美国国家公共电台 NPR--After record drug deaths, there have been major reforms in addiction treatment

After record drug deaths, there have been major reforms in addiction¹ treatment

Transcript²

The opioid epidemic³ surged in 2022 — killing⁴ record numbers of Americans, but help may be on the way in the form of more aid to communities and major reforms in opioid addiction treatment.

A MARTíNEZ, HOST:

The Justice Department is suing AmerisourceBergen over opioids. In their civil lawsuit⁵, federal prosecutors⁶ accuse the drug wholesale⁷ distributors of failing to notify the government about suspicious opioid orders. It's just the latest chapter in a pivotal year for the opioid crisis. More people died than ever before from drug overdoses as street fentanyl flooded communities. But there have also been major reforms in addiction treatment. This year, drug companies also agreed to pay more than $50 billion to help communities recover from the opioid epidemic. NPR's addiction correspondent Brian Mann joins us now to take stock. Brian, so many people are still dying. Why does the opioid crisis keep getting worse?

BRIAN MANN, BYLINE⁹: You know, A, I think it's helpful to remember how the COVID pandemic kept changing - right? - as different strains of the virus emerged. Well, the opioid epidemic is kind of similar. The type of opioids keeps changing. First, we had prescription¹⁰ pain pills sold by drug companies and pharmacies¹¹. They ignited this public health crisis. Then people shifted to heroin¹², which is more dangerous. And now what we're seeing is more and more people using fentanyl, which is this deadly synthetic¹³ opioid that's so powerful, it's contributing to a drop in American life expectancy¹⁴. The CDC now says overdose deaths appear to have peaked in March of this year, but at a really deadly level, 110,000 Americans dying from drugs in a single 12-month period.

MARTíNEZ: And a lot of those are under the age of 40. What are they saying about the danger of fentanyl?

MANN: Well, they're scared. I spent time in Tacoma, Wash., with Marche Osborne, who's 31. She used to use heroin, which she felt like she could maintain pretty safely, using that drug. But now these volatile¹⁵ fentanyl pills are the only opioid she can find on the street.

MARCHE OSBORNE: They're zombifying people. They're - anybody will do anything for a pill. It's ridiculous. Like, they're turning people - they're dehumanizing people. And it's not a good thing. And it's not going to go anywhere good if it continues.

MANN: And because of fentanyl, drug overdoses are now a leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 40.

MARTíNEZ: And it's led, though, to some major reforms this year in addiction treatment. What's changing?

MANN: Yeah. For a long time, the disease of addiction has been siloed off from the rest of the health care system because of stigma¹⁶ and bureaucratic¹⁷ red tape and the lack of insurance coverage¹⁸. A lot of people, most people with addiction, still get no help of any kind, which is crazy because there are actually great medications, like methadone and buprenorphine and naloxone. These drugs help people stop using opioids. Or they help reverse overdoses before they're fatal.

And so what's happened this year is the Biden administration and Congress have pushed through a series of really major reforms, some of them actually tucked into that spending bill that President Biden just signed. And all these reforms are making it easier for doctors and medical clinics to prescribe these lifesaving medications. I spoke¹⁹ with Dr. Rahul Gupta, who heads the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

RAHUL GUPTA: We began to normalize and understand addiction as a disease. And we start to treat people who are suffering from addiction as human beings and then be able to prescribe them treatments.

MANN: And more of these medications are now being dispensed²⁰. CDC data suggests, since March, month by month, the rate of overdose deaths has started to come down. So experts I talked to are hopeful. They hope this is a real turning point.

MARTíNEZ: What about stopping fentanyl from coming into the U.S.? Any progress there?

MANN: The answer here is no. The Biden administration says border agents did seize twice as many fentanyl pills coming from Mexico in 2022 - more than 50 million pills being smuggled²¹ in, mostly through ports of entry. But that doesn't appear to really be putting a dent⁸ in the street supply. Fentanyl is just everywhere right now. And it's really cheap.

MARTíNEZ: Now, one more big development this year was a reckoning with pharmaceutical²² companies. They made and sold a lot of opioid pain pills. How much will corporate²³ America pay? And will that money help?

MANN: Yeah, Big Pharma really ignited this public health crisis, aggressively marketing²⁴ opioids beginning in the late '90s. 2022 was the year companies ranging from CVS and Walmart to Cardinal²⁵ Health and Johnson & Johnson, they came to the table and agreed to pay more than $50 billion in settlements. Just yesterday, the Justice Department actually announced they're suing another big corporation, AmerisourceBergen, over its opioid practices. Billions of dollars more on the line there.

These companies all deny any wrongdoing. But experts I talked to say this money really could help. It'll fund a bunch of drug treatment programs, a bunch of health care, especially in rural areas and urban neighborhoods, where the need is desperate. No one believes this will be a silver bullet, A. This isn't going to cure the opioid crisis. But along with the other reforms we talked about, this development could save a lot of lives.

MARTíNEZ: That's NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann. Brian, thanks.

MANN: Thank you.

1 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

6 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

7 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

8 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

9 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

10 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

11 pharmacies   

药店

参考例句：

• Still, 32 percent of the pharmacies filled the prescriptions. 但仍然有32%的药剂师配发了这两张药方。 来自互联网
• Chinese herbal pharmacies, and traditional massage therapists in the Vancouver telephone book. 中药店，和传统的按摩师在温哥华的电话簿里。 来自互联网

12 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

13 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

14 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

15 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

16 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

17 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

18 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

19 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

20 dispensed   

v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• Not a single one of these conditions can be dispensed with. 这些条件缺一不可。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage. 他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

21 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

22 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

23 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

24 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

25 cardinal   

n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的

参考例句：

• This is a matter of cardinal significance.这是非常重要的事。
• The Cardinal coloured with vexation. 红衣主教感到恼火，脸涨得通红。