Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Discusses Efforts to Decrease Overdose Deaths in Bucks County

Doylestown, PA – Now, Section of Drug and Liquor Systems (DDAP) Secretary Jen Smith joined the Bucks County Drug & Liquor Commission, Inc. (BCDAC), elected officers, substance use ailment cure vendors and avoidance professionals, wellbeing treatment suppliers, and other stakeholders for a roundtable dialogue on neighborhood endeavours to control the addiction crisis.

“The southeast area of the state is just one of the most difficult strike places of Pennsylvania in phrases of overdose deaths,” explained Secretary Smith. “What’s functioning, what’s not operating, and how the point out can assist area endeavours are seriously what this possibility is about. The solutions to those concerns will help us establish how, transferring ahead, we can collectively address compound use traits.”

According to the Division of Health, preliminary details experiences 5,319 lives ended up misplaced to an overdose in Pennsylvania in 2021, with 165 reported deaths in Bucks County.

This roundtable is aspect of DDAP’s Substance Use Problem (SUD) Listening Tour developed to fulfill with regional leaders, SUD treatment companies, associates of the restoration community, and other stakeholders to discuss SUD developments at the nearby degree. This tour is in reaction to the maximize in overdose deaths and polysubstance use throughout the commonwealth. To day, DDAP has held 10 listening periods with many counties in the course of Pennsylvania.

The BCDAC is the solitary county authority (SCA) of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and other drug avoidance, intervention and therapy and restoration guidance expert services in Bucks County. The SCA, developed in 1973, subcontracts with various group-primarily based licensed organizations to present these very important products and services for Bucks County people.

“We welcome the discussion with management from DDAP pertaining to BCDAC’s accomplishments and partnerships,” said Diane Rosati, BCDAC Govt Director. “The COVID-19 pandemic brought sizeable troubles to inhabitants with compound use conditions as nicely as to the drug and liquor assistance procedure, and this is an option to share highlights of how BCDAC’s avoidance, cure and restoration supports have modified and more committed to ensuring productive products and services.

Due to the fact Governor Tom Wolf took workplace, DDAP has positioned a hefty emphasis on cutting down stigma, intensifying main prevention endeavours, strengthening Pennsylvania’s drug and liquor therapy process, and empowering sustained recovery by:

  • Applying Everyday living Unites Us, the 1st-of-its-sort, evidence-primarily based stigma reduction marketing campaign which arrived at just about 4 million Pennsylvanians in 12 months 1,
  • Accumulating additional than 1 million kilos of prescription medication throughout much more than 889 take-again packing containers in all 67 Pennsylvania counties,
  • Launching Pennsylvania’s Get Support Now Hotline, which has linked an ordinary of 21 Pennsylvanians for each day directly to material use dysfunction treatment,
  • Increasing entry to naloxone in communities via Pennsylvania’s standing purchase, no cost distribution times, and mail-purchase naloxone software,
  • Utilizing Warm Handoff Applications in 95 per cent of Pennsylvania’s hospitals and referring much more than 27,000 individuals to SUD treatment via all those courses,
  • Expanding accessibility to treatment-assisted cure and procedure for uninsured and underinsured people with SUD,
  • Awarding more than $14 million in federal funding to restoration local community companies, and
  • Increasing a new, free of charge, and private SUD treatment method locator source, Habit Treatment Locator, Assessment, and Specifications System (ATLAS) to Pennsylvania.

DDAP is the state’s leader of the Interagency Material Use Response Group, a device for collaboration across condition governing administration to battle the disorder of habit by focusing on the boost in polysubstance use, stimulant use, and added SUDs emerging in Pennsylvania. The overarching aims of the response team align with DDAP’s existing strategic plan goals of cutting down stigma, intensifying primary prevention, strengthening the drug and liquor therapy technique, and empowering sustained restoration.

To find out far more about DDAP’s efforts in combating the dependancy crisis, take a look at ddap.pa.gov.

 

MEDIA Call: Stephany Dugan – [email protected]

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