Drug Poisoning Collaboration: Stopping the Overdose Epidemic
The trend is alarming: poisoning is now Dane County’s number one cause of injury death, surpassing motor vehicle crashes. Misuse or abuse of prescription, over-the-counter or illicit drugs are the cause of 85% of poisoning deaths. Of particular concern are opiate pain medications. Research indicates that prescription opiates are a gateway to heroin use in Dane County and nationwide.
City of Madison and Dane County have joined forces to reverse this deadly and troubling trend. Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and Dane County Joe Parisi added funding to their 2012 budgets and called on Safe Communities to lead a collaborative effort to address this multi-faceted problem.
“Every day we read about another case of tragedy or near death tragedy. This menace can occur any where at any time, and we must begin addressing it immediately,” says Dane County Executive Parisi.
“This is a devastating issue that affects individuals and families throughout the city and the county,” says Mayor Soglin. “The most effective way to fight this epidemic is through partnerships and the funding of resources.”
“An effort this important requires an extensive community-wide, collaborative approach,” says Cheryl Wittke, Executive Director of Safe Communities. Over 40 partners representing law enforcement, drug treatment and health care providers, judges and attorneys, emergency responders, public health leaders and policy makers attended the press conference to kick off this essential safety effort. “I’m proud to partner with the city and the county in this initiative, and look forward to working with our partners to come up with solutions.”
Work groups began their work fall 2011 and have focused on the following areas:
- Reducing access to drugs through drug enforcement, reduced misuse of prescription drugs, improved disposal of household pharmaceuticals, and community education campaigns.
- Reducing inappropriate prescription drug use that can often lead to an escalated addiction to opiates and heroin by partnering with the health care community.
- Improving poisoning intervention to reduce overdose deaths.
- Early intervention, drug treatment, and recovery efforts through family and community assisted intervention efforts, detox and recovery programs, and alternatives to incarceration.
- Integration of mental health care to address some of the root causes of addiction.
- Substance abuse prevention through school based programs, drug free coalitions and other community partners.
Materials from the Drug Poisoning Summit: Stop the Overdose Epidemic as well as academic articles are posted on this page for your reference.
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