There’s a lot of back-and-forth about what should be done about the opioid crisis in Illinois. Some people want to tackle the problem by making it harder to obtain prescription opioids, while others say that decriminalizing opioid use will make it easier for people to seek treatment. Whatever ends up happening, it needs to happen quickly; over 75% of opioid-related fatalities in Illinois happen before emergency services are able to get there. They often happen in hotel rooms, abandoned properties, public spaces, or even people’s homes.
While there are plenty of current (and suggested) strategies that are actually able to reduce the rates and risks of drug use, that doesn’t necessarily solve the problem of all the people who will die in the next few years because they can’t get medical assistance in time. However, there is one possible solution – it’s just that it lacks the government support it would need in order to get off the ground.
What would this solution be? It has two parts: first, decriminalize opioid use, and second, make overdose prevention sites available to vulnerable populations. These suggestions have turned out to be surprisingly controversial, but there’s plenty of data to support them. The problem is that they’ve been characterized as “enabling drug use”, so many politicians – like Chicago’s own mayor – have been less than eager to make them a reality.
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The big picture: how the government’s current approach to the opioid epidemic burdens Illinois’ hospital system.
It’s time to dive into some statistics. From 2016 to 2019, there were over 239,000 hospital visits related to opioid use in Illinois. These visits resulted in over 710,000 days spent on inpatient care, and cost a total of five billion dollars, over three-quarters of which was paid for through public health insurance.
Some of these visits happened because of an overdose, but most of them were due to other causes. Many of them were because of opioid-related ailments like infections, ulcers, pneumonia, or even chronic illnesses. Then there are the people who contract HIV or Hepatitis C from infected needles – they often end up in the hospital too. In Chicago, data shows that most of these opioid-related hospital visits happened in low-income sectors of the city, particularly in areas that don’t have as much access to effective treatment programs. A disproportionate number of the patients were male, Millennial, and from minority populations.
The news headlines spend plenty of time reporting on opioid-related fatalities, but not a lot of people are aware of the broader story – that the opioid epidemic is having a huge impact on hospital systems, taxpayer finances, and public finances in general. Even if they don’t care to get involved for other reasons, people should be interested in finding practical solutions to relieve this financial burden on themselves and their communities.
How would overdose prevention centers fit into the big picture?
A study of 214 Illinois hospitals between the years 2016 and 2018 found that fewer than 20% of opioid-related visits were due to an overdose; under 1% of the hospital visits ended in the death of the patient. This backs up the finding that most overdose deaths occur before emergency services have time to arrive.
Given the fact that the current hospital system isn’t set up in a way that can effectively prevent death caused by opioid overdose, there’s clearly a need for something else – and that’s where overdose prevention centers come in. Detractors seem to view them as little more than government-funded watering holes for drug users, but that’s an unfair (and inaccurate) characterization. Rather, they bring the help that drug users need directly to them: clean needles to reduce the spread of HIV, fentanyl test strips so they can avoid using contaminated drugs, and most importantly, trained supervisors who can administer naxolone as soon as they see someone overdosing. No more waiting on the ambulance to get there; the life-saving drug is already available for quick use if needed.
One reason why this is so important is that for overdose prevention, speed is everything. Think of overdosing as getting bitten by a poisonous snake – the poison will keep doing damage until the body just can’t keep going anymore. If you can get the antidote quickly, the damage will be minimal. If you wait to long, though, you could suffer permanent damage, or even death. That’s how an opioid overdose works – even if it doesn’t end in death, it’s still extremely destructive. That’s just one more reason why the model of overdose prevention sites makes sense; it gives drug users the help they need, when they need it.
Some possible strategies for Illinois to consider in their response to the opioid epidemic.
There have been plenty of studies on all facets of the opioid epidemic, and several flaws in the current approach have come to light. Based on the data from these studies, some of the study authors have made the following recommendations:
● Increase insurance coverage for pain management options that aren’t pharmacological
● Offer better treatment referrals for overdose survivors
● Limit or halt opioid prescriptions for non-cancer patients (such as opioid painkillers for chronic pain)
● Increase the availability of buprenorphine treatment for those addicted to opioids
What about the people who aren’t personally involved, but who want to be?
Whether you’re the kind of person who volunteers at community centers weekly, or you just like to stay on top of current issues, you could benefit from the resources below. Give them a look and see if anything piques your interest, and remember: as long as you’re trying to increase your awareness of the problem, you have a role in being part of the solution.
Opioid Abuse/Recovery Information and Resources in Illinois and U.S.
● Beawarebeprepared.com – a website dedicated to helping people understand opioid emergencies
● The Chicago Recovery Alliance – an organization dedicated to reducing drug-related harm in Chicago
● Fentanyl a Large Driver of Opioid Deaths in Illinois, an article by Lincoln Recovery containing information about the opioid epidemic in Illinois.
● JP Opioid Interaction Awareness Alliance – an organization that works to educate the public about the effects of the opioid epidemic
