Consider This from NPR - Addiction Is Deadlier Than Ever. But New Research Shows Most Americans Can Heal

Episode Date: January 19, 2022

Federal data released last week showed more than 101,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in a one-year period. This was partly due to the pandemic and disruptions to treatment, as well as a surge in methamphetamine and fentanyl use.But there is some positive news. A recent study on recovery success, co-authored by Dr. David Eddie, shows that three out of four people who experience addiction eventually recover, if they get the care they need.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's a story that is heard and felt in every corner of the country. And contrary to what you may think, there is some positive news on it. The CDC is sounding the alarm about a record number of deaths in America from drug overdoses. But we're going to start with the more concerning news. Federal data released last week showed that more than 101,000 Americans had died of drug overdoses in a 12-month period. That was another record number. It translates to about one American dying from a drug overdose every five minutes.

Fatal overdoses are at a record high in New York and nationally. And that is fueled by a few things. First of all, the pandemic. Alarming numbers out of Cook County. Which has disrupted treatment programs. Meth amphetamine use is also up. And the deadly opioid fentanyl is more prevalent than ever. And we've already had more overdose deaths in East Baton Rouge, Paris than any other year.

But the numbers can an 11 percent increase in D.C., can make this story feel abstract. 21 percent in Maryland. And hopeless. Virginia reaching a 36 percent jump in cases. Yet there is another story that we don't hear as often. A story that ends not with overdose and death, but with recovery and life after addiction. And like other areas of health care, there's massive disparities. Dr. David Eddy co-authored a recent study on recovery success and also teaches at Harvard Medical School. Some of his new research has shown that three out of every four people

who experience addiction eventually recover. But that journey can be very different for different people. Certainly there are individuals who have access to health care, they have access to treatment, either by their socioeconomic status, their racial privilege, or just a physical location of a place where they live. You know, rural versus urban areas, that can really make a big difference in terms of access to people's care. Consider this. Addiction is deadlier than ever, but there is hope. We'll hear why many in the U.S. can still survive and often thrive if they get the care that they need. And we'll also try to bring the complex picture around substance use disorders and inequality into better focus.

From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Wednesday, January 18th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit

WISE.com. T's and C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR. More than one million people have died of drug overdoses ever since the CDC began collecting data on the problem 20 years ago. And drug deaths have risen most quickly among young and middle-aged adults. So many people are dying because we're not helping them like we need to. Anna Mabel Jones used to struggle with addiction. It took her a long time to recover, so the rise of fentanyl on the market worries her. That's killing people on the first try. So it's not giving them enough tries as I may have had, you know.

She spoke to NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann, who has this report. This is a story with a happy ending. In fact, it has millions and millions of happy endings. But to get there, we have to start in a pretty bleak place. My sophomore year, I started experimenting with crack cocaine, and that just took me for a total downward spiral. Mabel Jones is a Black woman who lives in Laurel, Maryland. She dropped out of college, wound up incarcerated. The next decade was hell for her and her family, who often didn't know if she was alive or dead. The agony, the scared, like my mother calling in the morgues or putting, she didn't just do it. She'd call my sister and say, hey, you need to call. I haven't heard from Anna. Travis Rasko also lost a decade

of his life to addiction. He's a white guy who lives in Plattsburgh in upstate New York. Heroin became my drug of choice pretty quick. Struggled with that for 10, 11 years. Time I'll never get back. Rasko hit bottom over and over, overdosing twice. Like Anna Mabel Jones, he kept trying to stop and kept relapsing. Hopeless despair, that's a good way to describe it. Like, you know, I wanted to quit. I just couldn't, you know, I'd get emotional before I would use. You know, like, I don't want to do this, but I can't not do this. This is what a lot of us see when we think of people with substance use disorder.

Overdoses and deaths, drug crime, people slumped in doorways. We think of our own family members doing painful, ugly things because of their addiction. But a growing body of research, including a national study published by a team at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, shows this isn't a complete or accurate picture. In fact, roughly 75% of people with addiction, three out of every four, they get better. This is really good news, I think, and something to share and be hopeful about. Dr. John Kelly teaches addiction medicine at Harvard and heads the Recovery Research Institute at Massachusetts General.

Their peer-reviewed study, published last year, found more than 20 million Americans are living now in recovery. They experience some form of substance use disorder, everything from alcohol and cocaine to opioids and methamphetamines. And then they got well again. That's huge. We are literally surrounded by people who are in recovery from a substance use disorder, but we don't know it. Anna Mabel Jones is one of those people. If you met her now, you'd say her life and her home look pretty normal. This is our living room, right? Honestly, we're getting ready to do the whole thing, you know, the fireplace and put

the TV over here. So we're in the process of renovating. Mabel Jones last used drugs more than 20 years ago. She's married now, has a career helping other people in recovery. She says life is awesome. Things that I thought I would never gain again. Through the process of recovery, I have them all. You know, today I'm a homeowner. You know, I own a car. You know, I've started my own business.

Those things I never, ever thought I'd do. This wasn't easy. After finally giving up drugs, she says she also had to learn to feel emotions again. She rebuilt trust with her family and her mom. When she passed on, she saw that she had a daughter. I was there for her. I was there to go with her to her appointments, take her to the doctor. Experts say recovery rates from addiction aren't the same for all people. Studies show racial bias makes it harder for Black and Hispanic Americans to find treatment. People who have more financial resources and support recover faster, as do people with milder forms of addiction. But Dr. David Eddy says across all those groups,

even for people using harder drugs, recovery is the norm. That 75% number, that includes obviously people at the more severe end of the spectrum, not just the people at the lower end of the severity spectrum. So there's absolutely hope. Eddy also teaches at Harvard and treats patients with addiction at Massachusetts General. He says their study found people don't just survive once they stop drinking or using drugs. They often thrive. They tend to get happier year by year.

They reconnect with family and enjoy measurable economic success. They've been to hell and back, and in fact, they go above and beyond, and maybe they end up achieving things they wouldn't have achieved if they'd never been through the hell of addiction. So if this kind of happy ending is the norm for people with addiction, why don't we see it that way? Why is there so much stigma and hopelessness? Kelly and Eddie say one factor is the challenging nature of this illness.

It's hard to treat. It usually takes years for people to get better. Multiple relapses, often five or more, are a normal, if painful, part of the process. This is also a moment when addiction is more dangerous. Studies suggest people are drinking more during the pandemic, and many street drugs are contaminated with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, which is driving the big surge in overdose deaths. Eddie says one takeaway from their research is the need for harm reduction programs that help people survive until they can heal. Nobody recovered from addiction dead.

My feeling is if we can keep people alive long enough, we know that eventually the majority get recovery. Travis Rasko in upstate New York is a good example of someone who did survive long enough to turn his life around. After two near-fatal overdoses, he's been drug-free nearly four years. He says life is good. He's married, reconnected with his family, and has a career. That stuff all comes back. I mean, now it's back in tenfold. The morning we met, Rasko was on his way to a good-paying job at a factory,

but what he really wanted to talk about was his new baby. We just had a newborn daughter. Congratulations. That's wonderful. Yeah, thank you, thank you. And we're trying to buy a house right now. You know, it's something I never thought would be possible and something I didn't really think I deserved for the longest time. Everyone we talked to for this story agreed. Because of fentanyl, this is a uniquely dangerous time for people with addiction. But they also said it's important people with this disease know there's hope. Most people will recover, especially if they get the care and support and the time they need. Brian Mann, NPR News.

You're listening to Consider This from npr i'm elsie chang