
Congress and FDA Take Action to Combat Opioid Crisis
Legislators look to widen access to medications for addiction treatment and overdose emergencies.
The House recently enacted multiple legislative proposals to support treatment of opioid abusers and deter inappropriate drug prescribing and illegal distribution. This bipartisan action sets the stage for similar action by the Senate, as the legislators
At the same time, the Justice Department
Shutting down websites
As part of ongoing FDA efforts to reduce illegal opioid prescribing and distribution, the agency seeks to curb the rise in opioid sales through online pharmacies. In June 2018, FDA sent
More recently, FDA hosted an
FDA invited leading tech companies to the summit, such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, as well as online shopping sites, shipping firms, payment processors, and trade associations representing online pharmacies and Internet operators. While the tech community maintains that online sales account for only a small portion of illegal drug transactions, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb called for concerted action: “We can’t just play whack-a-mole with illegal sites, shutting down URLs only to watch new ones pop up.” Cutting off the flow of illicit Internet traffic in opioids “is critical,” he said, urging attendees to work together to stop the “digital drug dealers.”
FDA has increased resources to target and take action against illicit Internet drug marketers, despite multiple challenges in doing so. For example, progress in educating health professionals on the importance of reducing prescribing of opioids in favor of less addictive pain medicines now is predicted to send even more individuals suffering from opioid addiction to websites and other sources of illegal and potentially unsafe pills.
Gottlieb acknowledged that the tech firms at the summit have “the expertise to transform this space.” He cited efforts by Google to de-index web pages linked to FDA warning letters, by Microsoft’s Bing to attach pop-up warnings to such illicit websites, and by Facebook to steer parties seeking opioids online to sites with information on addiction treatment. While there are difficulties associated with implementing these and other strategies, he urged further collaboration with Internet experts to devise technological solutions and collective approaches for decreasing opioid availability.
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