US Surgeon General Highlights Opioid Addiction, Gun Violence In Phoenix
As part of a national campaign to address prescription painkiller and opioid abuse, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is trying to get buy-ins from doctors, policy makers and the public to spend more on treatment programs.
Murthy is bringing his campaign to the Southwest, where drug overdoses have greatly increased in recent years. Particularly in New Mexico, where overdose deaths went up more than 20 percent between 2013 and 2014. On Monday, he stopped in Phoenix.
Inside a sprawling brown building at 28th Street and Van Buren, the Surgeon General was led into a dark, cool room filled with people lying on cots.
“About 46 percent of people here are coming through opiates," a staff member at Community Bridges Central City Addiction Recovery Center explained.
A 2015 report compiled for the non-profit Partnership for Drug Free Kids ranked Arizona among the top states for opioid abuse with associated health care costs at nearly $700 million dollars. Murthy says the cost of inaction is too high.
“And, it’s not just the cost of health care dollars spent, it’s the cost of lost productivity at work," he said. "Most importantly, it’s the humanitarian cost of lives lost, families destroyed and communities torn apart.”
Murthy also met privately with doctors and other prescribers to discuss better practices to help prevent drug dependence.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration runs a confidential helpline that is staffed 24 hours a day. Individuals and families seeking treatment referral and information services in English and Spanish can call 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Meanwhile, Murthy brought up another crisis he's classifying as a public health issue— gun violence.
Expressing support for the country's LGBT community after the weekend mass shooting that killed 49 people and wounded more at an Orlando gay nightclub, Murthy said the solution to gun violence is two-fold: “The real question is, how do we come together to not only have sensible laws in place, but to reduce the origins and the impetus in the first place?”
In the next year, the Surgeon General says his office will focus on ways to improve mental and emotional well-being in communities.
