals.

SAMHSA’s Efforts

The U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers and the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration (SAMHSA) advance major prevention, hurt discount, evidence-based therapy, restoration assist applications and insurance policies, and supply coaching and technical help consistent with the HHS Overdose Prevention Technique. Particularly, SAMHSA:

• Promotes major prevention efforts by supporting states and communities in growing complete prevention applications to educate the general public concerning the risks of sharing medicines; increase consciousness amongst pharmaceutical and medical communities on the dangers of overprescribing; and implement overdose dying prevention methods, corresponding to naloxone distribution.
• Helps the work of hurt reductionists, who’ve prevented overdose fatalities by way of community-based overdose prevention applications because the mid-Nineteen Nineties. This work considers the foremost components influencing overdose danger, like psychological well being, trauma, and social determinants of well being.
• Revealed an Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit that gives:
  • Security recommendation for sufferers and households.
  • Data for prescribers.
  • Important steps for first responders.
  • Sources for these recovering from opioid overdose.
• Helps peer staff, who know firsthand of the advanced challenges going through individuals with psychological well being and SUDs.

SAMHSA’s work on overdose consciousness is way from over. Our dedication stays sturdy in assist of public training and engagement on overdose consciousness and prevention.

On Worldwide Overdose Consciousness Day, let’s take the time to recollect those we’ve misplaced, and the family members left behind, and to acknowledge the individuals on the bottom who’re doing the crucial work to assist stop extra overdose fatalities.

It’s a time to recollect. It’s a time to behave.

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¹Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, Nationwide Heart for Well being Statistics. Nationwide Very important Statistics System, Provisional Drug Overdose Loss of life Counts. Ahmad FB, Cisewski JA, Rossen LM, Sutton P. Provisional drug overdose dying counts. Nationwide Heart for Well being Statistics. 2022. Accessed at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm on Aug. 19, 2022

²Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Kariisa M, Davis NL, Kumar S, et al. Very important Indicators: Drug Overdose Deaths, by Chosen Sociodemographic and Social Determinants of Well being Traits — 25 States and the District of Columbia, 2019–2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2022;71:940–947. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7129e2. Accessed at www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/overdose-death-disparities/index.html on Aug. 12, 2022