This is part 4 our WGBH’s 5 part series, “The New Face of Addiction.” Next, in Part 5, we conclude the series with Governor Charlie Baker and his assessment on the state’s opioid action plan.
Heroin addiction is a behavior that’s foreign and misunderstood to many people. It begs the question of what leads to heroin addiction and why?
With nearly 1200 opiate overdoses last year in Massachusetts, it’s a growing problem in New England and elsewhere. In fact, some officials are calling it an epidemic that’s a serious public health emergency.
Several experts from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, and the Global Institute of Public Health, among others, published a research report titled, The Prescription Opioid and Heroin Crisis: A Public Health Approach to an Epidemic of Addiction.
The research concludes that the rate of opioid pain reliever use in the United States has soared over the last 15 years.
From 1999 to 2011, consumption of hydrocodone more than doubled and consumption of oxycodone increased by nearly 500% according to the publication. Public health authorities “described, with growing alarm, an unprecedented increase in morbidity and mortality associated with the use of opioid pain relievers ( OPRs.)” according to the study.
All this week in our series, “The New Face Of Addiction,” WGBH is examining the many facets of addiction.
In part 4, Edward Schreiber, Addiction Director from the Carson Center at Valley Services in Ware, discusses with WGBH Morning Edition host Bob Seay his research on the problem of addiction. He’s focusing on “ best practices and the neurobiology of the brain, to study the disease that he says is inherit to the brain.”
Ware, he says, has the highest incidence of opiate deaths in the state.
The research Schreiber uses comes from ASAM -American Society of Addiction Medicine, and SAMSA-Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration, two think tanks, which have developed levels of care for addicts such as hospitalization and outpatient.
Schreiber says, “the biggest problem in the state of Massachusetts is a black hole created by the Department of Public Health and one he says that Governor Baker needs to hear about, which is (IOP), Intensive Outpatient, treatment, 3-4 hours a day, a minimum of three days a week for three months.”
Schreiber, who is a former addict, says its unfortunate the Dept. Of Public Health removed that level of care. He says the state should restore the level of IOP, 3-days minimum for 3-4 hours a day, for at least 90 days, to help the brain recover and change behavior.
He says it’s anyone’s guess as to why the level of care was removed, but it may very well have something to do with cost.
This is part 4 our WGBH’s 5 part series, “The New Face of Addiction.” Next, we conclude the series Friday with Governor Charlie Baker and his assessment on the state’s opioid action plan.
To listen to more of WGBH Morning Edition host Bob Seay’s interview with Ed Schreiber click on the audio links above.
