Suicide Is an Urgent Public Health Problem in America

In a move designed to streamline regulation of overthe- counter drugs, Congress passed—and President Donald Trump signed—legislation in March that will allow the Food and Drug Administration to move more quickly to address safety concerns and permit manufacturers to more easily market new products.

Drug overdose deaths skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic: Provisional data covering a 12-month period shows that overdose deaths reached the record-setting number of more than 99,000 fatalities as of March 2021. Opioid treatment programs (OTPs)—the only health care facilities that can offer patients all three forms of medication for opioid use disorder (OUD): methadone, buprenorphine, and injectable extended-release naltrexone—are critical to reducing overdose deaths and providing life-saving addiction treatment. But they do so only if patients are able to access services.

While much of the health care sector has increased its use of data to inform patient care and institutional decisions, many 911 call centers—which are a gateway to receiving emergency care—are lagging, leaving communities without the information needed to improve responses, including for those experiencing a behavioral health crisis.