There had been a file variety of deadly drug overdoses within the U.S. in 2021. The Biden administration says it’s making progress slowing the speed of deaths linked to fentanyl.
SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
There’s some excellent news within the combat to save lots of Americans dying of drug overdoses. New information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention present the variety of drug deaths has declined for 3 months in a row. And that is after years of dramatic will increase. NPR’s dependancy correspondent, Brian Mann, joins us now to speak extra about this. Hey, Brian.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Hey, Sarah.
MCCAMMON: First of all, simply put this in perspective. How vital is that this progress?
MANN: Well, that is nonetheless fairly incremental. You know, drug deaths peaked at a devastating file round 110,000. They’ve now declined to round 107,000 deaths per yr, based on the CDC. I believe what’s most important right here is that we’re now not seeing that actually lethal upward pattern. Xavier Becerra, the top of the Department of Health and Human Services, spoke about this at a press convention yesterday.
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XAVIER BECERRA: We’re persevering with to make progress as a result of we all know there’s nonetheless a methods to go. We’re not going to let stigma drive us anymore. We’re going to go the place we have to go to assist folks thrive.
MCCAMMON: And on that be aware, , stigma has at all times been a giant barrier for folks making an attempt to get dependancy care. What is the Biden administration doing to deal with that?
MANN: What they started a couple of yr in the past, Sarah, is a shift of the nationwide response to the overdose disaster, to well being care, treating dependancy increasingly more as an sickness, much less as against the law. This has been controversial. You know, numerous Republicans attacked the Biden administration in the course of the midterms for being delicate on medicine. But the Biden staff argues that these numbers present that their method is starting to assist.
MCCAMMON: The Biden administration desires to make two drugs, naloxone and Narcan, extra extensively out there to assist combat this epidemic. How would these medicines assist?
MANN: Yeah, these medicine are tremendous efficient at reversing opioid overdoses, and the Biden staff desires drug corporations now to use for permission to promote these medicine over-the-counter with out the necessity for a prescription. Experts say that might save much more lives. But to this point, drugmakers have been reluctant. Senator Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin spoke at that press convention yesterday, actually making an attempt to step up the strain.
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TAMMY BALDWIN: I be a part of with others in calling on the seven drug producers who produce naloxone, Narcan or the equivalents to make their merchandise out there over-the-counter.
MCCAMMON: What is that reluctance on the a part of drugmakers about?
MANN: You know, this is not actually clear. The drug trade has raised some considerations about issues with insurance coverage corporations, perhaps product legal responsibility and a few confusion amongst shoppers. Some critics say this might additionally influence their firm earnings. NPR did attain out to a number one trade group to get their response to this new strain from the White House. They despatched an announcement saying it is going to be as much as these particular person corporations to resolve whether or not or not to do that.
MCCAMMON: You know, most of those drug deaths are from illicit fentanyl. That’s this extremely highly effective artificial opioid that is being smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico. Brian, is there any progress in stopping that pipeline?
MANN: Yeah, the brief reply, sadly, isn’t any. You know, fentanyl is being made utilizing chemical compounds that come from China which are then formulated by the drug cartels in Mexico. And these nations have principally stopped cooperating on drug interdiction efforts with the U.S. I spoke about this week with Representative David Trone, a Democrat from Maryland. He’s one of many main specialists on dependancy in Congress.
DAVID TRONE: Our success proper now on slowing or stopping the motion of fentanyl throughout the border is near zero. We are failing as a result of now we have two companions, China and Mexico, who’ve chosen to not take part in any significant approach to assist us.
MANN: The Biden administration says it’s making an attempt to harm the cartels with a brand new effort concentrating on their cash and their financing, however there is not any signal but that is making a dent. So I assume the excellent news right here is that drug deaths look like leveling off and even declining slightly bit. But the dangerous information, Sarah, is that nobody expects this public well being disaster from fentanyl to fade anytime quickly.
MCCAMMON: Brian Mann, NPR’s dependancy correspondent. Thanks a lot in your time, Brian.
MANN: All proper. Thanks, Sarah.
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