Another factor related to this is the fact that naloxone, which is used to reverse an opioid overdose, may not work on polysubstance. Even a small amount of polysubstance is lethal for most people. Typically, this mixture includes fentanyl, which is highly lethal. The second factor is that people are using a combination of multiple illicit drugs, which we call polysubstance. Before the COVID pandemic, there was the opioid epidemic, but the national mental health crisis is driving more people to use illicit substances. One is the mental health crisis that has reached a different level after the COVID pandemic.

Why is that?ĬHHATWAL: There are multiple factors that are contributing to the rise in opioid overdose deaths. GAZETTE: The number of opioid overdose deaths remains high in the U.S. This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity. The Gazette talked to the paper’s lead author, Jagpreet Chhatwal, director of the Institute for Technology Assessment at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, about the findings and the need to act decisively. The group thinks its findings are applicable to any state. Using simulation modeling with state and federal data, researchers projected the number of opioid overdose deaths (OODs) could decrease significantly in New York, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Ohio if the states employed a combination of interventions, such as treatment and medications for opioid use disorder, increasing the availability of naloxone for reversing overdoses, and reducing prescription opioid misuse. The number of reported overdose deaths hit 68,000 in 2020 and rose to more than 80,000 by 2021 Department of Health and Human Services declared the problem a public health emergency. A new study by a group including several Massachusetts General Hospital researchers examined a set of public health interventions that appear promising as a way to reduce overdose deaths.ĭeaths involving illicit drugs and prescription opioids have risen since 2017, when the U.S. However, the problem has not eased but gotten worse. News of the opioid crisis no longer dominates the headlines as it did before the pandemic.

Basemental drugs not working 2021