Heroin deaths in the Seattle-King County area rose 58 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to an annual report published today by the University of Washington’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute.
An often-effective treatment exists for people who want to stop abusing prescription opioid painkillers or escape heroin addiction, but that treatment is unavailable in U.S. counties where more than 30 million people live.
In 1999, Washington state implemented regulations that largely freed doctors to prescribe opioid painkillers for common chronic conditions such as low back pain, headache and fibromyalgia.
[Editors’ note: This is the second in a series of seven articles about bioethics. Q&A’s include UW experts discussing the beginning of life, end of life, clinical consultation, pain care, research and teaching.
A University of Washington online education program aimed at helping healthcare providers more safely manage patients' chronic pain has received a nearly $800,000 grant.
