Steven Burghart, DPh, MBA, BCPP
CPNP President 2014-2015
“No one is immune from addiction; it afflicts people of all ages, races, classes, and professions.”
Patrick J. Kennedy
There is an epidemic of opioid addiction in the U.S. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that, in 2010, 5.1 million Americans abused opioids and 1.9 million met criteria for dependence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that, in 2011, there were 420,040 ER visits related to non-medical use of opioids and 16,879 deaths from opioid overdoses. The number of overdose deaths related to opioid use has tripled since 1990.
Increased access to naloxone rescue is an important first step to reduce the number of deaths from opioid overdoses. CPNP supports efforts to increase access and education on the use of naloxone for opioid rescue.
The larger issue of treatment for opioid use disorder remains. There is a shortage of medication assisted treatment programs. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), there were 1216 opioid treatment programs with 272,351 patients enrolled in them in the U.S. In 2010, 18,842 physicians possessed a DATA 2000 waiver to prescribe buprenorphine. More significantly, less than 24% of patients in treatment programs, or 65,000 patients, received medication assisted treatment for opioid addiction.
The strategic plan for CPNP includes the statement that we will develop a vision and plan for psychiatric pharmacist services in substance abuse. I am pleased to report that the Substance Abuse Task Force, under the leadership of Bethany DiPaula is enthusiastically at work on the issue. They have developed a vision and mission statement and are actively exploring partners for legislative efforts to expand buprenorphine prescribing to include qualified pharmacists and other mid-level practitioners.
Where is the pharmacist in the treatment of opioid use disorder? CPNP is hard at work to make psychiatric pharmacists part of the solution. I challenge you to become more active in treatment of substance use disorders and to support CPNP’s efforts on this issue of great importance to our patients and our profession. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this important issue.
Along these lines, well-trained neuropsychiatric pharmacists are needed to help address the growing problem of substance abuse as we work toward CPNP’s vision of a neuropsychiatric pharmacist on every care team. Fortunately, the number of residency training programs has nearly doubled in just 2 years with 58 programs currently listed on cpnp.org. CPNP is committed to assisting these aspiring neuropsychiatric pharmacists achieve their career goals. If you are an RPD, please look for an email that includes a link to our survey and a call to update information on your residency training program. This information will be shared with our membership in an upcoming edition of CPNP perspectives.