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 Veterans are twice as likely as non-veterans to die from accidental
overdoses of the highly addictive painkillers, a rate that reflects
high levels of chronic pain among vets, particularly those who
served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to federal
data.
U.S. government and healthcare officials have been struggling to
stem the epidemic of overdoses, which killed more than 64,000
Americans in the 12 months ending last January alone, a 21 percent
increase over the previous year, according to the Centers for
Disease Control. About 65,000 Americans died in Vietnam, Iraq and
Afghanistan.
President Donald Trump named opioids a national public health
emergency and a White House commission last week recommended
establishing a nationwide system of drug courts and easier access to
alternatives to opioids for people in pain.
"Our veterans deserve better than polished sound bites and empty
promises," said former Democratic Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a
recovering addict and a member of the president's opioid commission.
Kennedy said in an e-mail that more funding was needed for treatment
facilities and medical professionals to help tackle the problem.
One effort to address the issue has stalled in Congress - the
proposed Veterans Overmedication Prevention Act, sponsored by
Senator John McCain. That measure is aimed at researching ways to
help Veterans Administration doctors rely less on opioids in
treating chronic pain.
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"The Veterans Administration needs to understand whether
overmedication of drugs, such as opioid pain-killers, is a
contributing factor in suicide-related deaths," McCain, one of the
nation's most visible veterans, said in an e-mail on Thursday. He
noted that 20 veterans take their lives each day, a suicide rate 21
percent higher than for other U.S. adults.
The VA system has stepped up its efforts to address the crisis,
having treated some 68,000 veterans for opioid addiction since
March, said Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Curtis Cashour.
The department's Louis Stokes VA Center in Cleveland has also begun
testing alternative treatments, including acupuncture and yoga, to
reduce use of and dependency on the drugs, the VA said.
A delay in naming a Trump administration "drug czar" to head the
effort, however, has fueled doubts about immediate action on the
opioid crisis. Last month the White House nominee, Representative
Tom Marino, withdrew from consideration following a report he
spearheaded a bill that hurt the government's ability to crack down
on opioid makers.
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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