A new “Opioid Action Plan 2.0” unveiled Wednesday by North Carolina officials aims to combat the lingering narcotic crisis with new, youth-targeted programs, tougher laws and greater access to the drug naloxone, used to treat or reverse opioid overdoses.
“I’m going to work with all of you to make sure that we reduce opioid deaths in North Carolina and that we meet this problem head on,” said Governor Roy Cooper at the opening of the 2019 Opioid Misuse and Overdose Prevention Summit, a conference supported by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
The updated plan uses “feedback from partners and stakeholders,” according to a press release by the Governor’s Office.
The original N.C. Opioid Action Plan, released in 2017, identified the steps that the DHHS aimed to take in order to reduce the number of deaths from the opioid epidemic.
Officials introduced the new plan during the second and final day of the Opioid Summit.
At the opening of the summit Tuesday, Cooper highlighted the progress made since the plan was launched. According to Cooper, since 2017, the number of prescriptions for opioids has decreased by 24 percent and the number of emergency department visits for opioid overdoses decreased by nearly 10 percent from 2017 to 2018.
But the most important step, according to the DHHS? Medicaid expansion.
“We need to close the coverage gap if we are to make serious headway against this epidemic, as they have done in other states,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, Secretary of the NC DHHS.
Numerous studies have shown that expanding Medicaid and closing the coverage gap has led to a decline in opioid overdoses by increasing substance use disorder treatment. According to the Opioid Action Plan 2.0, an estimated 89 percent of people who are in need of substance use disorder treatment do not receive it.
“The progress we’ve made shows what we can achieve when we partner across agencies and organizations and with those on the ground in communities,” said Cohen in a press release. “But there is much more to do. Moving forward we need to work even harder to focus on prevention, reduce harm and connect people to care.”