National Institute of Justice Hosts Summit on Opioid Crisis

On Sept. 25, 2018, the National Institute of Justice hosted a summit on the opioid crisis. In the United States, the rising death rate due to drug overdoses has been driven largely by rising numbers of overdoses involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, such as fentanyl. In 2016, synthetic opioids (other than methadone) were involved in 19,413 overdose deaths representing 30.5 percent of total drug deaths, 3.5 times the 2014 totals. In many jurisdictions, public safety and public health entities are working together to enhance the timeliness and accuracy of the analytical characterization and toxicology testing of novel synthetic opioids. The improved sharing and early detection of these analytical data are intended to inform surveillance, interdiction efforts, patient intervention and treatment, all of which are critical to curbing the opioid epidemic.

You can read the address by NIJ Director Dr. David Muhlhausen at https://nij.gov/about/director/Pages/muhlhausen-opiod-crisis-remarks.aspx.