""It's terrifying just to have that feeling again of, 'I need this, and I'll do whatever it takes to get this,'" said Brewer, who had been in recovery from opioid addiction for 18 months at the time."
"A group of doctors is using the example of Hurricane Helene to urge federal lawmakers to help improve access to substance use medications in severe weather emergencies."
"As climate change threatens to cause an increased number of disasters in the U.S., the group of doctors urged state and federal governments to act soon or risk allowing more disasters to aggravate overdoses, relapses, and deaths caused by opioid use disorder."
After Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina, Toni Brewer faced a crisis when she discovered she had only three days' worth of Suboxone. Without it, she risked relapsing into opioid addiction. Communication lines were down, complicating her ability to obtain a new prescription. A group of addiction medicine physicians published an editorial urging lawmakers to enhance access to substance use medications during emergencies. They warned that climate change could lead to more disasters, exacerbating the opioid epidemic, which has already claimed over 800,000 lives in the U.S.
Read at www.npr.org
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