大象影院

He didn鈥檛 know it at the time, but when聽Dr. Scott Walters was growing up in San Diego in the mid 1980s, a next-door neighbor was concealing a homemade meth lab just across the fence and mere steps away from his bedroom window.

For some time, concerned parents in his family鈥檚 quiet cul-de-sac had reached out to police with suspicions about unusual comings and goings in the neighborhood, strange cars outside at odd hours, sometimes loud words or disagreements in the street.

A neighborhood watch was formed. Parents took pictures and wrote down license plates, but the drug trade was so prevalent in California at the time, officials could hardly address all the concerns from this and numerous other neighborhoods.

Drug activity was happening all over, in suburban residential areas where these illicit operations would be least suspected, to abandoned properties and rural geographies into the valleys, mountains and open desert beyond.

鈥�Southern California聽was聽considered聽the methamphetamine聽capital of the聽world聽35 years ago. In one single day in 1989, dozens of makeshift meth labs were raided by authorities in a surprising reveal of what had been lurking right next door,鈥� said Dr. Walters, now a Regents Professor at the聽大象影院聽School of Public Health (SPH), and Chair of a multi-state initiative funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to combat the U.S. opioid crisis.

鈥淭丑别听Los Angeles Times reported that day鈥檚 events of聽massive,聽coordinated raids聽throughout southern California were聽the largest聽drug bust聽in U.S.聽history,鈥� Dr. Walters noted.

鈥淣ow, decades later, the war on drugs is still being waged, with new names and formulations that have entered the market, even more capable of devastating communities, families and the lives of those who use them.鈥�

Since 2019,聽Dr. Walters聽has served as聽Steering Committee Chair for the 鈥�, part of the鈥�, an aggressive聽national聽effort to聽speed聽scientific solutions to聽this聽public health crisis.

More than $350 million has been designated to this multi-year study under a cooperative agreement supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of NIH, in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The study鈥檚 goal is to reduce deaths by at least 40% over a three-year period in nearly 70 U.S. communities hit hardest by the opioid crisis 鈥� and to create a national model for saving future lives.

In the U.S. region聽including聽Texas, data comparing years 2020 to 2019 showed聽that use of the powerful, synthetic drug聽fentanyl went up by 57% and that methamphetamine use increased by 19%. Heroin use was 31% higher for 2020 than 2019.

The聽CDC reports that聽drug overdose聽deaths聽in Texas聽increased聽34%聽– rising by more than one third –聽in 2020聽versus聽2019.

鈥淭he big takeaway here is the rise of fentanyl use, which explains why more people are dying,鈥� Dr. Walters said.

Fentanyl is similar to morphine but 50-100 times more potent, reports the NIDA. Fentanyl is cheap to manufacture, but dosage impact can be unpredictable. Increasingly, it is being mixed with heroin or taken with oxycodone medications to even deadlier effect.

Taking solutions to the streets

Dr. Walters鈥� work has long focused on developing evidence-based solutions for substance use and other problem behaviors. Over time, he has become increasingly interested in implementation science, which puts into action the findings that research demonstrates can make a difference.

Public health awareness campaigns and grassroots efforts following this model have already been launched across the U.S. through the HEALing Communities Study and are beginning to make a difference.

鈥淐OVID-19 and the events of the last year聽threw聽these efforts聽for a loop,鈥� Dr. Walters said.聽鈥淣ot only did drug use go up, but many of the actions we would normally聽take were inhibited. I鈥檝e聽been so impressed with how quickly these communities聽, adjusting some strategies and doubling down on others that could have an impact right now.鈥�

鈥淣o state has been immune to the effects of the opioid epidemic.聽We all benefit from working together on this problem.鈥�

As a young adult in San Diego, Dr. Walters never imagined where his future might lead, yet the impact of his work now and that of his colleagues is clear 鈥� solutions to the nation鈥檚 drug crisis are just as needed today as they were decades ago.

鈥淭urning a problem of this magnitude around isn鈥檛 easy or quick, but it鈥檚 clear we make better inroads when we all work together,鈥� he said.