JPHMP presents Preventing America’s Next Drug Epidemic: A Multidisciplinary Approach, a new series designed to introduce the many facets of substance abuse, and how integrating the work of multiple partners may be the best approach towards prevention and treatment.

This month’s post includes a video depicting the current status of the opioid epidemic, with an estimated 1.6 million more people projected to die from drug overdoses, alcohol, or suicide by 2025. With this alarming statistic, Trust for America’s Health recently released the Pain in the Nation report, which calls for a National Resilience Strategy, some of which is outlined in John Auerbach’s editorial “Deaths of Despair and Building a National Resilience Strategy,” published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

Watch the video below to hear what Captain Tara Tucker, affiliated with EMS Division Emergency Services, has to say about how Forsyth County, North Carolina, has been implementing some of the recommended strategies. You will learn about harm reduction approaches, efforts taken to educate the public on misuse and to prevent the next generation from following in others’ footsteps, and you will hear from Travis Whittaker, a person in recovery, on the importance of family in aiding treatment.

For related reading, please see these other articles published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice*:

• Deaths of Despair and Building a National Resilience Strategy
• Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Program Attendees: Who Attends, What Do They Know, and How Do They Feel?
• A Survey of Prescribers’ Attitudes, Knowledge, Comfort, and Fear of Consequences Related to an Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Program
• The 3 Buckets of Prevention

*Articles may require a subscription to JPHMP or purchase.

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Elena Vidrascu, MSc, recently graduated from Wake Forest University with her MSc in Physiology and Pharmacology. Her primary field of interest is substance abuse, with goals to disseminate information to the public, including addicts and those in recovery, and to influence policy change to push for more integrative approaches towards prevention and treatment. In her spare time, she enjoys playing tennis, hiking, doing puzzles, and cuddling with her kitten Maple.

Read all columns in this series:

• Could a Dose a Day of Meaningful Social Interactions Help Keep Drug Addiction Away?
• Mike Connors on Treating Youth & Young Adults Struggling with Substance Abuse and Addiction

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