The opioid epidemic is now a leading cause of death in the United States, ravaging communities across the country. At last, Congress has snapped to attention. But its recent flurry of legislation will be of little help unless lawmakers are willing to fund treatment and prevention programs.

The House last week passed 18 bills related to opioids, and the Senate approved a comprehensive bill in March. The bills, which will be reconciled in a conference committee, are overdue. Opioids, a category of drugs that includes heroin and prescription painkillers like oxycodone, killed more than 28,000 people in 2014, and the rate of overdoses has tripled since 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost two million Americans abused or were dependent on these drugs in 2014.

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The issue of addiction is now being brought to the forefront of public consciousness, and rightly so. This problem is not new, but has escalated to a point where it is affecting people who may not have been previously exposed to the illness.

What needs to be brought home is the fact that addiction, no matter what the substance, is an illness, not a problem brought about by a lack of character. When medical professionals, psychiatric providers and patient family members approach the addicted individual with a judgmental attitude, it only reinforces to that person what he already feels - a lack of self-worth and guilt - which only serves to put up another barrier to the process of recovery.

As providers, family members and neighbors, it is in our best interest to put judgment aside and treat addicted individuals with empathy and compassion. To do otherwise is simply counterproductive.

Williamsville

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Death is one of the greatest personifications there is. It visits all of us and gets very personal. Continually we are inundated with statistics of all kinds of deaths. These include the horrors of terrorism, shootings, suicides, abortions, plane crashes and cancer. These stats seem to keep death at a comfortable bay, deluding us into thinking we will never be part of the masses. In fact, at times we reluctantly find ourselves viewing with morbid fascination the demise of others. Somehow we can stay detached because "the visitor" has not yet come to our door.

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BEGINNING in the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies selling high-dose opioids seized upon a notion, based on flimsy scientific evidence, that regardless of the length of treatment, patients would not become addicted to opioids.

It has proved to be one of the biggest mistakes in modern medicine.

An epidemic of prescription drug abuse has swept across the country as a result, and one of the latest victims, according to The New York Times, may have been Prince.

The paper reported that he had developed a problem with prescription painkillers, and that just before his death, friends sought urgent medical help from a California doctor who specializes in treating people addicted to pain medication. Whether pain pills played a role in his death won't be known until the results of an autopsy are released.

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MARIJUANA advocates are teaming up with Madison Avenue to try to make pot palatable to mainstream Americans - and to the advertisers that want to reach them.

High Times, the 42-year-old must-have magazine for the cannabis enthusiast, has collaborated with Sparks & Honey, an Omnicom advertising agency, on a report meant to prompt big-picture thinking in the marijuana industry. The paper, "Rebranding Marijuana," was released April 20, the unofficial pot holiday.

"Through the slow legal and regulatory processes," the report noted, "marijuana is opening up opportunities across a variety of industries, most of which have nothing to do with yesterday's stoner weed."

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The article, "On track for 570 opiate deaths in 2016, Erie County steps up response," in the April 6 Buffalo News in part focused on the shortage of health care providers who can prescribe medication assisted treatment for opiate use disorders.

It noted the small number of physicians who are certified to prescribe buprenorphine ( trade names: Suboxone, subutex and Zubsolv). Even when certified, physicians can prescribe to only 100 clients at a time.

Unfortunately, although nurse practitioners ( NPs) and physician assistants ( PAs) provide medical care to millions of people daily, and are an integral part of health care, a federal law created in 2000 prohibits NPs/ PAs from prescribing buprenorphine to treat addictions. Buprenorphine is a schedule III controlled substance, which when utilized as prescribed does not induce a "high" and has less risk for overdose than do other prescription opioids and heroin. Ironically, NPs and PAs can prescribe buprenorphine for pain management.

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To the Editor:

Re "Northeast Opiate Crisis Stalls Marijuana Legalization" (news article, April 20):

Marijuana access is associated with reduced incidences of opioid abuse and mortality.

According to a 2015 National Bureau of Economic Research study, "States permitting medical marijuana dispensaries experience a relative decrease in both opioid addictions and opioid overdose deaths compared to states that do not."

Separate studies also find that cannabis is associated with better treatment outcomes in opioid-dependent subjects. Writing this year in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers at Columbia University reported a "beneficial effect of marijuana smoking on treatment retention."

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To the Editor:

Re "Rethink the Global War on Drugs" (editorial, April 25):

While the 2016 Special Session of the General Assembly on the World Drug Problem had its limitations, and while the shift from prohibition and criminalization to a public health perspective has been subtler than many would have liked, the debate has opened the door to broader discussions about drug law reform in preparation for 2019, the date set for the next major review.

The issues are complex and challenges remain, but this is a step in the right direction.

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The science on marijuana is settled.

The assertions that continue to be made linking marijuana use to serious drug addiction by officials like Michele Leonhart, the former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, are contradicted by facts.

But since the science is settled, the question we should be unpacking is why do some people persist in promoting messages known to be false, as was done by Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey during his failed bid for president?

Why are we still not discussing the evidence: that the real gateways to addiction are poverty, trauma, mental health problems and the effects of criminalization and stigma?

