Number of addicted rises, but percentage in drug treatment remains stagnant

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/jhub-n100815.php

Public Release: 13-Oct-2015
Number of addicted rises, but percentage in drug treatment remains stagnant
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Despite the quadrupling of heroin overdose deaths over the past decade and a dramatic rise in deaths from prescription painkillers, the percentage of people getting treatment for their opioid abuse and dependence has remained the same, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

Writing in the Oct. 13 Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers say that while more money has been spent on treatment in recent years, the resources necessary to ensure wider access to treatment haven't kept up with the burgeoning demand.

"We found that 80 percent of people with an opioid addiction are not getting treatment," says study leader Brendan Saloner, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School. "This hasn't changed, despite the growing and more complicated problem of opioid abuse and dependence."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled, and more than 8,200 people died in 2013. From 2001 to 2013, the rate of prescription drug-related overdose deaths more than doubled.

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