FEELING NO PAIN NOR POVERTY –
July 23, 2021 – Restricting the drug supply: One reason people get addicted to drugs is that they have access to them in the first place, via prescription (OxyContin and other painkillers) or on the streets (also prescription drugs, but heroin or fentanyl too).
So one part of the solution could be efforts to reduce access to drugs, including reductions in opioid prescriptions, law enforcement efforts to break up and take down drug markets, trade policy, border control measures, and international cooperation.
This is not enough to vanquish drugs forever. But a study on Australia’s 2001 heroin drought, when police efforts massively restrained heroin supply, found it led to a reduction in drug-related problems.
2) More and better addiction treatment:There are great treatments for opioid addiction. Decades of evidence show medications like methadone and buprenorphine reduce mortality rates among patients by half or more and keep people in treatment longer.
But treatment remains inaccessible to many. There may not be a provider in your area. What does exist can be extremely expensive. And the treatment on offer may not be evidence-based at all.
