ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Tuesday called for more government investment in addressing the nation’s opioid epidemic, saying only half of the 2 million people who need treatment for addictions have access to it.
Murthy’s comments came as he toured a substance abuse center in Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city. New Mexico had one of the highest overdose death rates in 2014, especially among adults 21 to 35, the most recent federal data showed.
Nationally, overdoses from heroin, oxycodone and other opiates killed more than 28,000 Americans in 2014, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
Murthy and others are advocating for more funding because of that figure, along with a “treatment gap” that Murthy says deprives roughly a million Americans from getting the counseling, medication and other services they need to beat addictions.
Social stigma and a lack of treatment centers – especially in communities that need it most – share some of the blame for stifling access to care, he said.