It is a well known fact that the Uintah Basin is suffering from the opioid crisis that is sweeping the United States. Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development are partnering to help address the rise of opioid misuse in Utah’s rural areas including northeastern Utah. In October 2017, the CDC announced that the rates of drug overdose deaths are rising in rural areas, surpassing rates in urban areas. In addition, a December 2017 survey by the National Farmers Union and the American Farm Bureau Federation found that as many as 74 percent of farmers have been directly impacted by the opioid crisis.“This did not happen yesterday,” says Randy Parker in ‘Reckoning with Opioids in Farm Country’. Parker sees the source of the problem as physicians overprescribing opioids compounded by the distances to medical care. “Many times, physicians will prescribe 10 days [of opioids] and see how you’re doing,” he said. “With people out there 100 miles from a physician, they may give them 30 days [worth].” Though a rising problem, Parker believes that the USDA roundtables have helped to “elevate an open and honest communication” that led attorney general Sean Reyes, previously focused on urban opioid issues, to create a rural opioid task force, which Parker now co-chairs. It is hoped that with federal aid, state focus, and the diligent efforts of Uintah Basin civilians and law enforcement we can address this current plague.
