Latest news with #ReginaLaBelle
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Overdose deaths see largest one-year decline ever: Here's why
The Brief CDC reports 80,000 US overdose deaths in 2024, down from 110,000 the year prior. It's the largest annual decline in overdose deaths since tracking began 45 years ago. Experts point to expanded naloxone access, treatment, and opioid settlement funds as possible factors. LOS ANGELES - The United States recorded 30,000 fewer drug overdose deaths in 2024 compared to the year before, according to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — marking the biggest one-year decline in over four decades of tracking. The CDC estimates 80,000 people died of overdoses last year, down 27% from 110,000 deaths in 2023. That drop is unprecedented in scale; the previous largest decline was just 4% in 2018. Big picture view Health officials and researchers aren't certain what caused the sharp drop, but several developments are believed to have played a role. These include: Wider access to naloxone, the overdose-reversing drug, now available over-the-counter. Expanded addiction treatment programs. Changes in drug use patterns. A growing public awareness and response from grieving families and communities. Significant investments from opioid lawsuit settlements now being used to fund prevention, harm reduction, and recovery efforts. "It's clear we've made progress, but we're still losing too many people," the CDC said in a statement, noting that overdoses remain the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 44. Local perspective Nearly every state saw a drop in overdose deaths in 2024. Ohio, West Virginia, and other long-suffering states reported some of the steepest improvements. Only two states — Nevada and South Dakota — saw slight increases. In New York, final numbers are still being processed, but provisional data shows the state following the national trend with a significant decrease. The city and state have ramped up naloxone distribution, safe-use programs, and community outreach in recent years. What's next Billions of dollars from opioid lawsuit settlements are now beginning to make their way into communities. The money, paid by drugmakers, distributors, and pharmacy chains, is earmarked for addiction services and overdose prevention. A major upcoming settlement — involving up to $7 billion from Purdue Pharma's owners, the Sackler family — could bring even more resources. But how states spend the money remains a key issue. "States can either say, 'We won, we can walk away,' or they can stay the course," said Regina LaBelle of Georgetown University, who previously served as acting director of the White House drug policy office. The other side Despite the positive numbers, some public health experts worry that recent moves by the Trump administration could undercut long-term progress. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended staffing cuts and program overhauls during a Wednesday hearing, but lawmakers questioned whether the changes would slow momentum. "Now is not the time to take the foot off the gas pedal," warned Dr. Daniel Ciccarone of UCSF. U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, challenged Kennedy, asking "why the hell" the administration is cutting funding when the recent decline proves that public health investments were "getting us somewhere." What they're saying "I will tell you that if you are successful in banning fluoride … we better put a lot more money into dental education," said Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho in the same hearing — illustrating growing concerns that shifts in health policy could have ripple effects. Advocates say community action has helped move the needle. "We believe that taking a public health approach that seeks to support — not punish — people who use drugs is crucial to ending the overdose crisis," said Dr. Tamara Olt, who lost her 16-year-old son to a heroin overdose in 2012 and now leads the group Broken No Moore. Kimberly Douglas, whose 17-year-old son died in 2023, credited the growing movement of parents and advocates. "Eventually people are going to start listening," she said. "Unfortunately, it's taken 10-plus years." The Source This report is based on data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reporting from the Associated Press. Additional insights were provided by health experts, members of Congress, and advocacy organizations during public hearings and interviews.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Despite pledge to expand naloxone access, Trump administration proposal would cut overdose prevention programs
The Trump administration has named overdose prevention among its top drug policy priorities, but a preliminary budget proposal that was recently leaked suggests that it would cut about two dozen substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. In a document published last month by the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy, the first strategy listed under the first objective reads: 'To combat the drug crisis and the opioid epidemic, largely driven by fentanyl, the Administration will expand access to overdose prevention education and life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone.' However, among the potential cuts listed in the budget proposal in April was a program that directly expands access to naloxone: a $56 million annual grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, that helps distribute kits and trains first responders and others on how to use them. In fiscal year 2023, the First Responders-Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, or FR-CARA, program distributed more than 101,000 opioid overdose reversal medication kits and trained nearly 77,000 people on how to administer them, according to a budget request document from SAMHSA. Plans for fiscal year 2024 raised that goal to distributing 130,000 kits and training tens of thousands more. Spokespeople from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the US Department of Health and Human Services said that no final decisions have been made about the upcoming fiscal budget, including potential cuts to the naloxone program. A reorganization at HHS will consolidate SAMHSA under the new Administration for a Healthy America, an effort that the agency says is meant to 'more efficiently coordinate chronic care and disease prevention programs and harmonize health resources to low-income Americans.' But advocates worry that the loss of a key part of the strategy to address the overdose epidemic in the US could set progress back. 