CADCA

When it rains in New York, it pours. At least that’s what the South Orangetown Community Awareness of Substance Abuse (SOCASA) coalition has experienced with its Rx and heroin epidemic.

Co-Executive Directors Victoria Shaw and Susan Maher and their coalition had already been working on implementing strategies to reduce alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse for years, but they knew they had to not only raise awareness of the opioid issue, but engage with their community to address what they called “The Perfect Storm.”

Coalitions, save the date for the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s webinar “Stopping the Revolving Door & Saving Lives: Innovative Approaches for Addressing Opioid Overdose and Opioid Use Disorders in Hospital Emergency Departments.” The event will be from 2-3 p.m. EST Aug. 5.

CADCA’s Chairman and CEO, Gen. Arthur T. Dean, recently served on a panel titled “Preventing and Addressing Opioid Misuse and Abuse: Our Nation’s Challenge” for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The panel was recorded as part of a monthly program called “Road to Recovery.”

The show aired this week on SAMHSA’s website.

Yesterday, the Senate voted overwhelmingly in bi-partisan fashion, 92-2, in favor of passing the conference report on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), S. 524.

This follows the House of Representatives passing the same legislation last week, also by an overwhelmingly bi-partisan vote.

The bill will now go to the President's desk for signature into law.

As the leading non-profit for the field of substance abuse prevention, CADCA applauds Congress’s efforts to move the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). The conferees met and CARA should be on the floor on Friday.

Non-medical use of prescription opioids more than doubled among adults in the United States from 2001-2002 to 2012-2013, based on a study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

Nearly 10 million Americans, or 4.1 percent of the adult population, used opioid medications in 2012-2013 a class of drugs that includes OxyContin and Vicodin, without a prescription or not as prescribed (in greater amounts, more often, or longer than prescribed) in the past year. This is up from 1.8 percent of the adult population in 2001-2002.

Whether it’s adult binge and underage drinking or prescription drug abuse, the Coalition Against Prescription and Substance Abuse (CAPSAT) of Tulsa, Okla., has been able to change the environment by partnering with many sectors, including one unique coalition supporter, their Mayor.

In March the Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), followed by the House passing the House Opioid Package of bills in May. Now CARA and the House Opioid Package of bills needs to be passed by the Conference Committee in order to be sent to the President's desk for signature.
 
We are calling on Congress to move the Conference Committee on CARA quickly and send a bill to the President. We also ask that Congress provide the needed funding for a comprehensive response to this epidemic.

More than 200 community advocates gathered at the "Key Influencers Summit: Addressing Milwaukee’s Opioid Epidemic" Wednesday in Milwaukee. The event, hosted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and CADCA, was an integral component of the DEA’s 360 Strategy, which launched in Milwaukee earlier this year.

Long-acting opioids are associated with a significantly increased risk of death when compared with alternative medications for moderate-to-severe chronic pain, according to a Vanderbilt study released this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Not only did long-acting opioids increase the risk of unintentional overdose deaths, but they were also shown to increase mortality from cardiorespiratory events and other causes.