a lack of supply to keep up with demand. The time period coincides with a greater emphasis put on screening for opioid use disorders, leading to a spike in diagnoses.
Now Hadland and his fellow researchers hope that their findings will bring attention to the treatment shortfall for youngsters and, in turn, reduce the number of youths overdosing and relapsing into drug misuse.
Hadland added that he hopes “these data will help practitioners who care for youth — including pediatricians, family physicians, child psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and physician’s assistants, all of whom are in a position to prescribe medications for young people — recognize the role that they now need to play in addressing the opioid epidemic by treating addiction in their own practices, just as they would any other condition.”
“Addressing addiction early in the life course is critical: it is incumbent on us to stop today’s young people from becoming tomorrow’s overdoses,” he concluded.