'Naloxone - the antidote to an overdose - saves lives every day and naloxone distribution programs have been part of the federal government's overdose response for over a decade,' Regina LaBelle, director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at Georgetown University, said in an email to CNN. 'The Administration recently renewed the opioid public health emergency but at the same time it's calling for the elimination of programs that are working to bring down overdose death rates. These actions make the emergency declaration ring hollow and worse still, if the programs are eliminated, will have serious negative impacts on communities nationwide.' The Cherokee Nation has received about $1 million through the FR-CARA grant, which it has put toward the tribe's harm reduction program. It estimates that 25,000 kits with Narcan – one of the brand names of naloxone – have been dispersed to law enforcement, schools and communities in northeastern Oklahoma. 'With this grant we also trained law enforcement officers, emergency management services and firefighters in our Cherokee Nation Reservation training to dispense Narcan, and armed them with Narcan to save lives when they roll up to the scene of an overdose. We know it has saved hundreds of lives not only Cherokee citizens, but Oklahomans,' Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in an email to CNN. 'All of these agencies could not afford Narcan if we did not provide it, so we are hopeful the grant continues because we know it's powerful and effective.' Annual overdose deaths have dropped about 23% since reaching a peak in mid-2023, according to provisional data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts have said that the decrease is probably the result of a wide range of persistent efforts starting to make an impact – including expanded access to naloxone. Despite the hopeful trend, more people are dying from overdose now than before the Covid-19 pandemic, and experts say it's not the time to be complacent. 'I've been working on this issue for almost two decades, and I'm very scared at what's going to happen and what lies ahead, because it's not just about getting rid of bureaucrats, it's about undermining the entire system we've spent decades building up,' LaBelle said. 'I'm really afraid of going backwards.' HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has talked about his own 14-year heroin addiction and recovery but has generally focused on the importance of preventing addiction through faith and community. At a drug summit in Nashville last week, Kennedy called addiction 'a source of misery but also a symptom of misery.' He emphasized that young people need a sense of purpose in their lives to prevent them from turning to drugs – even suggesting that banning cell phones in schools could help decrease drug addiction. He did not address recent cuts to HHS that many fear could jeopardize public health, including overdose prevention.
CNN
01-05-2025
- Health
- CNN
Despite pledge to expand naloxone access, Trump administration proposal would cut overdose prevention programs
The Trump administration has named overdose prevention among its top drug policy priorities, but a preliminary budget proposal that was recently leaked suggests that it would cut about two dozen substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. In a document published last month by the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy, the first strategy listed under the first objective reads: 'To combat the drug crisis and the opioid epidemic, largely driven by fentanyl, the Administration will expand access to overdose prevention education and life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone.' However, among the potential cuts listed in the budget proposal in April was a program that directly expands access to naloxone: a $56 million annual grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, that helps distribute kits and trains first responders and others on how to use them. In fiscal year 2023, the First Responders-Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, or FR-CARA, program distributed more than 101,000 opioid overdose reversal medication kits and trained nearly 77,000 people on how to administer them, according to a budget request document from SAMHSA. Plans for fiscal year 2024 raised that goal to distributing 130,000 kits and training tens of thousands more. Spokespeople from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the US Department of Health and Human Services said that no final decisions have been made about the upcoming fiscal budget, including potential cuts to the naloxone program. A reorganization at HHS will consolidate SAMHSA under the new Administration for a Healthy America, an effort that the agency says is meant to 'more efficiently coordinate chronic care and disease prevention programs and harmonize health resources to low-income Americans.' But advocates worry that the loss of a key part of the strategy to address the overdose epidemic in the US could set progress back. 'Naloxone - the antidote to an overdose - saves lives every day and naloxone distribution programs have been part of the federal government's overdose response for over a decade,' Regina LaBelle, director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at Georgetown University, said in an email to CNN. 'The Administration recently renewed the opioid public health emergency but at the same time it's calling for the elimination of programs that are working to bring down overdose death rates. These actions make the emergency declaration ring hollow and worse still, if the programs are eliminated, will have serious negative impacts on communities nationwide.' The Cherokee Nation has received about $1 million through the FR-CARA grant, which it has put toward the tribe's harm reduction program. It estimates that 25,000 kits with Narcan – one of the brand names of naloxone – have been dispersed to law enforcement, schools and communities in northeastern Oklahoma. 'With this grant we also trained law enforcement officers, emergency management services and firefighters in our Cherokee Nation Reservation training to dispense Narcan, and armed them with Narcan to save lives when they roll up to the scene of an overdose. We know it has saved hundreds of lives not only Cherokee citizens, but Oklahomans,' Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in an email to CNN. 