A study published on Monday found a shockingly strong link between declining participation in the labor force and opioid use.
Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts General Hospital led the study that was published in JAMA Internal Medicine. From a variety of data sources, researchers gathered the number of opioid-related deaths between 1999 and 2016 in 112 counties near major automotive manufacturing plants; 29 of the counties had an automotive assembly plant closure during the study period. Researchers found that in those counties where automotive assembly plants had closed five years earlier, opioid deaths were about 85 percent higher among people between the ages of 16 and 65 compared to counties where such plants remained open.
“Major economic events, such as plant closures, can affect a person’s view of how their life might be in the future,” Atheendar Venkataramani, the study’s lead author and a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a news release. “These changes can have a profound effect on a person’s mental well-being, and could consequently influence the risk of substance use.”
After an automotive plant closed, the group with the largest increase in opioid overdose fatalities was non-Hispanic white men between 18-34 years old, followed by non-Hispanic white men ages 35-65 years old.
While the study shows a large association between plant closures and fatal opioid overdoses, the authors emphasize that the closures are not the only reason for the country’s opioid crisis. Indeed, the prevalence of prescription opioids is a notable factor, too. However, the researchers hope that this study will raise concerns around underlying factors associated with the opioid crisis. Solutions to the crisis, the study states, should “likely involve complementary interventions to reduce the prescription and illicit opioid supply as well as interventions to diagnose and treat substance use disorders in regions of the country hardest hit by structural economic change.”
“Our results are most relevant for the worsening population health trends in the industrial Midwest and South, regions that have experienced some of the largest increases in opioid overdose deaths and in which the automotive production and other manufacturing industries have long been economically and culturally significant,” Venkataramani said in the news release. “While we as clinicians recognize and take very seriously the issue of overprescribing, our study reinforces that addressing the opioid overdose crisis in a meaningful way requires concurrent and complimentary [sic] approaches to diagnosing and treating substance use disorders in regions of the countries hardest hit by structural economic change.”
Until then, the researchers suggest that there are health policy changes that can be implemented immediately.
“There is an urgent need to rapidly lower the threshold for accessing evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders, for example, at the level of state Medicaid policy and private payor utilization management,” senior author and co-study lead Alexander Tsai, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in the news release.
It is estimated that more than 130 people die every day as a result of opioid overdose.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $125,000 in one-time donations and to add 1400 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy