May 08, 2021
by Julie Parry
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic over a year ago, alcohol and substance use has surged in the United States, along with overdoses from opioids. To save lives, using practical strategies to reduce the negative effects of substance use, or harm reduction strategies should become federal health policy now, urges experts Kimberly Sue, MD, PhD, and David Fiellin, MD, from the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine.
The New England Journal of Medicine, they urge the Biden administration to name, embrace, and implement harm reduction programs to save American lives. In addition to expanding treatment, they argue, there is a need for additional measures to abate the tidal wave of death from overdoses. Additionally, they say funds should be allocated to combat the health inequities and racial injustice for Black Americans who are suffering from a disproportionate rise in deaths from substance use disorders, along with COVID-19.