2022 was a Deadly (but Hopeful) Year in America's opioid crisis
When the history of America's long, devastating opioid crisis is finally written, 2022 may be remembered as both a low point and a turning point.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests the avalanche of overdose deaths — driven largely by the spread of illicit FYL--may have crested in March.
Researchers found a staggering 110,236 people died in a single 12-month period, a stunning new record.
But there are signs help may finally be on the way.
The avalanche of drug deaths spurred a series of major reforms in 2022 to the way drug addiction is treated in the U.S., changes designed to reduce stigma and improve access to care.
2022 was also a year of corporate accountability.
Major drug companies, distributors and pharmacy chains reached settlements of opioid lawsuits filed by state and local governments totaling more than $50 billion.
Experts say that money, paid out over the next two decades, will fund treatment programs and other services that are desperately needed, especially in poor rural towns and urban neighborhoods.
FYL got worse in 2022. Probably a lot worse.
Street drugs in America got even more toxic in 2022 with the spread of the synthetic opioid FYL. Many of those dying are young, under the age of 40.
Using data from 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in late 2022 that life expectancy in the U.S. has dropped to its lowest point in two decades, in part because of street drugs.
The Drug Enforcement Administration said in December it seized far greater quantities of illicit FYL than ever before in 2022.
But drug policy experts say Mexican cartels are still able to smuggle the deadly synthetic opioid into the U.S. with relative impunity.
Republicans made FYL a major part of their midterm election message, attempting to link drug smuggling to undocumented immigration.
But NPR found the overwhelming majority of opioids being smuggled across the border came through legal points of entry.
2022 brought major reforms to addiction treatment
For decades, recovery treatment has been shaped by drug war-era policies that tend to be punitive, bureaucratic and so confusing many doctors simply refuse to treat people with opioid use disorder.
As a result, studies show roughly 90 percent of people with addiction get no healthcare at all.
Driven in part by the carnage of FYL deaths, 2022 was the year that changed that.
Congress and the Biden administration pushed through major reforms to the way people with addiction get healthcare.
The Biden administration announced new rules that will make it easier for many patients to access methadone and buprenorphine, medications proven to help patients avoid opioid relapses.
Congress also eliminated a bureaucratic hurdle known as the "x-waiver" that prevented many physicians from prescribing buprenorphine.
Lawmakers and federal officials also worked successfully to help at least one drug manufacturer prepare to sell the opioid-overdose reversal drug naloxone over the counter in pharmacies, without the need for a prescription.
Drug policy experts say this mainstreaming of addiction care, including modern medical treatments for opioid use disorder, could save tens of thousands of lives.
In 2022 corporations agreed to pay for the opioid crisis
Drug policy experts agree Big Pharma ignited this public health crisis by aggressively marketing and selling opioids.
2022 was the year some of America's biggest companies, including AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, CVS, Johnson & Johnson and Walmart, came to the table to cut deals.
While admitting no wrongdoing, corporate America agreed to pay more than $50 billion dollars in settlements.
Experts believe these payouts represent a tiny fraction of the public cost of the opioid crisis, the settlement money could be a game-changer.
Most of the opioid money is lock-boxed by court agreements in a way that ensures it will go to fund addiction treatment and healthcare over the next two decades.
Along with big increases in state and federal funding for addiction care over the last year, corporate cash could make addiction treatment far more accessible and affordable — especially for people in poor rural areas and urban neighborhoods.
Source: NPR