Surgeon General report highlights strategies to prevent, treat OUDs

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams today released a report highlighting actions individuals and families, health care providers, educators, employers, researchers and communities can take to prevent and treat opioid use disorders and reduce overdose deaths. Created with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the report combines opioid-related information from the 2016 “Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs and Health” with updated data on the prevalence of OUDs and related harms. “Now is the time to work together and apply what we know to end the opioid crisis,” said Elinore McCance-Katz, M.D., assistant secretary for mental health and substance use at the Department of Health and Human Services. “Medication-assisted treatment combined with psychosocial therapies and community-based recovery supports is the gold standard for treating opioid addiction.” For more on the report and associated federal resources, visit https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov.