Health care

2023-12-13 05:59:38

With the Democratic Party’s victory in the recent General Assembly elections, Virginians can expect much of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s legislative agenda to be blocked by a now Democratic-controlled General Assembly. This shift also represents a chance to address a critical issue that the commonwealth has struggled to redress so far: the youth opioid crisis.

The opioid crisis has been steadily growing, impacting numerous families and communities across Virginia. The Virginia Department of Health found that 2,141 Virginians died from opioid overdoses in 2022, representing a 274% increase since 2012. This sharp rise in deaths has mostly been attributed to the increasing availability of fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, which accounted for a staggering 75.7% of all drug overdose deaths in 2022.

Source: Virginia Department of Health

Source: Virginia Department of Health

The impact of the opioid crisis on our youth is especially devastating. Overdose deaths amongst teenagers in the United States nearly doubled in the first half of 2020 due to the widespread availability of fentanyl according to a UCLA study. This alarming trend is well illustrated in Virginia, where nine Parkview High School students in Loudoun County overdosed on fentanyl just within the past two months.

The tragedy at Parkview High School should not be treated as an isolated incident; rather, it’s  a grim reflection of a broader, systemic issue. Young Virginians suffer from a severe lack of access to adequate mental health care services.

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Virginia’s mental health care system is dangerously inadequate, given that it ranks only 37th nationally in terms of mental health care access. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 95 out of 133 localities in the Commonwealth are designated as “mental health professional shortage areas,” which means that nearly three million Virginians don’t have proper access to mental health care. This shortage is starkly evident amongst young individuals, as the National Alliance on Mental Illness reports nearly 56.2% of Virginians aged 12-17 suffering from depression did not receive mental health care services in 2020.

Young people should be more than an followingthought in crisis mental health conversations

This systemic neglect of the mental health care system has a severe impact, as individuals with untreated mental health issues will often self-medicate with drugs including opioids, which only exacerbates the opioid crisis. Research indicates that individuals with untreated mental health conditions were significantly more likely to abuse substances, including opioids, making them far more susceptible to overdoses.

Given the costly effects of the opioid crisis, Virginia’s legislators face the critical task of tackling the root cause of the youth opioid crisis. Democratic legislators will now have the opportunity to cross the political aisle and collaborate with Gov. Youngkin to enact effective legislation focused on improving mental health care access for all Virginians.

Achieving bipartisan cooperation in the current political climate, however, can be difficult given that it is marred by contentious issues like abortion, gun control, and the 2024 presidential election. There is the constant risk of the next two years of Gov. Youngkin’s term being a steady slugfest between his administration and the General Assembly over critical policies. While some of these fights – especially on abortion rights or gun control – need to be fought, Democrats need to be cautious regarding the spillover impact onto efforts to address the youth opioid crisis. Virginia’s politicians should recognize that the youth opioid crisis transcends political identity and impacts young Virginians from all backgrounds. It is a public health emergency that requires urgent and unified action; lack of cooperation will only lead to more needless deaths.

A potential solution to the opioid crisis that might receive bipartisan support would be to bolster the expansion of telehealth services for Virginians. Research has shown that telehealth services can be as effective as in-person services, with no difference shown in patient-reported increases in quality of life. This stands as a promising solution to improve access to mental health services in the commonwealth, particularly for individuals in underserved areas who may not have access to traditional mental health services.

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