If you click the link in this sentence you'll see statistics on the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) website that show that last year an average of five people a day died of opioid use in Arizona. The website is very well done and provides an excellent and clear picture of the magnitude of the opioid epidemic.
In my opinion, we are undergoing an unprecedented epidemic of opioid use. An epidemic for which no one seems to have a solution.
When addicts seek help to break their addiction there are resources available, but not nearly enough for all who seek help. Just last week the director of our treatment clinic reported that every residential detoxification facility in this area was full.
Our organization, for example, is licensed by ADHS to provide intensive outpatient treatment and for most of this year we also have been at capacity.
During the process of licensing our treatment program 10 years ago, I had several conversations with ADHS staff members. I left my meetings with them quite impressed with the dedication they have to their jobs. For some reason I had a preconceived notion that their job was to make things difficult for those of us who operate residential and outpatient treatment. But, to the contrary, they did most everything they could to guide us in the right direction and were quite helpful.
I only wish that the politicians who formulate our laws had the same caring attitude as does ADHS toward the treatment and welfare of the thousands of addicts and alcoholics that live in Arizona.
Instead, those who have spent years trying to save lives must navigate a maze of senseless restrictions in order to help those who don't have the strength or ability to overcome their addictions on their own.
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