CARA proposes dedicating resources to preventing, treating and helping people recover from opioid abuse. TREAT would expand the type of care practitioners who can prescribe buprenorphine, a drug designed to treat opioid addiction and prevent overdose mortality, to include nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
“As health commissioners leading the nation’s largest, most urban health departments, we have seen firsthand the damage opioid misuse has done to our communities. Together we have worked to align strategies to address the opioid crisis, but local action is not enough,” the letter reads. “It is critical to recovery that the full range of treatment and harm reduction strategies are available. We need the federal government as a partner in this effort in order to improve treatment access by remedying the shortages in prescribers certified to offer buprenorphine treatment.”
Representatives from the following 12 health departments signed the open letter:
| Baltimore | Maricopa County, Ariz. |
| Boston | Multnomah County, Ore. |
| Detroit | New York City |
| Kansas City, Mo. | Philadelphia |
| Long Beach, Calif. | San Francisco |
| Los Angeles | Southern Nevada |
To read the full Big Cities Health Coalition letter, click here.
More articles on opioids:
AHA supports bill addressing opioid overdose crisis
Senators push for law to help support opioid-addicted parents
Pennsylvania governor looks to medical schools for help in opioid abuse fight
