Betty Ford Center CMO lauds Biden's call to action on fentanyl crisis

Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alta DeRoo said she was "excited" and "grateful" to see President Joe Biden discuss and lay out plans to tackle the fentanyl crisis and nation's mental health needs in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

During his 72-minute address, in which he called for a bitterly divided Congress to come together to "finish the job" and faced multiple clashes with Republican hecklers, Biden acknowledged the opioid and overdose epidemic throughout the nation. He highlighted a father from New Hampshire, whose daughter, Courtney, discovered pills in high school, which led to an addiction and her death from a fentanyl overdose. Republican congressmembers shouted "The border! The border!" and "It’s your fault!" during the drug conversation, according to the New York Times.

Overdose deaths remain a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the majority involve opioids. Deaths involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl, as well as stimulants (such as cocaine and methamphetamine), have increased in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and has been found in a number of other drugs, such as methamphetamines, cocaine, pills and marijuana in some cases. Overdose deaths in Riverside County have doubled between 2017 and 2021 mostly due to fentanyl, and more than half of overdose deaths in 2022 involved the drug, according to county data. Fentanyl-involved overdose deaths have increased from 28 in 2017 to 401 in 2022.

"(Doug) told us he wants to 'start the journey towards America’s recovery.' Doug, we’re with you," Biden said. "Fentanyl is killing more than 70,000 Americans a year."

In his speech, the president said he wants to "launch a major surge" to stop fentanyl production, sale and trafficking by providing 123 new scanners at land points of entry along the Southwest border to inspect cargo by fiscal year 2026. Customs and Border Protection seized a historic 260,000 pounds of illicit drugs primarily at ports of entry on the border, including nearly 15,000 pounds of fentanyl, according to a White House fact sheet. Biden also wants to work with couriers like FedEx to inspect more packages for drugs.

DeRoo said stopping the drug from coming into the nation is "one of the largest impacts that we can make." But if it is here, she believes law enforcement, education and treatment are all important tools to tackle the epidemic.

At Hazelden Betty Ford centers across the country, including one in Rancho Mirage, DeRoo said they are "still seeing a record number of patients" seeking treatment. More people come due to an alcohol use disorder, but fentanyl "is unpredictable."

"Rarely do folks come in saying, 'I'm taking fentanyl and that's the only thing,'" she said. "They may be doing something like heroin, but really half of that heroin is cut with fentanyl, and they don't even know that."

She explained that dealers have machines that can press the drug into a content that looks very similar to what the person thinks they're getting, whether it's marijuana, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine or MDMA. DeRoo would like to see fentanyl test strips and other center-waived lab tests more widely available to better identify the substance.

Betty Ford Centers hold a number of events to educate the public on the dangers of drugs and what treatment options are available to them. DeRoo said webinars are available for health professionals as well as members of the public who may want more information on how to keep loved ones away from drugs.

Residents in treatment also have lectures once or twice a week to learn about drugs and the dangers associated with them. Treatment services are also available in person or virtually.

Biden also said he wants to expand evidence-based prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery options throughout the nation. This includes delivering naloxone, a nasal that can reverse the effects of opioids during an overdose, ensuring jails and prisons can provide treatment for substance use disorder for inmates and continue it once they're released and expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder.

He added that he wants to do more with mental health offerings, especially among youth. Biden plans to launch a national campaign to educate young people on the dangers of fentanyl and how naloxone saves lives.

In October, Riverside County similarly launched the Faces of Fentanyl awareness campaign that aims to teach the public, especially young people, about the drug.

"I was really enthusiastic also about hearing ... the call for more mental health providers. Addiction and mental health issues go hand-in-hand," DeRoo said. "You can't walk around today without hearing about an overdose or fentanyl poisoning, but often people don't talk about the mental health, and it's only by talking about the mental health needs that we're going to decrease that stigma."

She added that attention also needs to be put on the youngest citizens, who may be more trusting of someone who hands them a pill and says it's Aspirin or Adderall to help them study better. The Betty Ford Center offers a children's program in Rancho Mirage to educate and support kids who grow up with addiction in their home, and there is an inpatient and outpatient rehab center for young people ages 12 to 25 in Plymouth, Minnesota.

DeRoo remains "hopeful" that change will come over the next few years as it relates to the opioid and overdose epidemic, especially because there is so much attention on ports of entry and how opioids are entering the country.

"Am I hopeful? Yes," she said," I have to be hopeful."

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Betty Ford Center CMO lauds Biden's call to action on fentanyl crisis