COLUMBUS – A new study indicates that about one in four Ohioans has a family member or friend who has struggled with problems associated with prescription painkillers or heroin.
National Prescription Drug Take Back Day: Sat., April 28,10 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
New research that assesses the extent of drug addiction in Ohio and evaluates how the state is tackling the problem found that 27 percent of adults said they had a family member or friend who had problems as the result of using prescription pain drugs and 23 percent knew someone with a heroin problem.
Those figures come from the 2017 Ohio Health Issues Poll published by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.
“Overdose deaths, we think of this as a tip-of-the-iceberg issue and just below the surface as a much larger number of Ohioans who have experienced an overdose that was not fatal or who are just struggling with substance-use disorder,” said Amy Bush Stevens, the institute’s vice president for Prevention and Public Health Policy.
The study’s findings show drug use is more widespread than indicated by data on overdose deaths, which rose nearly 30 percent between 2015 and 2016.
The institute’s new addiction scorecard shows Ohio has implemented many evidence-based programs, reduced the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed, and increased health-insurance coverage and treatment access.
But Stevens says the report notes that more work is needed to address the underlying factors that drive demand for drugs and to strengthen the behavioral-health treatment system.
“A lot more can be done to really expand the reach of things that are working,” Stevens said. “We have these kind of pockets of excellence around the state that just need more sustained and widespread implementation and funding.”
Earlier this month, Ohio Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown announced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is releasing $26 million as Ohio’s share of $485 million earmarked for states hardest hit by the opioid epidemic.
Meanwhile, the health-issues poll also found 13 percent of Ohio adults knew someone who had a problem as the result of methamphetamines. Stevens says it underscores the need for a comprehensive approach to substance-use disorder.