The Problem

According to the CDC, the number of people who died from a drug overdose in 2021 was over six times the number in 1999. The number of drug overdose deaths increased more than 16% from 2020 to 2021. Over 75% of the nearly 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021 involved an opioid.

After the Covid pandemic disrupted the U.S. health care system, reducing access to substance abuse treatment and exacerbating social and economic stress that can worsen addiction, opioid use increased. Data show the highest numbers of fatal opioid overdoses ever reported in 2020 and 2021—69,061 and 80,926 fatalities, respectively—and opioids are now the main driver of drug overdose deaths.

In addition to the toll on families and loved ones, opioid use imposes significant economy-wide costs. On September 28th 2022, the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee released a new analysis that finds the opioid epidemic cost the United States a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020. This is up 37% from 2017, when the CDC last measured the cost. The rise in fatal opioid overdoses in 2021 suggests the total cost is likely to continue to increase. And these costs are not solely those associated with healthcare. Public safety is threatened on the road and in the workplace by the effects of drug impairment.

Complicating the matter is the fact that illicit drug market is now very fast changing. It is not simply heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, nor even is it limited to oxycontin or fentanyl. There is a continuous flow of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) appearing in the illicit drug market. The potency of the new substances is increasing, and users do not know what they are taking.

Today, over 40 million Americans suffer from substance use disorder (SUD) and only a small portion of those patients receive the treatment they needed. Patients being treated for chronic pain must avoid succumbing to SUD. They must adhere to the programs prescribed by their physicians and not “doc shop” or misuse the drugs they are prescribed. Addiction medicine has made significant progress with the introduction of drug substitutes to help patients gradually overcome this disorder. Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) requires frequent monitoring of patients to ensure compliance to the prescribed treatment but also the verification that the patient is not taking any other substances which could be dangerous when combined with the prescribed treatment or indicate a relapse. Workers cannot show up for work impaired including by marijuana use.  The Aspida Dx system can both deter and detect use of illicit drugs by individuals in treatment, in the workplace or in their cars.