Lorraine M. Martin, NSC president and CEO, and Joseph A. Reuter, Stericycle executive vice president and chief people officer, spoke to the media Monday morning to discuss the NSC’s new Opioids at Work Employer Toolkit. The toolkit, which will officially be released on September 18, includes more than two dozen resources for four specific groups found in a typical workplace setting: supervisors, HR professionals, safety professionals and employees.

In the study, “Suicide and drug‐related mortality following occupational injury,” published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, researchers found that workplace injury significantly raises a person’s risk of suicide or overdose death. Earlier studies have shown that injured workers have elevated rates opioid use and depression.

Dueling ads currently playing out on the nation’s TV screens show both sides in an escalating conflict involving manufacturers, health experts and federal regulators. PSAs produced by the FDA warn American children about the dangers of e-cigarette use, or vaping. Meanwhile, e-cigarettes – whose makers have so far managed to evade the ban on tobacco advertising, despite the fact that the devices contain tobacco – are portrayed as health aids which can assist smokers in quitting the use of conventional cigarettes.

The numbers are staggering: 76 billion pain pills distributed between 2006 and 2012 by the largest drugs companies in the U.S. Enough to supply every child and adult in the country with 36 pills each year. In the hardest hit rural communities, the pill-per-capita count reached into the hundreds.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is developing new guidance intended to help make people fully aware of the abuse or addiction possibilities of the prescriptions they’re taking. Drug Abuse and Dependence Section of Labeling for Human Prescription Drug and Biological Products - Content and Format doesn’t just deal with prescription medications that are scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Medications not scheduled under the CSA that have dependence potential are also addressed.

Solving the opioid epidemic requires a “whole person” approach that includes nonpharmacological treatment for pain, as well as ensuring that people have the employment, education and housing supports they need for long-term recovery, the chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association (APA) told a congressional panel.

The opioid overdose epidemic continues to claim lives across the country with a record 47,600 overdose deaths in 2017[i]. The crisis is taking an especially devastating toll on certain parts of the U.S. workforce. High rates of opioid overdose deaths have occurred in industries with high injury rates and physically demanding working conditions such as construction, mining, or fishing[ii],[iii].

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is warning of a “converging public health crisis,” as the nation’s opioid epidemic fuels growing rates of certain infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, heart infections, and skin and soft tissue infections. Infectious disease and substance use disorder professionals must work together to stem the mounting public health threat, according to a new commentary in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. reports that it has reduced opioid use by nearly 40 percent among the injured construction workers it has helped, thanks in part to the Early Severity Predictor® model, which helps predict which injured employees are at higher risk of experiencing chronic pain. Additionally, the insurance giant implemented a comprehensive pharmacy management program that monitors drug interactions, excessive dosing and abuse patterns to reduce the risk of opioid dependency.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has begun testing an experimental drug that could help opioid addicts deal with the cravings that cause them to continue using the dangerous substance. In Phase I of the clinical trial currently underway at the NIH Clinical Center – researchers will study how the compound ANS-6637 is processed in the body when given with another drug that is processed by the same liver enzyme pathway.