Saving American Lives
Hopefully, we can all agree that saving American lives must be a top priority.
In 2016, we lost over 64,000 American lives to drug overdose deaths. In 2017, we lost over 72,000 American lives to drug overdoses--more than the number of service members we lost in the Vietnam War and the two Iraq Wars combined. Reportedly, the numbers went down by 4% across our nation in 2018, but we still lost almost 70,000 Americans last year.
As illegal drugs continue to pour through our southern border.... As fentanyl continues to be shipped from Chinese labs across our borders and through the U.S. Mail.... As pharmaceutical companies, doctors and pharmacies continue to profit from deadly opioid prescriptions.... We are essentially fighting chemical warfare on our home turf.
Let's work together and listen to each other. Let's respect our fellow Americans--even those suffering from addiction. Let's find solutions to save American lives.
In 2016, we lost over 64,000 American lives to drug overdose deaths. In 2017, we lost over 72,000 American lives to drug overdoses--more than the number of service members we lost in the Vietnam War and the two Iraq Wars combined. Reportedly, the numbers went down by 4% across our nation in 2018, but we still lost almost 70,000 Americans last year.
As illegal drugs continue to pour through our southern border.... As fentanyl continues to be shipped from Chinese labs across our borders and through the U.S. Mail.... As pharmaceutical companies, doctors and pharmacies continue to profit from deadly opioid prescriptions.... We are essentially fighting chemical warfare on our home turf.
Let's work together and listen to each other. Let's respect our fellow Americans--even those suffering from addiction. Let's find solutions to save American lives.
Triplicate Prescription Program States
According to a November 2019 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), opioid overdose deaths were 44% lower from 1996 to 2017 in states that required doctors to use triplicate prescription programs.
"Triplicates were a rudimentary type of prescription-drug-monitoring program, in which doctors were required to use a special type of pad to prescribe controlled substances, and provide a copy of the prescription to a state monitoring agency. Physicians found these forms a hassle to use, and they were therefore reluctant to prescribe the drugs that required the use of triplicates," according to recent news coverage of the NBER report (The True Cause of the Opioid Epidemic by Olga Khazan in The Atlantic, January 2, 2020).
Comparing the marketing of OxyCotin by Purdue Pharma, the NBER report found that "OxyCotin distribution was about 50% lower in 'triplicate states' in the years after the launch" of OxyCotin. "While triplicate states had higher rates of overdose deaths prior to 1996, this relationship flipped shortly after the launch and triplicate states saw substantially slower growth in overdose deaths, continuing even twenty years after OxyCotin's introduction. Our results show that the introduction and marketing of OxyCotin explain a substantial share of overdose deaths over the last two decades." (Origins of the Opioid Crisis and Its Enduring Impacts by Abby E. Alpert, et al, NBER Working Paper No. 26500, November 2019).
"Triplicates were a rudimentary type of prescription-drug-monitoring program, in which doctors were required to use a special type of pad to prescribe controlled substances, and provide a copy of the prescription to a state monitoring agency. Physicians found these forms a hassle to use, and they were therefore reluctant to prescribe the drugs that required the use of triplicates," according to recent news coverage of the NBER report (The True Cause of the Opioid Epidemic by Olga Khazan in The Atlantic, January 2, 2020).
Comparing the marketing of OxyCotin by Purdue Pharma, the NBER report found that "OxyCotin distribution was about 50% lower in 'triplicate states' in the years after the launch" of OxyCotin. "While triplicate states had higher rates of overdose deaths prior to 1996, this relationship flipped shortly after the launch and triplicate states saw substantially slower growth in overdose deaths, continuing even twenty years after OxyCotin's introduction. Our results show that the introduction and marketing of OxyCotin explain a substantial share of overdose deaths over the last two decades." (Origins of the Opioid Crisis and Its Enduring Impacts by Abby E. Alpert, et al, NBER Working Paper No. 26500, November 2019).
The "Don't Shoot" & Drug Market Intervention Strategies
For over 7 years, Mosie Boyd has been working to bring community leaders together to focus on saving American lives by implementing the "Don't Shoot" & Drug Market Intervention strategies. In 2012, she presented these ideas to the annual conference of the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police.
