When COVID-19 and Opioid Addiction Collide

We are witnessing, arguably, the greatest public health issue of our time. However, that is not to say the public health concerns that were present before the pandemic have disappeared.

Opioid addiction and opioid-related deaths continue to cause great harm to society.

This article discusses the way these two critical issues are interacting and causing damage to particularly vulnerable groups of people.

The author describes how social determinants- the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age- influence levels of risk and overall wellbeing.

He comments on the disruption to public health services and the negative impact forced isolation can have on those in recovery.

He concludes:

"If any good has come out of the misery of the combined COVID-19 and opioid epidemics, perhaps it is that a clear, bright light has been shined on the deadly social fissures — poverty, income inequality, lack of health insurance and access to healthcare, homelessness — that are the true social determinants of health we will need to address as part of an effective response to future pandemics."

- Peter Grinspoon, MD Contributor