Harm reduction done right

In case you missed it, there was an interesting NY Times article about how Dayton Ohio and its county of Montgomery dramatically reduced opioid overdose deaths from last year to this.

Lots of things seemed to come together to make this possible. The most obvious of these was Gov. Kasich's decision to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Dayton mayor Nan Whaley claimed it was the basis for everything they've been able to accomplish, saying

“If you’re a state that does not have Medicaid expansion, you can’t build a system for addressing this disease.”

That's sad but really true. Some of the states that need it most haven't done it year, although that number is fortunately diminishing.

Other factors were harm reduction programs, support groups, a strong program to distribute Naloxone to reverse the effects of overdoses, and, importantly, the growing cooperation between Dayton police and public health workers.

Unfortunately, Charleston WV has been going in the opposite direction, as this WV Public Broadcasting story relates. 

The Times article quotes Sam Quinones, author of “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic,”who told a congressional hearing that "the more cops and public health nurses go out for a beer, bridge that cultural chasm between them," the better the US will be able to deal with the problem.