Holder urges treatment to combat drug overdoses

Terming the growing rise in overdose deaths from heroin and prescription painkillers an “urgent public health crisis,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday called for interventions that included both law enforcement and treatment.

Holder, for example, urged first responders to carry naloxone, a drug that restores breathing to a person who is experiencing an overdose from heroin or painkillers.

A total of 17 states and the District of Columbia have amended their laws in recent years to increase access to naloxone, according to the Justice Department, which said it has resulted in more than 100,000 overdose reversals.

Heroin deaths have increased by 45% between 2006 and 2010, Holder said in a video message posted on the Justice Department website.

“When confronting the problem of substance abuse, it makes sense to focus attention on the most dangerous types of drugs,” Holder said. “And right now, few substances are more lethal than prescription opiates and heroin.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration planned to expand its education programs for pharmacists, doctors and other healthcare professionals to help them better identify and prevent the diversion of prescription opioids to non-medical users, Holder said, which remains the most common way prescription painkillers are transferred.

But such efforts to curb the nonmedical use of prescription painkillers has for the most part focused on those users who may get the occasional pill for free from a family member or friend, a strategy that a recent analysis suggests may not be as effective in targeting intervention for heavier users.

A research letter published last week in JAMA Internal Medicine found that the use of opioid painkillers by those considered to be high risk for overdose—frequent non-medical users—were more likely to get their drugs through a doctor's prescription than from a friend or relative.

On the enforcement side, Holder said the DEA has opened more than 4,500 heroin-related investigations since 2011. He cited “aggressive” enforcement for a more than 320% percent in the amount of heroin seized along the country's southwest border between 2008 and 2013.

“Confronting this crisis will require a combination of enforcement and treatment,” Holder said. “The Justice Department is committed to both.”

Follow Steven Ross Johnson on Twitter: @MHsjohnson