Responding to the Opioid Addiction Epidemic

Publication Date: 2015
Tag(s): alcohol and substance abuse, prevention
Author(s): Phoenix House, Clinton Health Matters Campus Program, The Jed Foundation (JED)
URL: Responding to the Opioid Addiction Epidemic
Abstract: The webinar, led by Phoenix House's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Andrew Kolodny, M.D., discusses the effect that skyrocketing rates of opioid addiction and overdose deaths are having on college students across the nation. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the United States is in the midst of a severe epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose deaths. In 2010, there were nearly 17,000 deaths due to prescription narcotic painkillers four times the number in 1999. Heroin-related deaths nearly tripled between 2010 and 2013 and quadrupled between 2000 and 2013. Dr. Kolodny focuses on the roots of this public health crisis, and how university administrators and mental health experts can help prevent the rising tide of prescription drug misuse on their campuses.