Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola is helping lead a national task force on the rising abuse of prescription drugs, which has reached the level of an epidemic in the U.S., according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The National City-County Task Force on the Opioid Epidemic met last week for the first time in Washington, D.C.
The 24-member team is an initiative of the National League of Cities, of which Stodola is vice president, and the National Association of Counties.
Opioids, or opiates, are drugs derived from the opium poppy such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, heroin, opium and codeine. The rate of opioid overdose deaths has increased 200 percent from 2000 to 2014, the CDC said.
Deaths linked to opioids rose to 29,000 in 2014 -- 61 percent of all U.S. drug overdose deaths, the CDC said.
It's a problem that all of America is facing, including Arkansas.
In Little Rock alone, the Police Department responded last year to 150 overdose calls that resulted in eight deaths.
Comparing the first three months of this year, the latest period from which data are available, with the same period last year, overdose calls to the Little Rock department are already up 40 percent, from 30 in 2015 to 42 this year.
"There's some substantial increases that are happening," Stodola said Tuesday.
He said the task force, of which he is co-chairman, discussed at its first meeting Thursday how to establish prevention and education measures and effective treatment options, and how to increase public safety and overall community wellness.
"These conversations today are a great starting point as we begin to tackle the difficult realities that stem from opioid abuse in our communities," he said.
Attorney David Cannon of Little Rock regularly represents people charged with drug crimes. He told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last year that he's represented "soccer moms, nurses and businessmen" charged with illegal use of opioids.
"Hydros and oxys are what you see the most," he said.
Chris Thyer, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, said at the time that "it is a suburban problem. It is also a city problem. ... It is an all-Arkansas problem, because the use of prescription drugs crosses all economic lines."
Prescription-drug abuse also has been linked to a rise in heroin use in Arkansas and the U.S.
After an increase in opioid prescriptions about 10 years ago, there was a resulting crackdown that made the drugs harder to get. Consequently, they became more expensive to buy on the street, which prompted desperate addicts to turn instead to heroin, an opiate that is considerably cheaper and targets the same brain receptors.
Stodola has researched Little Rock Police Department statistics on seized narcotics. In 2013, the department confiscated about 5 ounces of heroin. In 2014, that increased to about 36 ounces -- a rise of about 610 percent.
But in 2015, the department seized just 1.2 ounces of heroin.
"I'm not sure what exactly that tells us," Stodola said. "Either people have stopped using it, or we aren't catching them."
President Barack Obama recently called for moving the issue of opioid deaths to the top of the federal government's priority list, along with combating terrorism and promoting a strong economy.
Speaking at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta last month, he said more people are being killed by drug overdoses than by traffic accidents.
"I think the public doesn't fully appreciate yet the scope of the problem," he said.
His administration has proposed regulations and contributed $11 million in funding for states to purchase and distribute naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, which counters the effects of opioid overdoses.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chose West Memphis as one of four U.S. cities to participate in a new program to curb heroin and prescription-drug abuse.
The National City-County Task Force on the Opioid Epidemic plans to continue more dialogues on the national level, explore the main effects of the problem, come up with comprehensive responses that have proven effects, host special forums and Web seminars to engage with experts, and eventually publish a national summary report with policy recommendations, a news release said.
The group hopes to include best practices that promote prevention and education, effective treatment options and public-safety outcomes in the report.
Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press and by Linda Satter and Hunter Field of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 04/13/2016