Statewide Iowa — Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced a program Wednesday with the University of Iowa Health to offer statewide opioid addiction treatment training.
The program will be funded with nearly four million dollars from an opioid settlement and will train doctors and many other health care providers.
U-I professor of psychiatry, Doctor Gerard Clancy, says the pandemic has exacerbated the issue.
Clancy says he sees the issues every day in the emergency room.
Doctor Alison Lynch is the director of the opioid addiction clinic at U-I Hospitals & Clinics.
The program trains doctors and others in how to use the drugs to help patients overcome the addiction. There is some concern because buprenorphine is an opioid, but Lynch says it does not give the high that opioid users seek.
Lynch is also professor of psychiatry and family medicine, and says getting the opioid addiction under control can help with other addictions as well. She says this new program will target some of the areas to make it easier for people to get the treatment they need.
Lynch says those who go through the trainer get a waiver to use the drugs for opioid treatment.
If you are seeking help with mental health issues and drug or alcohol abuse, you can find a list of drug treatment providers, counselors and other treatment options via a free program called “Your Life Iowa.” Visit yourlifeiowa.org.
