Obama Aministration Launching New Program to Target Heroin Addicition

The plan would concentrate on tracing the sources of heroin, the place a lethal opiate additive blamed for a rising share of current overdose deaths is being added and who’s distributing the drug to sellers, the newspaper stated.

Amid a spike in heroin use and deaths across the country, the Obama administration on Monday announced $5 million initiative focused on states along the East Coast. “Law enforcement is only one part of what really needs to be a comprehensive public health, public safety approach”.

A massive uptick in heroin use nationwide has been linked to the growing use of addictive prescription opiates, and the widespread availability of cheap heroin.

The program was meant to be made official on Monday, but two (2) senior officials from the White House leaked the information to Washington Post on Sunday.

In addition, a regional health coordinator will oversee efforts to curb drug use in problem areas, and nearby first responders will receive training in administering a medicine known as naloxone that can reverse the effects of an overdose.

Maine is among the 15 states that will benefit from the increased funding, according to Maine Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree.

“Our approach needs to be broad and inclusive”, the Post quoted a senior White House official as saying.

The policy is in line with new criminal justice strategies that seek to treat more drug offenders as addicts within the public health system rather than as criminals who must serve long sentences in jail.

The program, Botticelli said, helps federal, state and local authorities to coordinate drug enforcement operations, support prevention efforts and improve public health and safety. Those alerts will help health officials quickly prepare to distribute naxolene, an antidote to opioid overdoses, or take other steps to reduce overdose deaths. “If somebody from Brooklyn is arrested with heroin in Burlington, Vermont, we may not hear about it for months, when that information could allow us to see a trafficking pattern that lets us focus on who to go after”, he said. New departments formed through grants are common but in this new program, no new agency will be formed; just a conglomeration of people to escape from those silos.