The Opioid Epidemic Comes to Campus
Washington D.C. — On Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee received testimony about the Opioid Epidemic that is spreading across the United States. In the midst if the Tax Bill, this committee highlighted an issue that for many parts of our nation goes uncovered sans a few remarks, but for many families in the United States, Opioid Addiction is at the forefront of their minds. Testimony included four experts, two from the healthcare side and two from the criminal justice fields. They hailed from Virginia, Kentucky, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. However different their backgrounds they all struck a common theme, that being that the Opioid Crisis is here and it is of paramount concern.
One of the testimonies was from Dr. A. Omar Abuker, Ph.D, a professor and Chair of Dentistry at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He highlighted not only what VCU has done his experience of his son, who was studying to be an EMT and died of an opioid overdose. Drug use at colleges across the country is not a new phenomenon, but while the Opioid Epidemic has often been synonymous with places like Kentucky or Tennessee, the image of the college student has not been associated with it.
On October 30th, the New York Times published an article called Opioids on the Quad, which is one of the first prominent publications of accounts of painkiller abuse on campus. As many of us know, there is a large stigma about drug usage on campus, especially on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable drug usage. Marijuana and Amphetamine substances are often acceptable, and among peers there is an open knowledge of the usage. Painkillers are different subject because they often start out, as highlighted by each of the experts, as prescriptions for pain management. It can also start through party drugs, both of these methods can make the addiction barely visible to others and to campus staff/faculty.
Universities have had a hard time finding a solution for this crisis. The University of West Virginia, located in the geographic center of the epidemic has started a parent support group for parents of students that experienced fatal overdoses. The University of Maryland provides a substance free dormitory that operates similar to an Alcoholics Anonymous function.
While these committee hearings are often used as the initial or early research function for the House and Senate on topics, there almost certainly will be legislation coming down the line regarding this crisis.
