President Obama announced last week that his administration would make it easier for individuals living with drug addiction to get access to the care they need to get better.
Obama’s attention to the nation’s opioid crisis is good news for Delaware, and other states, says Secretary for Delaware's Department of Health and Human Services Rita Landgraf.
Landgraf stresses the need for an increase in the number of doctors and others trained to treat all aspects of addiction, and hopes Obama’s incentives will help the First State do just that.
"If I had this magical wand and tomorrow could get rid of all the heroin, at the root cause of that heroin epidemic is an addiction epidemic. Even though we keep hearing about heroin - and it is the most dangerous type of opioid - it’s a broader public health issue," Landgraf said.
Included in Obama’s plan is $11 million for states to increase access to naloxone, a drug used to help reverse opioid overdoses.
Landgraf says she hopes this money will go into ensuring that all first responders, law enforcement personnel and more community members are trained with how to administer naloxone.
She also wants more resources to go toward helping drug users before they enter the criminal justice system.
She’s looking at a model out of Seattle that she’d like to pilot it in New Castle County, and partner with law enforcement agencies to bring the intervention program to the entire state.
Landgraf says she started looking into solutions three years ago, when opioid addiction numbers spiked, and last fall met with other state and federal leaders to look at the best ways to help individuals struggling with addiction move into recovery.
The state in recent years has expanded the number of detox centers, but Landgraf says it’s not enough. She described the current system as ‘archaic,’ and calls for a change of mindset when thinking about drug addiction.
"We now are focusing as a society as addiction as a disease. For far too long, we viewed addiction more from the lense of character flaw, and you know you’re not trying hard enough," Landgraf said.
Landgraf also adds that medication-assisted treatment drugs like methadone play a key role in addressing the epidemic, as do increased easy access to overdose reversal drugs like naloxone and increased efforts to mandate insurance parity.
