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SALT LAKE CITY — The White House's top official on drug control policy paid a visit to Utah Friday to gain insight on how the state has combated an epidemic of opioid overdoses in recent years.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, met for a roundtable talk with community stakeholders in Salt Lake City and toured the Utah Naloxone Wellness Center on Friday. Gupta met with staff of Utah Naloxone, members of the Salt Lake City Fire Department and a Utah legislator — Rep. Carol Spackman Moss of Salt Lake City.
Utah Naloxone is a statewide organization that aims to improve the access of naloxone — a lifesaving, legal antidote that reverses the effects of opioid overdoses. Gupta praised the program when talking to reporters Friday, saying Utah Naloxone is saving lives by making naloxone more prevalent, which is the first step to recovery for people who are already addicted to opioids.
"The naloxone is important because they can only put somebody in treatment if they're alive," Gupta said Friday. "Utah Naloxone allows that naloxone, that antidote, to be available to people when they're overdosing."
Gupta said that too often there is an inconsistency in life-saving treatments for opioid overdoses, saying someone's zip code shouldn't define whether they live or die.
"Utah Naloxone is a great example of how we can help people survive," Gupta said.
Between 2012 and 2014, Utah had the fourth-highest rate of opioid overdose deaths in the country, Dr. Jennifer Plumb, medical director at Utah Naloxone, said.
"That's not how Utah sees itself," Plumb said Friday. "That's not really our image of ourselves. And I think that it really revealed how vulnerable we were because of our lack of awareness and education."
But since then, Utah has implemented laws making naloxone more readily available, Plumb said, in addition to the growth of public awareness and educational programs. Now, Plumb said, Utah has moved down the list to having the 38th highest rate of opioid overdose deaths.
"As someone who lost their brother to an overdose, and to know that many families don't have to bury somebody, that many families don't have to say goodbye to somebody, and somebody gets a shot and another day and another life — it's been tremendously important," she said.
Like Gupta, Plumb said that people addicted to opioids can't get better if they're dead, and the best way to stop overdose deaths is through using tools like naloxone. In years past, people could only get naloxone from hospitals or paramedics. Now Plumb says the substance is readily available, with groups like Utah Naloxone providing it to anyone who asks.
Plumb said she hoped to tell the White House that Utah has been so successful in combating its opioid crisis because of collaboration — different areas of the community working together to address the same issue. She said that having people share their lived experiences is crucial, and that starting those conversations is necessary to understanding what people go though.
"If Utah can do this, any state can do this," Plumb said. "Any state can have these conversations, any state can start to care about this."
