(The Center Square) – The number of overdose deaths in Pennsylvania is down to six per day, down from about 13 per day in 2023.
At a roundtable in Wyoming County Thursday, Gov. Josh Shapiro joined public health and addiction experts to talk about how that progress was made and what can be done to maintain the downward trajectory.
Officials say that frontline officials reported 11,400 overdose reversals in the past year. The Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, or DDAP, distributed more than 800,000 doses of naloxone or Narcan, the drug responsible for those reversals. They’ve also distributed over 700,000 drug test strips which check for chemicals like fentanyl and xylazine that have been mixed into drugs believed to be something else.
Preventative efforts took the spotlight during the governor’s roundtable. The county has a network of different agencies and officials who work together to address the problem. Among their approaches includes allowing residents to request Deterra drug deactivation kits which destroy the potential for unused medication to become drugs of abuse.
“We both understand that you can’t arrest your way out of this crisis,” said Shapiro, commending the county’s District Attorney Joe Peters for embracing an “all of the above” approach to combatting the opioid epidemic.
All of the above includes education and prevention at schools, including supporting students whose parents or caregivers whose struggle with substance use have led to problems at home and often death or incarceration.
“It looks much different to have somebody come back from recovery and have mom and dad again,” said Cammie Anderson, Drug & Alcohol Prevention Education Supervisor, who said she herself grew up in a chaotic home. “I’m blessed today to be the person I needed in high school.
Another approach is providing training to the medical and mental health professionals who serve vulnerable members of the community. Clinical supervisor Ashley Bunnell said she put herself $100,000 in debt in order to serve in this capacity, but underpayment is a serious issue in the field. That’s why tuition programs like DDAP’s loan reimbursement for those in the substance use disorder field are so critical.
“It worked out for me because the other thing with that is you have to sign with a drug and alcohol facility for five years post, which encourages even more development,” said Bunnell who was a recipient of the DDAP funding. “I have counselors who are hired who have a bachelor’s who won’t go on for their master’s because they can’t afford the debt.”
Much of the funding that is funneled through DDAP comes from settlements won by the state against pharmaceutical companies whose prescription medication led to a massive wave of opioid addiction throughout the country. Funding from local, state and federal sources also works its way down to treat individuals struggling with substance use.
Peters noted the frequency that substance use and mental health diagnoses are co-occurring, with many users self-medicating for conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder before slipping into an addiction that only exacerbates the problem. Untangling the two issues can be impossible, and employing staff to treat one or the other can add to the bureaucratic headache created by a vast web of funding demands.
“We have a co-responder who goes out with law enforcement to a truly mental health episode. Once everybody’s safe, the police can go on and do their thing, and this person takes that warm hand-off, this co-responder, and delivers that person to treatment. You know how we have to fund her?” asked Peters.
“We take half of her salary out of the opioid settlement – because it’s treatment and prevention and education – and half of her salary from one of our providers who does the mental health side, so it’s one person doing both jobs and we have to bifurcate her salary every month with two halves of mental health and substance use.”
DDAP Secretary Dr. Latika Davis-Jones said that while dealing with issues like this, the administration is asking, “How can we be more efficient in reducing some of that administrative burden to get those dollars out the door so that our partners, our true boots on the ground, that they have the ability to do that work in a more seamless fashion?”