'All of these agencies could not afford Narcan if we did not provide it, so we are hopeful the grant continues because we know it's powerful and effective.' Annual overdose deaths have dropped about 23% since reaching a peak in mid-2023, according to provisional data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts have said that the decrease is probably the result of a wide range of persistent efforts starting to make an impact – including expanded access to naloxone. Despite the hopeful trend, more people are dying from overdose now than before the Covid-19 pandemic, and experts say it's not the time to be complacent. 'I've been working on this issue for almost two decades, and I'm very scared at what's going to happen and what lies ahead, because it's not just about getting rid of bureaucrats, it's about undermining the entire system we've spent decades building up,' LaBelle said. 'I'm really afraid of going backwards.' HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has talked about his own 14-year heroin addiction and recovery but has generally focused on the importance of preventing addiction through faith and community. At a drug summit in Nashville last week, Kennedy called addiction 'a source of misery but also a symptom of misery.' He emphasized that young people need a sense of purpose in their lives to prevent them from turning to drugs – even suggesting that banning cell phones in schools could help decrease drug addiction. He did not address recent cuts to HHS that many fear could jeopardize public health, including overdose prevention.
CNN
01-05-2025
- Health
- CNN
Despite pledge to expand naloxone access, Trump administration proposal would cut overdose prevention programs
The Trump administration has named overdose prevention among its top drug policy priorities, but a preliminary budget proposal that was recently leaked suggests that it would cut about two dozen substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. In a document published last month by the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy, the first strategy listed under the first objective reads: 'To combat the drug crisis and the opioid epidemic, largely driven by fentanyl, the Administration will expand access to overdose prevention education and life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone.' However, among the potential cuts listed in the budget proposal in April was a program that directly expands access to naloxone: a $56 million annual grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, that helps distribute kits and trains first responders and others on how to use them. In fiscal year 2023, the First Responders-Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, or FR-CARA, program distributed more than 101,000 opioid overdose reversal medication kits and trained nearly 77,000 people on how to administer them, according to a budget request document from SAMHSA. Plans for fiscal year 2024 raised that goal to distributing 130,000 kits and training tens of thousands more. Spokespeople from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the US Department of Health and Human Services said that no final decisions have been made about the upcoming fiscal budget, including potential cuts to the naloxone program. A reorganization at HHS will consolidate SAMHSA under the new Administration for a Healthy America, an effort that the agency says is meant to 'more efficiently coordinate chronic care and disease prevention programs and harmonize health resources to low-income Americans.' But advocates worry that the loss of a key part of the strategy to address the overdose epidemic in the US could set progress back. 'Naloxone - the antidote to an overdose - saves lives every day and naloxone distribution programs have been part of the federal government's overdose response for over a decade,' Regina LaBelle, director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at Georgetown University, said in an email to CNN. 'The Administration recently renewed the opioid public health emergency but at the same time it's calling for the elimination of programs that are working to bring down overdose death rates. These actions make the emergency declaration ring hollow and worse still, if the programs are eliminated, will have serious negative impacts on communities nationwide.' The Cherokee Nation has received about $1 million through the FR-CARA grant, which it has put toward the tribe's harm reduction program. It estimates that 25,000 kits with Narcan – one of the brand names of naloxone – have been dispersed to law enforcement, schools and communities in northeastern Oklahoma. 'With this grant we also trained law enforcement officers, emergency management services and firefighters in our Cherokee Nation Reservation training to dispense Narcan, and armed them with Narcan to save lives when they roll up to the scene of an overdose. We know it has saved hundreds of lives not only Cherokee citizens, but Oklahomans,' Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in an email to CNN. 'All of these agencies could not afford Narcan if we did not provide it, so we are hopeful the grant continues because we know it's powerful and effective.' Annual overdose deaths have dropped about 23% since reaching a peak in mid-2023, according to provisional data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts have said that the decrease is probably the result of a wide range of persistent efforts starting to make an impact – including expanded access to naloxone. Despite the hopeful trend, more people are dying from overdose now than before the Covid-19 pandemic, and experts say it's not the time to be complacent. 'I've been working on this issue for almost two decades, and I'm very scared at what's going to happen and what lies ahead, because it's not just about getting rid of bureaucrats, it's about undermining the entire system we've spent decades building up,' LaBelle said. 'I'm really afraid of going backwards.' HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has talked about his own 14-year heroin addiction and recovery but has generally focused on the importance of preventing addiction through faith and community. At a drug summit in Nashville last week, Kennedy called addiction 'a source of misery but also a symptom of misery.' He emphasized that young people need a sense of purpose in their lives to prevent them from turning to drugs – even suggesting that banning cell phones in schools could help decrease drug addiction. He did not address recent cuts to HHS that many fear could jeopardize public health, including overdose prevention.
