Fighting the crisis of heroin and opiod use in Iowa

Over the last two decades, a perfect storm has led to skyrocketing rates of drug overdose deaths. Doctors are increasingly prescribing addictive opioid painkillers, like Hydrocodone, Oxycodone and OxyContin, and abusers of these substances are transitioning to heroin, another opiate, which may be cheaper and more accessible.

Nationally, drug overdoses caused 44,000 deaths in 2013, and over 2 million people misused prescription drugs. Iowa is not immune to this alarming trend. From 2000 to 2013, the number of Iowans dying from prescription medication overdoses increased by 20 times, and heroin overdose deaths increased from one to 20 per year.

A solution to this opioid epidemic requires a coordinated effort by prevention specialists, treatment professionals, law enforcement and the entire medical community. Iowa's Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs educate prescribers and track overuse of prescriptions through state-run electronic databases. Some state monitoring programs require prescribers to report the dispensing of controlled prescription drugs to patients, and this information could be shared more broadly.

Currently, Iowa law allows access to Naloxone, a drug that counteracts overdoses and can help prevent death in an overdose only to medical personnel. Other states have broadened their laws to allow for greater access to Naloxone to trained law enforcement personnel, and to the public in some states, resulting in over 10,000 overdose reversals since 2001. The Department of Justice Department has long urged its law enforcement partners to review their policies and procedures to determine whether personnel in those agencies should be equipped and trained to recognize and respond to opioid overdose by various methods, including the use of Naloxone.

Additional education, greater access to treatment, enhanced prescription drug take-back programs, and oversight of pain clinics can also be part of the solution to this complex problem. Interagency collaboration by law enforcement, courts, health care, substance abuse treatment, public health, and education, among others, is essential to stem this growing tide of heroin and opioid abuse.

The U.S. Attorney's Offices for Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa, and the University of Iowa College of Public Health and Injury Prevention Research Center hosted a symposium on Nov. 12 to bring agencies together to discuss interagency collaboration on this critical public health issue affecting Iowa and the nation.

' Kevin Techau, is U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. Nick Klinefeldt is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa. Corinne Peek-Asa is director of, and John Lundell is deputy director of the University of Iowa College of Public Health and Injury Prevention Research Center. Comments: USAIAN.USAttyIAN@usdoj.gov