With the emergence of COVID-19, people already struggling with addiction are increasingly isolated, laid off, and overwhelmed with anxiety. If the COVID-19 pandemic is an earthquake, the aftershocks felt for those struggling with substance abuse have only just begun.
More than 19 million people in the U.S. struggle with substance abuse disorder and, between 1999 and 2019, almost 450,000 people died from an opioid overdose. Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, more than 35 states have reported increases in opioid-related mortality, and federal mapping suggests a one-year increase in overdose events as high as 42%.
Facing these alarming trends, what can be done?
Join a special panel discussion, hosted by ICAP at Columbia University, to learn about the impact of the COVID19- pandemic on the opioid crisis in the U.S.– and how our response to the interlinked crises will reverberate in the lives of millions.
VIEW THE RECORDING HERE (YouTube)
Panelists include:
- Angie Woody, former Director of Overdose Prevention, New York Harm Reduction Educators and Washington Heights Corner Project
- Israel “Izzy” Garcia, Naloxone Coordinator, New York Harm Reduction Educators and Washington Heights Corner Project
- Synn Stern, Nurse, New York Harm Reduction Educators and Washington Heights Corner Project
- Dr. Denise Paone, Director of Research and Surveillance, Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care and Treatment at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Dr. Sally Hodder, Associate Vice President and Director at the West Virginia Clinical & Translational Science Institute
- Dr. Susan Michaels-Strasser, Senior Director for Human Resources for Health Development, ICAP
