AOA joins initiative to fight Rx drug abuse

The AOA has joined with the Obama Administration and a number of public and private sector partners to announce new efforts to address the prescription drug abuse and heroin epidemic.

On Oct. 21, President Obama highlighted recent efforts at an event in Charleston, West Virginia, hearing directly from individuals and families impacted by the epidemic and the health care professionals, law enforcement officers and community leaders working to prevent addiction and respond to the aftermath. West Virgina has one of the highest rates of overdose deaths in the U.S.

The AOA was represented at the event by Margaret Kotz, DO, director of addiction services at University Hospital in Cleveland and a professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Kotz met with the President and discussed the physician-patient relationship as the key to identifying those most vulnerable to prescription drug abuse.

Learn more about the goals of the partnership.