Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a disease that “deserves sensitive, compassionate medical treatment,” according to Jonathan Avery, MD, Director of Addiction Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
If you know someone who is showing symptoms of OUD, remember that help is available. Early treatment with medical professionals can improve outcomes.
“Folks with addiction aren't bad people becoming good… They're sick people becoming well,” says Dr. Avery. “I think that's the proper way to think about addiction and substance use disorders, and not as something that we need to arrest our way out of or punish.”
Dr. Avery is the vice chair of Addiction Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Module 5: assessing and addressing opioid use disorder (OUD).
UpToDate. (2022). Opioid use disorder: epidemiology, pharmacology, clinical manifestations, course, screening, assessment, and diagnosis.
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