Editorial: A small step forward in fight against opioid deaths

An Illinois Senate committee got some good news Tuesday in the fight against opioid addiction. It was only a thin strip of hope and it was accompanied by dark omens, but considering the trajectory of the opioid crisis during this decade, it was at least a sign that we may not always have to expect the worst.

Drug overdose deaths, especially from opioids, have been rising steadily since 2013. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, 2,779 drug-related deaths in Illinois in 2018 represented a 76% increase compared to the 1,579 such deaths five years earlier. That is a shocking number, but the effect is tempered by one hopeful glimmer. Opioid deaths, which accounted for nearly three-quarters of all drug-related deaths, declined in 2018 compared to the previous year.

It wasn't a major reduction - just 1.6%, from 2,202 deaths to 2,167 - and it certainly wasn't enough to indicate a trend, but any indication that the relentless onslaught of opioid tragedies could be stopped is cause for, at least, relief, if not yet full-on encouragement.

Jenny Epstein, the health department's director of opioid initiatives, was appropriately measured as she recounted the improved numbers to senators, and she was candid about the specific limits to the good news.

"Although any decrease in deaths is something to be celebrated," she said, "this decrease was driven primarily by a decline in deaths among non-Hispanic whites."

Opioid deaths among non-Hispanic blacks actually rose more than 9% and among Hispanics more than 4%, according to the health department. Clearly, greater efforts must be targeted to help these populations.

The state's Opioid Action Plan, launched in 2017 by then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, predicted that based on the previous trends, opioid deaths would reach more than 2,700 in 2020. It set a goal to reduce that number by a third through a nine-step program combining activities to prevent people from abusing opioids, treat those who become addicted and rescue those who overdose.

A mere 1.6% drop is not by itself a reassuring indication that the approach can achieve its full aim. It will take almost six times that result both this year and next to reach the plan's goal and many, many times that to get the tragic arithmetic down to pre-2013 levels. But it is, at least and at last, a sign that this ruthless epidemic can be constrained.

"Although we are proud to have made some progress, there is still much work to be done to keep our citizens safe and healthy," Epstein said.