Updated January 2023
An infographic showing how the September 22, 2022 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Guidance operates to remove barriers to access for harm reduction programs. Special thanks to: Alliance For The People, Remedy, and Nabarun Dasgupta. Infographic On 2022 Fda Naloxone Distribution Guidance. 2022. https://doi.org/10.17615/xhfz-6m65
The National Institute on Drug Abuse provides background information and resources to better understand and reduce stigma. The page includes links to preferred language for talking about addiction as well as language showing compassion for women, infants, families and communities impacted by substance use disorders.
The language that members of the media use in their reporting plays a significant role in reducing stigma surrounding addiction and overcoming this critical barrier to treatment.
From 2012 to 2021, medications to treat opioid use disorder (MOUD) increased 104%; from 2020 to 2021, however, it only increased 1.6%.
From 2016 to 2021, naloxone prescriptions dispensed from pharmacies increased from almost 134,000 to nearly 1.2 million prescriptions.
From 2012 to 2021, every state in the nation saw a large decrease of prescription opioids dispensed from retail pharmacies.
Physicians and other authorized users queried state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) more than 1.1 billion times in 2021
This issue brief provides a one-page overview of the epidemic and select AMA advocacy initiatives and resources.
A guide from the Rhode Island Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Department of Behavioral Health Care, Developmental Disabilities and Healthcare, and Department of Health.
Colorado’s Opioid Solution: Clinicians United to Resolve the Epidemic In 2019, Colorado Hospital Association, Colorado Medical Society and Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention launched a new initiative designed to address the opioid epidemic – Colorado’s Opioid Solution: Clinicians United to Resolve the Epidemic (CO’s CURE). CO’s CURE brought together diverse clinical specialties, all committed to resolving the opioid epidemic in Colorado through the development of opioid prescribing guidelines that seek to treat patients’ pain more effectively while reducing unnecessary exposure to opioids.
The AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force urges physicians and other health care professions to continue taking action to help reverse the nation’s drug overdose epidemic—and the Task Force also calls on policymakers to take specific steps to remove barriers to evidence-based care for patients with pain and those with a substance use disorder.
Learn More Join the AMA today and help us lead the effort
to reverse the nation’s opioid epidemic.