Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Reversing an Overdose

    A significant spike in opioid-related overdose deaths in Philadelphia has resulted in more people in the community carrying Naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication. Thanks to a standing order signed by the Pennsylvania physician general as well as a local health insurance company, obtaining the drug has been made much easier which in turn results in more lives potentially being saved.

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  • Instagram's Queer Appalachia brings love — and services — to those who need it most

    The Queer Appalachia Instagram account has created a virtual community combating the isolation and fear that are often present in the lives of queer people living in Appalachia. In a region particularly hard-hit by the opioid crisis, it has also created a network of sponsors for those in recovery through a telehealth program managed by the account.

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  • We really do have a solution to the opioid epidemic — and one state is showing it works

    In order to tackle opioid addiction, the state of Virginia found a way to make drug treatment accessible to people with medicaid by boosting “reimbursement rates to addiction treatment providers.” Historically, drug treatment hasn’t been covered by health insurance. Virginia is changing that. Already, “the percent of Medicaid members with an opioid use disorder who received treatment went up by 29 percent from April to December 2017 compared to the same period the previous year.”

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  • Fighting for life: Coalition works to reduce opioid deaths and help addicts recover

    The Fighting for Life Coalition works to prevent overdose deaths in Missouri. From counseling to buprenorphine treatments, the group is committed to harm reduction principles of reducing harms even when people engage in dangerous behavior. The state also has a group that meets users in the hospital and mobilizes to get them started in treatment within 24 hours.

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  • How safe-injection sites work

    The city of Montreal, Canada is testing how safe injection sites can be used in the fight against opioid overdoses. Montreal has 4 total sites, and one of them, called Cactus Montreal, has already supervised thousands of users in less than a year without a single death. Cactus is often busy with about 100 visitors each day, and they say that their services also prevent public injections and litter of used needles.

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  • France had a big heroin epidemic in the 1980s and '90s. Here's how the country fixed it.

    When France changed their policy in 1995, and allowed primary care doctors to prescribe buprenorphine, an anti-drug medication that reduces cravings for opioids, a drastic change happened. “Within four years, overdose deaths had declined by 79 percent.”

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  • How France Cut Heroin Overdoses by 79 Percent in 4 Years

    In 1995, following high rates of deaths by heroin overdose, France implemented new policies that allowed primary care physicians to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug that helps curb opiate cravings, to patients suffering from opioid addiction, drastically reducing overdose deaths. In the U.S., doctors are required to go through a special addiction training to be able to prescribe buprenorphine, meaning that very few U.S. doctors can prescribe it.

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  • As opioids land more women in prison, Ohio finds alternative treatments

    The Ohio Reformatory for Women is a prison that offers inmates a chance to enroll in Tapestry, an inpatient drug treatment program that tries to delve into the deeper causes women turn to drugs. It also believes in connecting women who are addicts with one another because “on the outside there’s not enough support.” The 18 month program is “about healing mind, body and spirit.”

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  • Could venomous snails be part of the solution to the opioid epidemic?

    Patients who experience chronic pain are commonly prescribed opiates. Over time, their tolerance to the medication builds up and they must increase their dose to maintain the positive effects of opiates, often leading to addiction problems. A neurotoxin found in a venomous sea snail is proving to be more effective in relieving chronic pain because it works better over time and it is non-addictive.

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  • Exchange of Ideas: Needle Exchanges Grow To Meet Threats From Opioid Crisis

    Sharing stories about addiction brings stakeholders together. With the cost of prevention being much lower than the cost of treating outbreaks disease and overdoses, advocates for needle exchanges have sought to open more centers in Kentucky. Despite initial opposition from the Bourbon County community, groups like the Recovery Warriors have succeeded, by holding meetings and sharing experiences, to ultimately pass a motion to open the county’s first needle exchange.

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