Designed by David Kennedy in partnership with dedicated law enforcement teams around the country, these strategies use data driven analysis to determine exactly where community crime problems exist. They identify the specific individuals at the highest risk of committing another crime. Then they invite these individuals into a "call-in" to discuss their options for (1) working together with law enforcement, supportive community service providers and faith leaders to turn their lives around--or, in the alternative, (2) going back to prison. The key idea is to hold individuals personally accountable, and it works.
Those individuals who are willing to accept help often receive assistance with day care for their children, employment, family assistance, housing, job training, parenting skills, substance abuse treatment and transportation. Community support providers get to know these individuals personally and mentor them into success. Most participants learn how to become law-abiding citizens, so recidivism rates are very low.
The national model program is High Point, North Carolina. Over 20 years, they have seen a sustained 47% drop in their violent crime index while the population has almost doubled.
Designed by David Kennedy in partnership with dedicated law enforcement teams around the country, these strategies use data driven analysis to determine exactly where community crime problems exist. They identify the specific individuals at the highest risk of committing another crime. Then they invite these individuals into a "call-in" to discuss their options for (1) working together with law enforcement, supportive community service providers and faith leaders to turn their lives around--or, in the alternative, (2) going back to prison. The key idea is to hold individuals personally accountable, and it works.
Those individuals who are willing to accept help often receive assistance with day care for their children, employment, family assistance, housing, job training, parenting skills, substance abuse treatment and transportation. Community support providers get to know these individuals personally and mentor them into success. Most participants learn how to become law-abiding citizens, so recidivism rates are very low.
The national model program is High Point, North Carolina. Over 20 years, they have seen a sustained 47% drop in their violent crime index while the population has almost doubled.
Applying These Strategies to Gun Violence
Mosie Boyd believes that the "Don't Shoot" & Drug Market Intervention strategies can and should be used to help reduce gun violence and school shootings. Far too often, we learn after a deadly shooting that obvious signs existed to indicate that the shooter was in crisis and needed help. But the warning signs--the calls for help--were ignored or overlooked until too late.
Using the "Don't Shoot" & Drug Market Intervention strategies as a model, we must develop similar strategies for determining the communities (especially online communities) where active shooter behavior is encouraged. Keeping this information in mind, we all need to work together to identify the specific individuals at risk of committing active shooter crimes or suicide. Then trained professionals must invite these individuals into "call-ins" to discuss their options for working with trained mental health care providers, supportive community service providers and faith leaders to turn their lives around--while there's still time to save their own lives as well as the lives of others. Again, we need to hold individuals personally accountable for their behavior--and find effective ways to support them instead of leaving them alone in isolation during a mental health crisis.
In Arkansas, a grandmother found the courage to report her grandson to law enforcement after she learned that he had weapons and planned a school shooting. This grandmother saved her grandson as well as multiple potential victims.
Again, we are fighting gun violence on our home turf. As individual members of our American family, we all have a role to play in identifying our fellow Americans who are in crisis and initiating steps to help them receive support to find alternative solutions. As patriotic Americans, we all have a duty to help save American lives.
Using the "Don't Shoot" & Drug Market Intervention strategies as a model, we must develop similar strategies for determining the communities (especially online communities) where active shooter behavior is encouraged. Keeping this information in mind, we all need to work together to identify the specific individuals at risk of committing active shooter crimes or suicide. Then trained professionals must invite these individuals into "call-ins" to discuss their options for working with trained mental health care providers, supportive community service providers and faith leaders to turn their lives around--while there's still time to save their own lives as well as the lives of others. Again, we need to hold individuals personally accountable for their behavior--and find effective ways to support them instead of leaving them alone in isolation during a mental health crisis.
In Arkansas, a grandmother found the courage to report her grandson to law enforcement after she learned that he had weapons and planned a school shooting. This grandmother saved her grandson as well as multiple potential victims.
Again, we are fighting gun violence on our home turf. As individual members of our American family, we all have a role to play in identifying our fellow Americans who are in crisis and initiating steps to help them receive support to find alternative solutions. As patriotic Americans, we all have a duty to help save American lives.
