International Overdose Awareness Day
Substance Use Disorder: Understanding the Scope of the Problem and How Myers and Stauffer Can Help
Global Issues
The Penington Institute is a non-profit, public health organization, based in Australia and specializing in global solutions for drug policy underpinned by non-judgment and supportive “safe, considerate, and practical approaches.”
Their intensive research points to concerning trends and emergent issues that are potentially ominous. The group says that every year, a record number of deaths are reported, and opioids account for two-thirds of those overdoses. Opioid deaths in the United States are driven largely by fentanyl, which is insidious, often hidden, and becoming more widespread.
According to their report, Penington says, “Some of the new drugs available today – most notably synthetic opioids and amphetamine-type stimulants – are more dangerous than their counterparts were 20 or even 10 years ago. There were 1,235 new psychoactive substances reported in 142 countries and territories between 2013 and 2023. Opioids are the fastest-growing and most harmful group of new psychoactive substances – there were 88 different types recorded globally in 2021, an increase from just one in 2009.”
Issues Faced by States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working with states to join their communities together in support of the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose. The goals of International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) are to:
- Provide an opportunity for people to publicly mourn loved ones.
- Tell people who use drugs and people in recovery that they are valued.
- Inform people around the world about the risk of drug overdose.
- Provide basic information on the range of support services that are available.
- Prevent and reduce drug-related harms by supporting evidence-based practice.
This IOAD, the CDC encourages states to affirm that when we work together to heal and empower communities, we can save lives and end overdose.
There are a number of ways states have developed services and systems to prevent drug overdose, including contributing data to the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System; launching campaigns to educate the public, clinicians, police, and emergency services on the signs of overdose; and the purchase and distribution of naloxone.