CNN
01-05-2025
- Health
- CNN
Despite pledge to expand naloxone access, Trump administration proposal would cut overdose prevention programs
The Trump administration has named overdose prevention among its top drug policy priorities, but a preliminary budget proposal that was recently leaked suggests that it would cut about two dozen substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. In a document published last month by the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy, the first strategy listed under the first objective reads: 'To combat the drug crisis and the opioid epidemic, largely driven by fentanyl, the Administration will expand access to overdose prevention education and life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone.' However, among the potential cuts listed in the budget proposal in April was a program that directly expands access to naloxone: a $56 million annual grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, that helps distribute kits and trains first responders and others on how to use them. In fiscal year 2023, the First Responders-Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, or FR-CARA, program distributed more than 101,000 opioid overdose reversal medication kits and trained nearly 77,000 people on how to administer them, according to a budget request document from SAMHSA. Plans for fiscal year 2024 raised that goal to distributing 130,000 kits and training tens of thousands more. Spokespeople from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the US Department of Health and Human Services said that no final decisions have been made about the upcoming fiscal budget, including potential cuts to the naloxone program. A reorganization at HHS will consolidate SAMHSA under the new Administration for a Healthy America, an effort that the agency says is meant to 'more efficiently coordinate chronic care and disease prevention programs and harmonize health resources to low-income Americans.' But advocates worry that the loss of a key part of the strategy to address the overdose epidemic in the US could set progress back. 'Naloxone - the antidote to an overdose - saves lives every day and naloxone distribution programs have been part of the federal government's overdose response for over a decade,' Regina LaBelle, director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at Georgetown University, said in an email to CNN. 'The Administration recently renewed the opioid public health emergency but at the same time it's calling for the elimination of programs that are working to bring down overdose death rates. These actions make the emergency declaration ring hollow and worse still, if the programs are eliminated, will have serious negative impacts on communities nationwide.' The Cherokee Nation has received about $1 million through the FR-CARA grant, which it has put toward the tribe's harm reduction program. It estimates that 25,000 kits with Narcan – one of the brand names of naloxone – have been dispersed to law enforcement, schools and communities in northeastern Oklahoma. 'With this grant we also trained law enforcement officers, emergency management services and firefighters in our Cherokee Nation Reservation training to dispense Narcan, and armed them with Narcan to save lives when they roll up to the scene of an overdose. We know it has saved hundreds of lives not only Cherokee citizens, but Oklahomans,' Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in an email to CNN. 'All of these agencies could not afford Narcan if we did not provide it, so we are hopeful the grant continues because we know it's powerful and effective.' Annual overdose deaths have dropped about 23% since reaching a peak in mid-2023, according to provisional data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts have said that the decrease is probably the result of a wide range of persistent efforts starting to make an impact – including expanded access to naloxone. Despite the hopeful trend, more people are dying from overdose now than before the Covid-19 pandemic, and experts say it's not the time to be complacent. 'I've been working on this issue for almost two decades, and I'm very scared at what's going to happen and what lies ahead, because it's not just about getting rid of bureaucrats, it's about undermining the entire system we've spent decades building up,' LaBelle said. 'I'm really afraid of going backwards.' HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has talked about his own 14-year heroin addiction and recovery but has generally focused on the importance of preventing addiction through faith and community. At a drug summit in Nashville last week, Kennedy called addiction 'a source of misery but also a symptom of misery.' He emphasized that young people need a sense of purpose in their lives to prevent them from turning to drugs – even suggesting that banning cell phones in schools could help decrease drug addiction. He did not address recent cuts to HHS that many fear could jeopardize public health, including overdose prevention.
