“Most U.S. states are failing to adequately respond to prescription opioid overdoses, a crisis responsible for almost 19,000 deaths a year, a safety group said.
“The cost of this epidemic is too high for states to watch from the sidelines,” Deborah A.P. Hersman, president of the National Safety Council, said in a statement Thursday.
States were evaluated on six criteria, including the availability of treatment; mandatory education for doctors who prescribe opioids; and access to naloxone, which can reverse the effect of opioids. Michigan, Missouri and Nebraska didn’t meet a single one of the standards, according to a report from the council. Twenty-four other states were labeled as “failing” because they meet just one or two of the six objectives. While Kentucky, New Mexico, Tennessee and Vermont passed at least five, no state had a perfect score.”
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-23/opioid-crisis-draws-failed-response-from-most-states-group-says
Source: Bloomberg.com – June 23, 2016