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While opioid pain relievers offer critical benefits to certain patients, such as those with cancer-related pain, the rise of opioid prescriptions has had devastating public health consequences. The C.D.C. recently urged physicians to be very cautious in prescribing these drugs.

Meanwhile, access to medical marijuana has expanded rapidly - 24 states and D.C. have legalized its broad medical use - and chronic or severe pain is the most common condition reported among those using it. On it's face, this might seem to mirror the rise in prescription opioid use.

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It should come as no surprise that the vast majority of heroin users have used marijuana (and many other drugs) not only long before they used heroin but while they are using heroin. Like nearly all people with substance abuse problems, most heroin users initiated their drug use early in their teens, usually beginning with alcohol and marijuana. There is ample evidence that early initiation of drug use primes the brain for enhanced later responses to other drugs. These facts underscore the need for effective prevention to reduce adolescent use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana in order to turn back the heroin and opioid epidemic and to reduce burdens addiction in this country.

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The gateway theory can be summarized as an ounce of truth embedded in a pound of bull. Yes, most people who use heroin and cocaine used marijuana and alcohol and tobacco for that matter first.

But the vast majority of people who use marijuana never progress to using other illicit drugs, or even to becoming regular marijuana consumers. That's why the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine says "there is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs." The principal connection between marijuana and other illicit drugs mostly involves the nature of the market, not the nature of the high. In The Netherlands, where the marijuana market has been quasi-legal and regulated for decades, marijuana use is less prevalent than in the United States, and those who do consume marijuana are less likely to use other illicit drugs.

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To the Editor:

Re "Outrageous Sentences for Marijuana" (editorial, April 14):

Whether or not the Supreme Court rules that draconian mandatory sentences for marijuana use are constitutional, they are an ineffective, harmful and extremely costly policy approach to substance use.

Marijuana use should be treated as a public health problem, not a crime. Incarcerating people for using marijuana serves neither the individual's nor the public's interest. Having a criminal record for marijuana use is damaging to people's livelihoods and life opportunities, particularly for youths.

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The Erie County Legislature has to be congratulated for looking to solve the current opioid crisis. However, its solution to create an addiction hotline falls short of addressing the problem.

An addiction hotline does not equate to saving lives. Anyone can do an Internet search or look in the phone book to find contact information about drug rehab programs in Erie County. What will the hotline accomplish?

The hotline will refer callers to programs that have waiting lists for inpatient services and to outpatient clinics. However, if you don't have insurance or the ability to pay for these services, you have wasted your time, not to mention $300,000 of county taxpayer dollars.

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At the urging of Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia, world leaders met at the United Nations in a special session last week to discuss saner ways to fight the drug trade. They did not get very far toward a shift in approach. Nonetheless, there was a consensus that investing in health care, addiction treatment and alternatives to incarceration would do more to end the drug trade than relying primarily on prohibition and criminalization.

"A war that has been fought for more than 40 years has not been won," President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia said in an interview. "When you do something for 40 years and it doesn't work, you need to change it."

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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Jamaica defended its decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana. Iran said it seized 620 tons of different types of drugs last year and is helping protect the world from "the evils of addiction." Cuba opposed the legalization of drugs or declaring them harmless.

The first U.N. General Assembly special session to address global drug policy in nearly 20 years heard major differences on the approach to drug use on its second day Wednesday.

On the liberalization side, Canada's Health Minister Jane Philpott announced that the government would introduce legislation to legalize marijuana next spring.

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FOR THE first time in 20 years, the UN has convened a special session on "the world drug problem" amid fierce international debate about whether drug users should primarily be punished or rehabilitated.

The UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs, which started yesterday and is scheduled to run until tomorrow, was called after Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala appealed to the body to revise the global approach to illegal drugs.

After two decades - and a trillion or so dollars later - the "war-on-drugs" approach of criminalising drug users has dismally failed to prevent the distribution and use of illegal drugs.

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NEW YORK - Afghanistan has called for more international support for its efforts in fighting the drug problem as the anti-narcotics war is "beyond the limits of any single government".

Slamat Azimi, the minister of counter narcotics of Afghanistan, made the statement at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem here.

"It is obvious that fighting drugs and narcotics is beyond the limits of any single government; therefore, there is a need for extensive help from the international community.

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NEW YORK - The UN General Assembly is rethinking the global strategy in the war on narcotics for the first time in two decades as activists, UN officials and world leaders cited an international trend towards more liberal drug laws.

Despite agreement to deal with the global drug problem, there are deep divisions among the 193 member states.

Some favour a shift towards decriminalisation and a greater focus on reducing the harm caused by narcotics abuse and the war on drugs.

A number of Latin American leaders say the aggressive war on drugs has failed, having killed or destroyed thousands of lives worldwide. They say there is an irreversible trend towards legalising "soft drugs" such as dagga. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said his country would soon increase the amount of dagga Mexicans are allowed for personal use and legalise daggaa for medical purposes.

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NEW YORK - India has voiced its concern over "the growing nexus of drug trafficking and terrorist networks", saying that "we have to continue and toughen our collective fight against these evils".

Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley was addressing the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem here.

"The growing nexus of drug trafficking and terrorist networks endangers peace, security and stability across regions," he said.

"We have to continue and toughen our collective fight against these evils."

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