A data-driven health commissioner figured out a way to slow overdose deaths. But treating addiction is a much harder problem.

By Brianna Ehley @ Politico Magazine, May 2, from Charleston

[....] (Dr.Rahul) Gupta’s staff combed through public databases, Medicaid rolls, medical examiner reports, birth certificates, death certificates and criminal records. They wanted to find out who was at highest risk of an overdose in West Virginia so they could produce a report for the state legislature before its session began in January. The idea was to give policymakers a data-driven road map of how to get the death rate down, who to focus resources on, and what programs and policies might help them achieve it.

The findings ultimately would show a depressing pattern of vulnerability: Men were twice as likely as women to die of an overdose. And those with jobs in blue-collar industries like construction had a higher risk of overdosing than the general population, likely because they take prescription opioids or illicit substances to deal with chronic pain from injuries. “If you’re a male between the ages of 35 to 54, with less than a high school education, you’re single and you’ve worked in a blue-collar industry,” Gupta said, “you pretty much are at a very, very high risk of overdosing.” [....]