I was recently privileged to join fellow Hoosier organizations, Overdose Lifeline and Safe Haven Recovery Center, to attend the Voices for Non-Opioid Choices Summit and Hill Day in Washington, D.C. Together, we learned and advocated for Hoosiers, including veterans, to have the opportunity to choose non-addictive pain relief options to manage acute and chronic pain.

Opioids, sometimes called narcotics, are highly effective, highly addictive medications prescribed to manage pain. This class of drugs includes familiar names such as morphine, hydrocodone, and fentanyl. In 2023, nearly 50 opiate prescriptions were written for every 100 Hoosiers.

At the Voices for Non-Opioid Choices Summit and Hill Day in Washington, D.C.

I was shocked to learn that 11% of individuals prescribed an opiate will develop an addiction, as the reward centers in their brains are permanently changed. Simply put, you are 10 times more likely to develop an opioid addiction than you are to die in a fatal car accident. 80% of illicit opioid users started with a legal prescription, including nearly 25,000 Hoosiers over the age of 65 who reported an opioid use disorder in 2022. Sadly, 1,651 Hoosiers lost their lives to overdose in 2023, with nearly 80% of fatal overdoses involving opiates.

During the Summit, so many families shared heartbreaking stories of losing their children to substance use following a routine procedure, such as a wisdom teeth extraction or treatment of a sports injury. They are among the 222 Americans who die every day due to an opioid overdose.

Veterans are much more vulnerable to opiate exposure and addiction than non-veterans. According to former Secretary of the VA, Robert Willkie, veterans are twice as likely to die of accidental overdose than non-veterans. Nearly half of combat-wounded veterans report misuse of opiates. Substance use is a risk factor for homelessness.  As we’ve shared before, 80% of veterans served annually at HVAF report a mental health or substance use diagnosis.

Since 2012, the Department of Veterans Affairs has drastically reduced the number of veterans prescribed opiates from nearly 875,000 veterans in 2012 to 288,000 in 2023. We must do more. HVAF was proud to stand with to advocate that our Congressional Delegation support legislation to require the VA to offer more non-addictive pain relief options to veterans. HVAF was proud to stand with Overdose Lifeline, Safe Haven Recovery Center and Voices for Non-Opioid Choices to advocate that our Congressional Delegation support legislation to require the VA to offer more non-addictive pain relief options to veterans.

Reducing exposure to opioids will reduce the number of Hoosier veterans battling addiction. We look forward to the introduction of the NOPAIN for Veterans Act this Congress and are hopeful our delegation will join with us to protect Hoosier veterans.

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