Heather and Larry Arata of Delaware County are working toward better opioid treatment for addicts after losing their son Brendan to a heroin overdose in 2017, writes Kevin Riordan for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The couple created the Opioid Crisis Action Network.  It gives rental and other assistance to residents at recovery homes and raises awareness about the fatal consequences of addiction.

 “Getting very busy on this issue was a way for me to deal with my grief,” Larry said.

There have been 1,214 lives lost in Philadelphia from Opioid overdoses in 2020; 5,172 lives in Pennsylvania and 93,000 lives lost nationally.

OCAN is looking for improvements from Pennsylvania’s 500 treatment centers and sober living homes, including greater accessibility, transparency and standardized best practices to improve opioid treatment.

The Aratas said they found the process of trying to get help for Brendan “excruciatingly difficult”.

When Brendan sought help to avoid a relapse, he was turned away from a treatment center because he was not under the influence of opioids at that moment.

 “There’s no infrastructure, like there is for other diseases,” Heather said. “Addiction isn’t treated as a disease. It’s treated as a moral failing,”

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about the Opioid Crisis Action Network.

Sharon Levy asks why we aren’t treating opioid addiction since it’s treatable in this 2018 Ted Talk.